三四十歲在科技公司就算“老驥伏櫪”了？！

05 三四十歲在科技公司就算“老驥伏櫪”了？！

你能否想象，在三四十歲的年紀，自己就成為周圍同事眼中的“老人家”了？

這樣的事就在硅谷的高科技企業(yè)中發(fā)生著，許多公司的雇員年齡中值只有不到30歲。

雖然年輕的雇員會讓公司的氛圍變得活躍、富有創(chuàng)造力，F(xiàn)T專欄作家露西·凱拉韋卻直接告訴那些有“年齡歧視”的企業(yè)：不招大齡者進你的團隊一點兒都不明智。

Tech companies in Silicon Valley are ageist.The median age of workers at Facebook and LinkedIn is 29.At Google it is all of 30.“Young people are just smarter,” as Mark Zuckerberg is supposed to have said.And even if they are not smarter, they are certainly cheaper.

硅谷的高科技企業(yè)都有年齡歧視。Facebook和LinkedIn的員工年齡中值是29歲，谷歌是30歲?！澳贻p人要更聰明”，據(jù)說馬克·扎克伯格這樣說過。而且就算他們沒有更聰明，也肯定更便宜。

There are lots of stories of tragic people in their 40s and 50s buying hoodies and boning up on superheroes before they pound the virtual pavements in search of a job.Some eventually get hired, but most appear not to.It all reminds me of the things women have been doing for decades to try to fit into a male world — wearing trouser suits and taking up golf, only this time it is worse.San Francisco has become a hotspot for Botox, with tech workers in even their late 20s and 30s seeking to inject their faces with stuff that renders them expressionless, to fit in with their baby-faced colleagues.

有很多這樣的故事：悲催的四五十歲的求職者，在應(yīng)聘前跑去買帽衫和惡補超級英雄。有些人歷盡周折后得到了聘用，但大多數(shù)人卻似乎沒能找到工作。這讓我回想起女性為融入男人的世界幾十年來所做過的努力——穿褲裝，還有學(xué)打高爾夫球——只是這回情況更糟。舊金山現(xiàn)在已經(jīng)成了一個肉毒桿菌盛行地，那兒的技術(shù)工作者們甚至在三十歲左右就試著往臉上打那些讓他們面無表情的玩意，好讓自己能夠融入那些娃娃臉的同事們。

Yet there are bigger barriers to older people working in tech that no one is talking about and which no hoodie or syringe full of botulinum toxin will take care of.It has nothing to do with any prejudice that the over-40s are slow at mastering technology or that they lack entrepreneurial spirit.Instead, the barrier is the very thing that these companies are being praised for: their new organisational structure.

然而，對年紀較大的人來說，在科技公司工作有著更大的障礙，這些障礙無人提及，并且帽衫或充滿肉毒桿菌的注射器也無濟于事。這種障礙與超過四十歲的人掌握技術(shù)慢或缺乏創(chuàng)業(yè)精神的偏見沒什么關(guān)系。而恰恰是這些公司被極力稱贊的地方：新的組織架構(gòu)。

I've been reading The Conversational Firm by Catherine Turco, a sociologist at MIT, who has spent months infiltrating “TechCo”, a rapidly growing software company in the US.It has chucked out the old ways of working and arranged itself on more open, unhierarchical lines.

我最近在看麻省理工學(xué)院(MIT)社會學(xué)家凱瑟琳·圖爾科寫的《會話公司》(The Conversational Firm)一書，凱瑟琳在美國一家飛速成長的軟件公司“TechCo”呆了好幾個月。這家公司拋棄了舊的工作方式，采用更開放的、打破等級制度的組織模式。

It is the product of a socially networked age, in which people communicate within companies in quite different ways.The result, says Ms Turco, is an organisation built around conversation.So far, so good: people my age are all in favour of conversation.Only not of this variety.

這是一個社交網(wǎng)絡(luò)時代的產(chǎn)物，在這個時代，公司內(nèi)部員工的溝通方式和以往大相徑庭。其結(jié)果是，據(jù)圖爾科女士稱，一個基于對話構(gòu)建起來的組織由此誕生。如此尚好：像我這個年紀的人們都喜歡對話。只不過不是這種形式的。

The book starts with a glowing description of Hack Night at TechCo.Hundreds of employees assemble in a hall at the company HQ; the evening begins with a call for anyone with an idea to tell the audience what it is.Then each idea is assigned to a part of the room, and as music is pumped up everyone moves around to discuss whichever idea appeals to them.There's beer, pizza and a lot of talk.It goes on for hours.At about 9pm, everyone goes home.

這本書一開頭就生動地描繪了TechCo的夜話活動(Hack Night)。數(shù)百名員工聚在公司總部的一個禮堂：剛開場就號召所有人集思廣益，講講自己有什么好的構(gòu)想。接著征集上來的點子被收集到禮堂的一個區(qū)域，然后音樂響起，人們走來走去地互相討論哪個點子比較吸引人?，F(xiàn)場供應(yīng)啤酒和披薩，大家高聲闊論。活動持續(xù)幾個鐘頭。大概到晚上9點，人們才散場回家。

At TechCo, they love Hack Night.But they would, because the median age of their 600 staff is 26.I view an evening like this with unmitigated horror.Not because I think it couldn't work, or that no fruitful discussion could ever result.It simply would not work with me as a part of it as I am at least two decades too old for it.

在TechCo，人人都愛Hack Night。而他們也應(yīng)該愛，因為這家公司600名員工的中值年齡為26歲。而這樣一個夜晚對我而言則恐怖至極。并不是因為我覺得它起不到什么作用，或是這樣的討論不會有什么成果。只是它對我來說行不通，部分原因在于，要適應(yīng)它，我至少得再年輕二十歲。

TechCo calls it “controlled chaos”, but I am anti-chaos of any sort, on the grounds that it is chaotic and therefore a less efficient way of organising than something more structured.Worse, the very idea of Hack Night offends me because, like most people my age, I'm a cynic.Traditional organisations can tolerate moderate amounts of cynicism, but this new company functions only when everyone is a true believer.

TechCo將其稱之為“掌控下的混亂”，但我反對任何形式的混亂，就因為它混亂所以和那些更規(guī)范的組織方式相比它效率低下。更糟的是，Hack Night這個想法本身就讓我不爽，像大多跟我年紀相仿的人一樣，我是一個憤世嫉俗的人。傳統(tǒng)的組織能夠包容適度的憤世嫉俗，但這種新式企業(yè)只有在人人都是虔誠信徒的前提下才能運行。

The more companies that model themselves around this sort of “conversation”, the more my generation will be locked out — even if their young bosses stop saying outrageously ageist things and see some sense in trying to hire a few older people.

效仿這種“會話”模式的公司越多，我們這代人也將越多地被拒之門外——即便這些公司的年輕老板們不再肆無忌憚地發(fā)表年齡歧視的言論，也看到試著雇傭一些年長員工有一定好處。

At some point the penny must drop, even with the most bigoted 20-something billionaire, that age discrimination is not just illegal or unfair but is also stupid.When older customers are the ones with most of the money — needed to keep almost any business going — not having them in your workforce makes no sense.

人們遲早得明白，年齡歧視并不僅僅是非法的或不公平的，也是愚蠢的，就算是最偏執(zhí)的二十來歲的億萬富翁也要懂得這點。當年長的顧客是那些掌握著大部分資金的人——幾乎任何業(yè)務(wù)的發(fā)展都需要這些資金——不招大齡者進你的員工隊伍一點兒都不明智。

What worries me most is that these organisational ideas are bound to escape from Silicon Valley before long, as that is the way of these things.The infantile office decor with primary colours and bean bags was invented in California but has long since migrated, so now the frumpiest businesses all over the world have offices that look like kindergartens.This is regrettable but not a disaster — older people can simply close their eyes to it.

最讓我擔心的是這些組織理念不久就將從硅谷蔓延到更多的地方，這是必然趨勢。那種用亮麗原色和懶人沙發(fā)裝飾的童趣十足的辦公室，始創(chuàng)于加利福尼亞，但早已風靡各地，所以現(xiàn)在全世界最古板企業(yè)的辦公室看著都跟幼兒園一樣。這雖不盡人意但也算不上是災(zāi)難——上歲數(shù)的人大可以眼不見為凈。

But with the conversational firm you can't just close your eyes — or ears.It is a structure, a philosophy and a way of life; in this conversation, people in their 40s, let alone in their 50s or 60s, will have nothing to say.

而對會話公司就不能視而不見——或充耳不聞。它是一種架構(gòu)、哲學(xué)及生活方式；在這樣的會話中，四十幾歲的人，更別說五六十歲的人，都將無話可說。

詞匯總結(jié)

pound the pavement 在街頭徘徊找工作

bone up on sth （通常是為了準備考試）專門鉆研，努力研讀

There are lots of stories of tragic people in their 40s and 50s buying hoodies and boning up on superheroes before they pound the virtual pavements in search of a job.

有很多這樣的故事：悲催的四五十歲的求職者，在應(yīng)聘前跑去買帽衫和惡補超級英雄。

So far, so good

形容某件正在進行的事情，到現(xiàn)在還算成功；特別是你其實并不看好這件事將來走向的情況下

So far, so good: people my age are all in favour of conversation.

如此尚好：像我這個年紀的人們都喜歡對話。

Tsk 語氣詞，嘖嘖，表示不耐煩、不贊同

be bound to 必然或注定要做；堅決或下定決心要做

What worries me most is that these organisational ideas are bound to escape from Silicon Valley before long, as that is the way of these things.

最讓我擔心的是這些組織理念不久就將從硅谷蔓延到更多的地方，這是必然趨勢。