There’s a LinkedIn post making the rounds that hits a little too close to home. It calls out the mindset some companies still have when they look at a résumé with 20 or more years of experience and act like they’ve just checked the expiration date on a tub of yogurt.
Yeah, I’ve felt that. A lot of us Gen Xers have.
We’re the weird middle children of the workforce. Not quite Boomer. Not quite Millennial. We’re the ones who grew up analog, adapted to digital, and are still standing. Still shipping work. Still getting it done.
I Built My First Website Before Google Existed
Framesets were hot. Spacer GIFs were the way. Back then, we were called “webmasters”, one person who designed, coded, troubleshooted, and sometimes even wrote the copy. If the site broke, we fixed it. If the client wanted a hit counter, we added it.
Since then? Rebrands, layoffs, new stacks, new platforms. Dreamweaver came and went. Flash rose and fell. Responsive design wasn’t even a concept yet. I survived it all and kept learning.
Remember the hacks? The conditional comments? The random pixel shifts for no reason? Float bugs that made you question your life choices?
If you could get a layout to behave in IE6 and Firefox 2 without losing your mind, you’re not just experienced, you’re forged in fire.
This is why when I hear someone wonder if “older” devs can handle the latest tech… I laugh. We made IE6 work. You think we’re scared of your modern framework?
Please. Bring it.
Adapt or Die? We Adapted
We were there when Outlook ruled with an iron fist. When your biggest fear was the fax machine eating the last copy of a signed contract. When version control was naming your file final_final_revised2_FINALforREAL.doc.
We worked through Y2K panic. We remember when the office “server” was just a big noisy tower under someone’s desk.
But here’s the thing: we adapted. Over and over. Because we had to. Because we wanted to.
So when someone glances at my résumé and wonders if I can “handle the latest tools”? Please. I’ve learned and unlearned more tools than most people have apps on their phone.
It’s Not Just Experience, It’s Range
It’s knowing how to troubleshoot your email server and talk to clients without making them feel dumb. It’s understanding why the shiny new solution might not be the best fit. It’s knowing the difference between “urgent” and “important.”
It’s being able to pivot from hand-coding HTML to running a Zoom call, while helping your client untangle their DNS mess, and still have time to take my dogs for a hike.
Swiss Army Knife Energy
We’re not expired. We’re not “set in our ways.” We’re battle-tested, flexible, and wired to figure things out. We know how to work through chaos without panicking. (We’ve seen worse.)
We are vintage resilience. Swiss Army knives with Wi-Fi upgrades.
So the next time you see decades of experience on a résumé, don’t assume it means stuck. It means steady. It means capable. It means resourceful.
And yeah, I’ll still beat you to inbox zero before you’ve finished your first cup of coffee.
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