Google’s oldest employee is an individual who is over 80 years of age. The fact, which was revealed by the Internet giant’s HR chief, should improve the company’s image in Silicon Valley, which is widely criticized for favoring younger employees.
Age a concern among workers
On April 28, on a thread titled Ask-Me-Anything (AMA) on Reddit, Senior Vice President of People’s Operations at Google Lazlo Bock shared the details regarding their oldest employee and also defended the company from the allegations raised against tech companies based in Silicon Valley. The said topic was raised when a developer who was in his 40s asked regarding his chances of selection at companies like Google, considering his age.
In present times, companies generally look for a good fit, therefore, the developer had concerns keeping his age in mind. But Bock, with his succinct reply, must have erased those concerns. “Google hires people of every age … our oldest Googler is over 80! Best advice is to make clear the impact of your work. Basically, for all your accomplishments use the format ‘accomplished X by doing Y as measured by Z.’ Please apply!”
Not much info revealed by Google
Beyond this, the Google executive provided no other information about the oldest employee. Neither his identity is known, nor his exact work profile. However, we do know that Google also has a 71-year old employee, Vinton Cerf who serves as chief internet evangelist and has the highest profile held by any Google employee above the age of 70 at least.
For a long time, tech companies have been accused of discriminating on the basis of age. In this regard, the revelation made by Google could somewhat defy such allegations against tech companies. A survey by Stack Overflow revealed that only 10% of developers and programmers globally are beyond the age of 40, and the average age of a developer is 28. Separately, a report from The New Republic made a surprising revelation. The report claimed tech industry workers in their 20s are going for Botox treatments to appear younger.
