Americans, we work a lot. Here in the San Francisco bay area and Silicon Valley even more than most. The culture is increasingly moving towards work-as-life, and the work-life balance is something only Gen-X'ers still talk about. In the Silicon Valley, where agism is rampant, it's even more pronounced. Hard charging youngsters in the early or mid-20's want nothing more than to work hard, play hard, and make millions from their first or second job. They seriously expect to be start up millionaires before they are 30 and know if they only put in the hours and hard work it will happen. It's what they see on social media, here on LinkedIn, and on TV.
But like reality TV and Facebook posts, real life doesn't often mirror those expectations.
Americans in general work more than any of our counterparts in Europe, here in the Silicon Valley it averages from 50-54 hours per week, depending on the demographics and what your company does. In Sweden for example, where a big chunk of European venture capital ends up, the average worker output is about the same as a US worker, yet they work on average 31-34 hours per week. (plus have 7 weeks vacation, paid parental leave, and are among the happiest people on the planet)
It's not surprising that the more experienced (read: older) people in the valley already know this and hence prefer to "get the job done right the first time", and don't buy into the "work fast, break things" mentality of the younger generation. Unfortunately their bosses, who might also be that 20-something CEO, haven't the experience to draw upon to know and have to sadly often learn the hard way.
Agile, lean, sprints, flat orgs, epics, burn downs - these are the terms of today. Process, procedures, ITIL and best practices are leftovers from prehistoric companies, you know, like IBM, HP, Cisco and their ilk. Todays execs simply don't see the need for these things in their fast moving environments, and hence, the more experienced employees who abide by them.
When a senior person comes in, say a developer or manager in their late 30's or 40's, and tells them they can get just as much work done if done smarter, by putting in processes and using best practices, those words not only no longer resonate but can actually cause resentment. If they show statistics and studies that show more work can be done with better quality with say the addition of 1 more person to their team, the answer I've actually heard by the young execs is: "Why? I see you leaving everyday at 5, while the rest of us are still here working." This company is their life, their baby, and studies show they do get a great level of fulfilment from working 7 days a week. Those same studies also show the direct opposite from an employee's point of view.
Anyone over 30 knows that most young people think they know it all, I know I thought I did. And this isn't a new phenomenon, younger people simply need to learn the hard way. I know I did too. Regardless how many studies you showed me, regardless how many statistics and facts pushed in front of me, or even what you showed me, I knew I was right. Until, of course, I wasn't. And then I failed. And then failed again. And again. Then slowly you start to learn what you don't know and start to grow as a person. This process takes time, and usually the person is in their late 30's to early 40's by the time they come to this epiphany, which brings us back to the beginning of this problem.
Wisdom and experience - it's frowned upon in the place where you figure it would be valued the most. The Silicon Valley is inundated with young, hard charging people who just know they are a genius and if everyone only did it their way itwould be perfect. While the more experienced person might bring in a tried and trusted method of doing something, the younger members of that team may want to do something else they saw in a thread on Reddit. I'm not saying this approach is wrong, often it does bring some amazing insights, but the vast majority of the time the right way is still the right way. 1+1 will always equal 2, regardless how much you might not want it too. Google has spent millions researching these issues and actually has a "Peoples Analytics" department. In their quest for a perfect work environment and the most efficient employee, even they found that even things they thought they did well, they weren't.
So what are the results of this kind of thinking? You don't have to look much further than recent disasters like Zynga and Groupon, where the CEO's wanted to squeeze as much as they could out of their people. They hired young workers at above industry wages, but expecting extraordinary long hours, more work than they could handle and creating an infamous high stress atmosphere. They simply let people burn out like robots, and then replaced them with the next hard charging kids out of college. While the evidence is only anecdotal, many said they avoided more experienced employees like the plague. And in the end? Of course the CEO's got rich, but the company's imploded and the lives ruined have been well documented via layoffs and lawsuits.
This is the reality of the Silicon Valley and the San Francisco bay area today. It's well documented, even while there isn't some wide spread conspiracy and it's not a conscience effort on the behalf of anyone company or any particular group. Age, wisdom and experience simply aren't worth what they once were. And not only are these people not valued, but they are even actively avoided. Not only do these people have opinions, but families that they probably want to spend time with *gasp* outside of work. Hey, that's time that could be spent landing another deal, or coding another widget.
Think this isn't' the case? Take a look at the tech jobs available right now here on LinkedIn. How many positions are for the more experienced operators with senior titles, and how many are for junior, mid-level or new grads?
So sure, hire an army of junior people where 3 will do the same work as 1 experienced worker, but without all the "advice" and baggage they bring with them. Sure the quality may suffer, profits will drop, productivity will lag, and your product won't be usable in 12 months, but hey we're going public in 8 months so...
* All views expressed in this post are mine, and don't reflect the views of my employer, professional groups or any organizations I may be a member of.
** And no one proof reads my stuff before I post, so of course I have spelling and grammar errors :)
Erik Bloch writes for fun from San Francisco California and Göteborg Sweden, mostly about struggles he's had to overcome that others may face as well.
On twitter: @ejbloch