I have an alert on "Sun Microsystems" and I received a link to this article:
Older workers bring plenty of ideas to the table. Here’s why
The reason I received the link is because of this opening sentence that referenced Sun employee #2 Vinod Khosla:
"Does professional and life experience – also known as ‘wisdom’! – have value when it comes to big ideas and innovations?You might think not, from reading this quote by billionaire Vinod Khosla, who was one of the co-founders of Sun Microsystems. He’s been quoted as saying that “people under 35 are the people who make change happen … people over 45 basically die in terms of new ideas”."
It is interesting that the article actually quantifies what older workers can and do bring:
"A study conducted by Vivek Wadhwa, a fellow at Rock Center for Corporate Governance at Stanford University and director of research at Center for Entrepreneurship and Research Commercialization at Duke, found that twice as many founders were older than 50 as were younger than 25, and there were twice as many over 60 as under 20.
After studying 549 successful technology ventures, Wadhwa recaps: “The average age of a successful entrepreneur in high-growth industries such as computers, health care, and aerospace is 40.
“Twice as many successful entrepreneurs are over 50 as under 25. A clear majority – 75 percent – have more than six years of industry experience and half have more than 10 years when they create their start-up.”
I suggest paying attention to a recent move by Google.
They’ve initiated a pilot program to support “a neglected group of innovators in the UK”. That’s right, the over-50s entrepreneurs and idea people.
The Founders over 50 accelerator provides a free platform for “inspiration, training and skill-sharing, to bring the support needed to grow a new business,” Sarah Drinkwater, Google’s Head of Campus, told Techworld.""
I have also noticed that Amazon Web Services (AWS) is hiring more former Sun employees - including Adrian Cockcroft and James Gosling. Tim Bray is there and coined the term GaaS - Geezers as a Service :-)
