I’m 55 years old. I’ve worked in IT for more than 30 years.
And since being made redundant in February, I’ve applied for well over 100 jobs.
Do you know how many actual rejection responses I’ve received?
I could probably count them on one hand.
Most applications simply disappear into the recruitment void. No rejection. No feedback. Nothing.
And it has made me wonder:
## At what point did experience stop being an asset?
I’ve spent more than three decades working in IT, particularly in collaboration technologies — from Lotus Notes and Domino, through IBM and HCL, and more recently into the Microsoft collaboration stack.
I’ve supported users and administrators. I’ve migrated systems. I’ve trained people. I’ve written technical documentation — and, bizarrely, I actually enjoy it.
I take ridiculously detailed notes. I enjoy facilitating meetings, translating technical information into something people can actually understand, troubleshooting problems and helping people.
I’ve also worked remotely for more than 15 years. I know how to manage my time, communicate with colleagues and customers, and get on with the job without someone looking over my shoulder.
## I’m not looking for a fancy title
I’m not necessarily looking for the biggest title or the most senior position.
I’d happily work in support. Training. Documentation. Customer success. Project coordination. A service desk. A call centre.
Give me a problem to solve, something to organise, someone to help or something complicated that needs explaining in plain English, and I’m in my element.
Yet finding someone willing to have that first conversation has been extraordinarily difficult.
And I know I’m not alone.
## When did being experienced become a disadvantage?
Being a woman in technology has never exactly been the easiest career path.
Add being over 50 and suddenly decades of experience can sometimes feel less like an advantage and more like something you need to apologise for.
That worries me — and not just because I need a job.
Because there is an enormous amount of knowledge sitting inside the heads of people in their 50s and 60s who are being made redundant and struggling to get back into the workforce.
If those people eventually give up and leave their industries altogether, **that knowledge leaves with them.**
There is absolutely nothing wrong with me working in a shop, stacking shelves or making coffee. Work is work, and I would never look down on anyone doing those jobs.
But it would be an extraordinary waste if 30+ years of technical knowledge, customer experience, troubleshooting, mentoring and lessons learned simply disappeared because nobody looked beyond a CV long enough to have a conversation.
## Just give experience a chance
I don’t expect a job because of my experience.
I’d just like the opportunity to show what I can still do.
Perhaps the question employers should be asking isn’t:
**“Is this person too experienced?”**
Maybe it should be:
**“What could our organisation gain from everything this person already knows?”**
Because **experience doesn’t have an expiry date.**