When we were 30-40 years old, the opinions and attitudes of the 50-60+ long service staff were often perceived as negative and obstructive. As we approach retirement we start to adopt the behaviours of which we were so critical 20-30 years earlier.
By my mid-50s I felt marginalised, interesting projects went to younger more energetic staff who parroted the corporate line. I considered going part time but fortunately a voluntary early retirement program intervened. I am now very happily retired.
Skills required of technical staff are very different to those required of managers. Tech staff need very specialist skills. Managers need to know about managing finances, staff recruitment, agreeing project priorities etc.
Both groups benefit from having a reasonable understanding/empathy of each other's work.
If criticism is to be levelled - often managers are seen as senior, and better rewarded. This encourages techies to seek management roles despite a personality unsuited to the task. There is a strong argument that some top specialists should be better rewarded than their managers.
Last edited by: Terry on Sat 17 Sep 22 at 22:29
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