I worry that the "culture" argument has dangerous implications if true, as it can be used to discriminate on so many grounds outside of age: gender ("If I'm with a bunch of my bro's, why mess it up with a girl?"), race, language, disabilities, etc etc.
I thought the "hacker culture" would be supportive of the idea that "if you can do the job well, let's work together on solving interesting problems," rather than the cliche "would I want to grab a beer with this person?"
Saying “Hacker/Startup culture” is a little like saying “C/C++” – they are not the same and should not be conflated. Actually, it’s more like saying “Lisp/Java” – many people are enamored by the latter and thinks that the former is very similar, but it is in fact only similar in some superficial ways, and completely different in design, values, and style.
> I worry that the "culture" argument has dangerous implications if true, as it can be used to discriminate on so many grounds outside of age: gender ("If I'm with a bunch of my bro's, why mess it up with a girl?"), race, language, disabilities, etc etc.
Well, yeah. Only it's not "implications", it's the reality of tech hiring. The hiring practices of many tech companies have been called racist, sexist and age-discriminatory (although I haven't heard anything with regard to disabilities). One of the first counter arguments for the accused company is "culture fit".
> I thought the "hacker culture" would be supportive of the idea that "if you can do the job well, let's work together on solving interesting problems," rather than the cliche "would I want to grab a beer with this person?"
That's great in theory, but it doesn't hold water in practice. People are people. The "hacker culture" thing might work well if people work together via a mailing list, but if it's a bunch of people that spend many hours together in an office, then the social aspect play a bigger role I think.
In theory, if the tech hiring was purely about skillsets, one could adjust the interview process to focus only on that. I know some orchestras have shifted to "blind auditions" to eliminate bias, for instance, and it has helped out some groups previously left out of orchestras due to bias (female musicians notably). I think it would be possible to shift a technology-oriented hiring process towards those lines if one was most concerned about getting the best people for the job.
In practice, to be honest, a lot of the stories I hear about age bias seem to come from the SV "startup culture" scene and a few of the other "new technology" type companies. In some ways, I almost think it's their loss. Passing over a fair bit of good talent just to get that, er, "culture fit" they want doesn't seem very optimal to me.
I thought the "hacker culture" would be supportive of the idea that "if you can do the job well, let's work together on solving interesting problems," rather than the cliche "would I want to grab a beer with this person?"