When younger people are more senior at work

olderthansenior · 23 Jul 2022 at 16:39

When I took my current job I feared my manager might be younger than me but fortunately he's slightly older. His manager though is 6 months younger than me and would have been in the year below me at school. He's at board level and never stops working so rather him than me, I'd love his salary but couldn't think of anything worse than working all the time.

I can't take him seriously though because he's younger than me. It just seems wrong to call a younger person more senior. It's not just him though, there are heads of other departments who are younger than me and again I don't see them as more senior.

It's a very young company too and I do not like it. There are even people who were born in the 21st century who work there. I remember when I was 23 I worked somewhere where everyone else was over 40 and loved it. Now I'm over 40 myself and I'm working somewhere where I'm one of the oldest. Seriously the office looks more like a school than a workplace.

Anyone else have the same problem? and what do you do about it?

peterwalkley · 23 Jul 2022 at 17:42

This sounds like a "you" problem. If you haven't used your years of experience to climb the management ladder, that's not the fault of the people you are now working for. Resenting them for ambition is not a productive use of your time, you will just end up bitter and unliked.

For reference I'm 55 and am effectively a team lead, no management responsibilities, so there are people higher up than me who are younger. I made a conscious decision to stay as a developer because its something I love doing and am pretty good at. People I report to may not know as much as me about development, but they know a whole load of other stuff I never wanted to learn - and I respect them for doing that and they respect me for doing what I do.

Different context, but my girls are smarter than me - which again I view as a good thing. If successive generations hadn't built on the knowledge of their forefathers we'd still all be covered in woad and throwing poo at each other.

Minstadave · 23 Jul 2022 at 17:44

Age does not equal competence or ability.

You may be older but it sounds like you need to grow up.

labbby · 23 Jul 2022 at 17:47

Do what I do, when they tell you to do something just whisper under your breath “woke *********” once their back is turned

Oh come on I can’t say freezing rain + thing you stick in a 69 ?

Kenai · 23 Jul 2022 at 17:48

Minstadave said:
You may be older but it sounds like you need to grow up.

This.

dlockers · 23 Jul 2022 at 17:50

labbby said:
Do what I do, when they tell you to do something just whisper under your breath “woke *********” once their back is turned

Oh come on I can’t say freezing rain + thing you stick in a 69 ?

Thing you stick in a 69?

dave28 · 23 Jul 2022 at 17:58

If that is your biggest issue with others in work then count yourself very lucky

cheesyboy · 23 Jul 2022 at 17:58

At 39, I now have go-getters being my senior at work.

So far, it's been fine. The two people in question are demonstrably very good at it, and both are just better than me at this stuff, so I'm cool.

Some shuffling means my immediate manager is now older than me, but only by a bit.

I think if you can 'own' your position, accept your limitations, and remain realistic, then it doesn't hurt on a personal level to be overtaken. It helps if, as I am, you're doing well enough for your own aspirations to be satisfied, and feel you're being paid acceptably too.

Lopéz · 23 Jul 2022 at 18:03

This is a "you" problem. I'm currently older than all my direct reports, but not by much. Two of them have far more experience than I do. I've had countless managers the same age or younger.

flea.rider · 23 Jul 2022 at 18:06

lol it's you with the problem ..my head chef is 20 yrs my younger .. it's quiet easy to do your job and follow his instructions .. if i think he's wrong .. i'll say so then carry on as he askes ..
i have never been that focused to push myself that hard all tho i've done the job it was not for me .. i like to be a step or two behind as f or money .. i'm ok

sounds to me you have missed something yourself and it's eating at you .. get over it or change jobs simple ..

BUDFORCE · 23 Jul 2022 at 18:08

Having a younger manager literally doesn't bother me.

I know I've under achieved in life, I made my choices in life I'm happy with them.

Freefaller · 23 Jul 2022 at 18:37

I don't even know or care what age my bosses are. As long as they're good at their job and support me when I need their support that's all that matters to me.

labbby · 23 Jul 2022 at 18:57

dLockers said:
Thing you stick in a 69?

Can’t even be bothered to edit that. Think the phone auto corrected from my web browsing history

Slam62 · 23 Jul 2022 at 18:58

BUDFORCE said:
Having a younger manager literally doesn't bother me.

I know I've under achieved in life, I made my choices in life I'm happy with them.

Same here more to life and all that

SexyGreyFox · 23 Jul 2022 at 18:59

Since I started at the NHS 14 years ago I have always been the oldest so of course all my bosses have been younger and female except for one.
It doesn't bother me one little bit because they have always respected me.

Haze · 23 Jul 2022 at 20:08

Why do people always feed the troll/bot.....

delta0 · 24 Jul 2022 at 09:33

Come and work in tech. You’ll have directors and above in their early 30s (even late 20s!). People much younger than you as a manager and contrary to other professions the manager does not necessarily get paid more than the person reporting to them.

skyripper · 24 Jul 2022 at 09:48

Get used to it as you ain't getting any younger.

Nemiyen · 24 Jul 2022 at 10:06

Younger or older, providing they can do their job and leave me or help me to do mine then it doesn't bother me at all.

My boss is slightly older than me by about 5 years but everyone at my level in IT are all younger now, bar one person.

I'm happy to stay at the Infrastructure / analyst level and have no ambition to learn management skills or business qualities! Tell me what you want to do or what isn't working and I'll try and get it to do that or help tell you why you can't etc. Lol.

I'm a hands on person and the management side of things or the documentation for documentation sake side of things bore me to death! If someone half my age wants to do that and get paid more I'll gladly let them have it!

SexyGreyFox · 24 Jul 2022 at 10:23

Haze said:
Why do people always feed the troll/bot.....

Sounds like a Cheesefest topic