The answer is easy. He doesn't have green hair, tattoos, skinny jeans and pierced ears. Just joking. As another poster commented, you really need to be a people person to work at any position in the Apple Store and hard core low level programmers by definition are not people persons.
I have met Steve Wozniak several times. Had dinner with him once. I find him to be both extremely technical and very down to earth. Does that mean he would make a great Genius bar representative? Nope. It takes a certain personality type along with technical knowledge to handle the stress at the Genius bar.
Assuming this non-hiring is due to age is very presumptuous. It could be personality, over-qualification, or one of several other factors.
I am sorry J.K. didn't get the job, but I don't think we should be assuming anything about the reasons why he did not.
The answer is easy. He doesn't have green hair, tattoos, skinny jeans and pierced ears. Just joking. As another poster commented, you really need to be a people person to work at any position in the Apple Store and hard core low level programmers by definition are not people persons.
I'm not so sure. I'm a people person and programmer. the original Mac team were arguably people persons (read folklore.org)...
Poor recruitment process doesn't equate to age discrimination. Engineers have totally different skills (especially soft skills) to customer service staff. In many case being good at the former usually precludes you from the latter. Ironic that the recruitment team displayed poor CS skills though.
Damn right. The very idea that companies need to follow laws on who they hire is just a joke. Just socialism wrapped in the blanket of "fairness".
Do you know one of the things Obama wanted to do, and failed, was Wage Insurance? This crackhead actually wanted the government to subsidize a wage level for a person, if they lose a higher paying job, and need to accept a lowering paying job.
Yeah, because the Age of Robber Barons and child labor and worker drones was such a great milestone in the American experience. Exceptionalism indeed.
Re: Obama: Do you know that such a concept has been implemented since 1935 in the US, when unemployment insurance was nationalized? EITC is another form, and many supplemental unemployment benefit plans have been around since the 1950s.
I hired into Apple when I was 55, as an Apple Solutions Consultant, which was a position created to work out of specific CompUSA stores, which were having a hard time selling Apple product. That was 14 years ago. This was a high profile job, helping boost CompUSA's Apple sales, via training store personnel, and also selling Apple product through CompUSA. At one point, somewhere around 100 of the CompUSA stores had Apple employees in them, full time, and the ASC program was very successful. The store I was in was one of the lower volume stores, and CompUSA was starting its long term decline when Apple hired me, so the job only lasted two years, when the position in that store was eliminated, due to its inability to meet certain targets in Apple sales. No one replaced me full time, and the job went part time, and this was also when Apple was opening its own stores, so having CompUSA as a Mac ally was becoming less important to Apple.
I did other things for a few years, and applied again at Apple Retail in 2007, when I was 60 years old. Most people start there as part time employees, and have to work their way up to full time, if they want to do so. Within a few months, I was full time, after having set a store sales record, when the store was about five years old. I just retired from that store this spring, after having been the victim of a car/motorcycle accident (I was on the bike, and by all accounts, I shouldn't be here), which sidelined me for over two years. I am 69 now, and could have gone back, and was told so by store management and state market management, but I chose not to, because I still have walking and balance issues and can't be on my feet for more than a few hours at a time.
Another coworker of mine just retired from part time work at the same store, after having been there almost 7 years, and he's 75. Another coworker is still there at somewhere around 60, and I have worked with more than a few people there who are/were well past their forties and into their fifties.
My point in this is that something doesn't smell right with this story. I know quite a few people at a half dozen stores, and the situation is the same; many of them are way past millennials, and they're doing everything from sales to the Genius Bar, and in between.Why this individual didn't get called back, one can only guess, but in my experience Apple is the most diverse company I've ever worked for, and as I mentioned, I've been around the block more than a few times. To extrapolate this gentleman's unfortunate experience out to an entire company doesn't hold water, but it sure seems to make for lots of speculation.
I should start applying for jobs as a race car driver and sue if anyone hires a younger candidate. I've been driving really fast for over 20 years, so if I'm not hired it must be because of my age and nothing to do with my ability to perform a specific job related to something I have great amounts of experience in.
In no way relevant here. This guy is vastly more qualified to do the job than any other "genius" and he has hardly fallen off in his ability. I don't really buy the customer facing argument either, not all engineers are aspergers.
So this guy has worked directly with Apple end users in a technical support and customer service role in a retail store? Silly me, I thought he was an engineer.
"not all engineers are aspergers. " wow. I thought only wall street and few software companies are out there specifically seek for the type... never heard engineers are part of mix...(engineer usually need a team work, a lone wolf usually not enough... but two lone wolves could make huge difference -history tells).
I want those of you defending this policy to remember your position when your turn comes. It is safe to say none of you are getting any younger. My only regret will be I won't be there to watch it happen. Karma, you should all get to know her, because you will.
I want those of you defending this policy to remember your position when your turn comes.
Explain why an old person who can’t do the job should be hired over a young person who can.
My only regret will be I won't be there to watch it happen.
You won’t regret it, because you’ll be dead, and by that time medical science will have advanced enough to make us all virile at that age anyway.
Where was it proved he couldn't do the job? Is this what passes for logic with the younger generation? You will be lucky to be still employed in your thirties with that level of critical thinking. .
I want those of you defending this policy to remember your position when your turn comes.
Explain why an old person who can’t do the job should be hired over a young person who can.
My only regret will be I won't be there to watch it happen.
You won’t regret it, because you’ll be dead, and by that time medical science will have advanced enough to make us all virile at that age anyway.
at program mgr point of view, you do have budget constrain. what you hiring is the best person for the job, that including multiple skill sets and team fit. either old or young should not be a concern. but how long the chap is stay on the job after training may be a concern (I got turned down from coffee shop due to mgr suspect i wouldn't stay very long). To hire a over qualified chap you do take risk (not say younger chap stay put longer - many just take training and jump to next green field... collect flashy company names to fill up resume is one of game play... Apple happen to be on the "flashy" list). IBM laid off 20K experienced worker (including some high level software chaps) in favor of 17K new positions, that minimum qualification sometime is high school tells two things: current education may not provide the skill set need by corp, including software. and cost cutting and pension avoidance might be a consideration, imho.
very harsh "you'll be dead". be civil. the old chaps pave the road for good apple store and new product, their sweat and blood contribution should be appreciated rather than ridiculed. (did you treat your loved one that provide you the food and shelter same way? no answer needed. just show some respect would be nice).
Comments
Re: Obama: Do you know that such a concept has been implemented since 1935 in the US, when unemployment insurance was nationalized? EITC is another form, and many supplemental unemployment benefit plans have been around since the 1950s.
I did other things for a few years, and applied again at Apple Retail in 2007, when I was 60 years old. Most people start there as part time employees, and have to work their way up to full time, if they want to do so. Within a few months, I was full time, after having set a store sales record, when the store was about five years old. I just retired from that store this spring, after having been the victim of a car/motorcycle accident (I was on the bike, and by all accounts, I shouldn't be here), which sidelined me for over two years. I am 69 now, and could have gone back, and was told so by store management and state market management, but I chose not to, because I still have walking and balance issues and can't be on my feet for more than a few hours at a time.
Another coworker of mine just retired from part time work at the same store, after having been there almost 7 years, and he's 75. Another coworker is still there at somewhere around 60, and I have worked with more than a few people there who are/were well past their forties and into their fifties.
My point in this is that something doesn't smell right with this story. I know quite a few people at a half dozen stores, and the situation is the same; many of them are way past millennials, and they're doing everything from sales to the Genius Bar, and in between.Why this individual didn't get called back, one can only guess, but in my experience Apple is the most diverse company I've ever worked for, and as I mentioned, I've been around the block more than a few times. To extrapolate this gentleman's unfortunate experience out to an entire company doesn't hold water, but it sure seems to make for lots of speculation.
wow. I thought only wall street and few software companies are out there specifically seek for the type... never heard engineers are part of mix...(engineer usually need a team work, a lone wolf usually not enough... but two lone wolves could make huge difference -history tells).
You won’t regret it, because you’ll be dead, and by that time medical science will have advanced enough to make us all virile at that age anyway.
very harsh "you'll be dead". be civil. the old chaps pave the road for good apple store and new product, their sweat and blood contribution should be appreciated rather than ridiculed. (did you treat your loved one that provide you the food and shelter same way? no answer needed. just show some respect would be nice).