When my dad, in his 60s looks for a job he will dye his hair to get rid of the gray just to look a lil bIt younger because the reality is that age discrimination is a real thing.
Just like I'm sure me being over weight plays a roll in if I get hired or not. Race plays a big roll in getting hired or not too in the shops I have worked in. Had my current boss out right tell me he wont hire women because they are a distraction.
Money plays a big part in getting hired or not to, these companies know the older guys come at a premium and they aren't always worth the added cost of wage and insurance. Hacks come in all age. the older guys typically being stuck in their ways isn't good either.
We have a self taught "cnc machinist" that wont even run his machine over 4000 rpms and thinks the 1" insert cutter has to run at a certain speed for all materials. Better believe that has cost the company a lot of money running a cnc machine like its a Bridgeport.
I'm mid 30s and have worked in a shit ton of shops trying to make better money in the fastest way possible and I learned early on it's best to listen to anyone willing to show you their way of doing things, even if you already know it or heard it. That has served me well in the companies I have worked and usually makes me the one doing all the bull shit hard jobs, so its a double edge sword.
Fact is though, most younger kids aren't rushing out to go work in a shop for sub par pay and having to dish out thousands for tools nor are the schools even encouraging it anymore for the most part. these companies are going to have to figure something out if they wanna stay in business as the older guys all retire. guys in there 30s or younger are far and few between in these shops where 90% of the work force is close to 60 or above.
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looking for a job if older person, they can figure out your age by your resume. you aint going to get seen to look at your gray hair. not unusual for 90% of job applications from older person to not even get a reply meaning no or few job interviews for old guys
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old machinist whether cnc machinist or operator can usually figure out feeds and speed calculations. or use excel to take 500 tools with over 10,000 feeds and speeds tried with results data recorded. what works good and what works not so good from results over years and 1000's of jobs
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if last 1000 times job was done and finish cutter going faster needed 2 more hours recutting cause of vibration or tolerance problems and old timer got data from 100 different feeds and speeds already tried old timer often goes slower and finishes job 2 hours faster. i see that almost every day. often going faster is unstable or non repeating or has 2% sudden tool failure rates.
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often see tool has 400 - 820 sfpm and .0030 - .0060 ipt feed recommendations and one operator keeps trying 950 sfpm and .0025 ipt feed, why ? cause sometimes it works good like 70% of the time it works ok..... when you get intermittent problems or non repeatability often its like a dog chasing his tail going round and round. occasionally using NOT recommended tool settings does work better but usually 98% of time being in the recommended range works better
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same with drilling holes. one operator tries going 20% faster and ends up taking 2 to 10 hours longer dealing with broken drill bits. might seem like old guy is going too slow to inexperienced person. but if you got recorded results data from last 1000 times job done and it proves going slower is faster (less problems) who is correct. the inexperienced guy with no memory of problems or the experienced guy remembering previous experience not last 2 times but last 2000 times.
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what i look at is does worker learn from previous mistakes. do they takes notes and use a checklist to learn and not repeat mistakes. that is anybody can make a mistake but whats worse is guy who keeps repeating same mistakes that is doesnt learn from previous experiences. memory is unreliable, most people cannot remember what they ate for dinner 2 weeks ago. how they going to remember how they did a job 2 weeks ago unless they record stuff. how you going to learn from a 2% sudden tool failure rate ? that is failures or problems that happen months apart ? like part done 1000 times and average time is 10.0 hours with a range of 8 - 18. hours and the 18. hour jobs are somebody trying to go faster and getting intermittent problems. that is if you go slower as results data says you can do job in 9.0 hours 99.9999% of time. if you go faster you finish faster 90% of time and 10% of time you take 200% longer or 18 hours instead of 9 hours dealing with the intermittent problems. that hugh time increase can take 10x longer time than what it tries to save in time. that is where its often hard to prove unless you got recorded data. memory unreliable. facts over many years often says different than what somebody remembers
....thats where looking at charts and graphs might seem like a waste of time but actually save hugh amounts of time. young or old person some might see value at looking at long term data and some might say waste of time. one operator might take notes when doing a job last 1000 times and easily see warnings of previous problems. young or old other operators might not keep any notes and might not even bother with looking at warnings from others the last 1000 times a job was done.
....i see that every day. young or old does person try to learn and not repeat the mistakes of the past. older person usually tries to learn but not always. younger person might try to learn or might think they know it all better than older guy everybody different. best not to prejudge people
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