Graybeards

I have been quietly (or not, if you're my family) covering my graying hair for years.  It was quite an unpleasant surprise.  I'd been highlighting (or frosting, as we called it in the 80s) my hair since 8th grade, so, when I decided to go "natural", I was expecting a dark blonde.

But I got a dark blonde with "magic sparkles" as my daughter would say.

And despite my protestations about being too young, I also agree with my family who remind me that it's not the age, it's the mileage.  

But it was really quite something when I got my first gray granny hair in my chin last year.  Those little F-ers are SO hard to find but you can feel them all prickly, and you end up nearly digging a hole in your chin trying to pull them out.

And, still, with all of this graying evidence literally staring me in the face, I feel that I am really not that old...

...right!????

Well, it finally happened.

For the entire week, I've interviewed with hiring managers who are younger than myself (at least based on their listed LinkedIn experience).  It was one thing to have a doctor that is younger than you, which really does make one feel quite old, but to work for someone with less experience than yourself...well, that is quite a perplexing feeling....particularly since I'm not quite middle aged....yet.  It makes it quite obvious that my career in IT is quickly coming to an end unless the world changes soon.

It just goes to show you that people get promoted or hired into management level roles that used to take decades to ascend to within a company.  And the people that are hired have no experience in managing, but they're young and willing too many hours for entry level pay and a management title.

What has the world come to?