Ghosting, sharks, and other job hunt hazards

My odyssey to a new job in UX

Photo by Steinar Engeland on Unsplash.

Being on the job market in 2018 in a tech field at age 60 was akin to entering a long, dark tunnel and hoping you see a light at the end (though not “the” light… it wasn’t a near-death experience, even if it felt that way in the middle of the night).

The job hunt really began way back in September 2015, when I was exploring an opportunity with a tiny edtech start-up. I’ve been around the job block more than a few times in my adult life, so one of the questions I asked the CEO was about their financial picture. The company had two years of grant money to launch the product; after that, he suggested I think about my appetite for risk before making a decision.

I had two risks to consider, in fact: The risk of continuing in a workplace with no chance, or even supervisory support, for professional development vs. the risk of the startup running out of money. Ultimately, I decided to roll the dice with an opportunity to grow into an in-demand field — UX design — and to work on apps that would help people, not just design websites to buff up faculty CVs.

I joked to friends and teammates that I might be the oldest person ever hired at a tech startup.