Interesting comments (somewhat substantiated) coming out of a recent CIO event (not mentioning names) about CIOs and Gen Y people. (Aside: gees, I hate these gen x…gen y..gen FFS descriptions).
Seems there was some consensus amongst a few CIOs I am told about hiring, or rather I should say, not hiring people under 25. Nice….lets have some fun with the old buggers!
Oh where to start? And, how to be nice?…oh, who cares…… (But as always, open to flames) 
To you old geezers; did your 30’s, 40’s, 50’s age you that much to make you forget that you were once that age and full of passion and great ideas? I did some of my best work in my 20’s and still feel about 27 though I know I am kidding myself. Most of my Securus Global team is in their 20’s as was the case when we were SA. They drive our inspiration, knowledge and future success!
Without going into a long rant, I reckon all the CIOs who nodded in agreement to these statements on hiring “younger” people are living in a fantasy world of their own creation by virtue of the title [CIO] and their over-estimation of their greatness and contribution to their company and industry overall…..
Oh….still having nightmares about the CIO Council (that CW used to run) and their self-appreciation night a couple of years ago at the Four Seasons in Sydney where they presented themselves with trophies. (The wine was good though and I do appreciate the invitation from a close colleague to the event).
A few tips and comments:
1. Relying on Industry Analysts as the guide to your IT strategy does not make you a visionary.
2. 20 plus years experience and a title does not make you “great” and someone to be bowed down to by the younger generation (unless of course you are really great – in which case, you know this post does not relate to you) (Ahh….some will kid themselves here).
3. Listen to people who may know a little bit more than you – even if they are under 25!
Now in the IT Security industry, comments like that are stupid. Some of the best people coming through are considered by you as Gen Y. These guys can either help you or pwn you. Nuff said. Flame on!
Everyone on their own merits I say. There are good and bad in all age groups. There are many many fantastic under 25’s. There are also many that could use a bit of good old fashioned respect.
Many under 25’s I know that work for me could do well to spend a little bit more time concentrating on improving themselves and putting in the hours like we have all done at one point rather than self publishing their own importance and greatness, demanding all their rights and privileges and doing as little as possible.
I think every under 25 should go and work at a big 4 for a while – for no other reason than healthy competition against peers where (hopefully big mouths aside) the valuable rise and the others ….. well they just stay in the big 4.
@Gen X,
You must be glued to BorB. That was quick. Nothing here I disagree with. Like with everything else in life, the good rise to the top and others either continue on at a good level or just move onto something else.
I feel though for those younger people working for people making comments like that. They probably get a heap of lip service and patronising comments. When you are just starting out, you sometimes don’t see or read that but eventually you work it out. Their “bosses” don’t realise they have worked it out until it is too late and the good people move on.
Scott Adams’ “Dilbert Principle” book (the first one) is still the best management textbook I have read and have always recommended it to my teams with the statement that if I ever start behaving like that, please tell me!
DD
Ah you just caught me at a good time.
I feel for the bosses that have to deal with the Primadonna’s.
I am sure that most CIO’s are not just out there giving lip service and patronising comments randomly without cause about Gen Y. They might have also been in a forum where they could discuss their issues with their Peers……
Maybe it was a case with anything the biggest mouths are the best heard.
I was going to reply to this but then my ADHD kicked in.
…. actually, I’m proud to be Gen Y
I’m even more proud to be an information security person.
I don’t think it’s my age that makes me behave, or feel, or act the way I do, especially when I may come off as flighty, impatient, ambitious or jaded. The majority of that is relative to how we grow in the corporate environment, especially the people that we have around us.
Not that it affects Gen Ys more than anyone else, but I don’t think it helps with all the waffle that upper management insist on feeding us.
Also, I’m unsure if the short shelf-life of employees is all Gen Y, it’s an employee’s market out there, if you can’t do better why not take it?
-C
OK. Am Gen X. I see good and bad Gen Y, they are normally bruised and battered by bad Gen X stuck in dead end jobs in IT. I frickin’ loathe any CIO that hasn’t come through the ranks, but the pace is accelerating and apart from basic respect, self-awareness and humbleness -> we constantly need fresh blood and could actually do with less of certain mindsets. Experience in human nature, finance and project management is one thing, efficiencies/understanding of security/tech is another.
There’s nothing really that new when you look at the basics of security and managing information, however the tech now re-writes and obviates the need for much process and legacy hierarchies. Time is of the essence.
Hierarchies, hmmmmmmmm kinda’ doesn’t gel as well with collaboration, efficiency and new paradigms. Adhocracies, now you’re talking!
Smiling: I would like to see most CIOs bred out and replaced with either a Gartner sanctioned Max Headroom avatar or a pair or trio of Gen Y’s acting as a single individual with some guidance.
The best we could do for Gen Y’s right now is a copy of Alvin Toffler’s ‘Future Shock’ and realisation that brain plasticity and novelty is more in abundance in the young.
Can I be a Y again now please?
I gave a presentation a few weeks back and in a moment of inspiration wheeled out a line something along the lines of “if anyone over 30 tells you they do application security testing, they are kidding themselves.”
Apt. This came back to me after you posted this, reminiscent of the stone, copper, bronze, iron, steel ages etc….
“After winning a free ticket to Black Hat in a security treasure-hunt competition in 2000, Kaminsky traveled to Las Vegas where he met famed hacker Mudge, who gave him some ageless advice after the then 20-year-old Kaminsky boldly raised his hand to answer — correctly — a security question Mudge posed during his Black Hat panel session. “He said never tell anyone your age. That way you will always be old enough for them to believe what you are saying,” recalls Kaminsky, now director of penetration testing for IOActive. “
“Old CIOs don’t like Gen Y” ??
I have the solution for any CIOs with that antiquated mindset.
Please, we beg of you: Retire – asap – from our industry. Grab your super, piss off to the Gold Coast & see out your time being spoon fed your meals by nurses in the Porpoise Spit retirement village.
And while you’re spending your retirement learning line dancing whilst wearing an incontinence nappy, and doing silly aqua aerobics for your worsening arthritis, lament to your fellow old CIO buddies there about how things were so much better in your day – during the punchcard era.
BG.
Shame on you Mr Big Galoot casting a wide blanket and assuming we’re all the same. I am not yet ready to retire and when I do, I may well have a go at line-dancing.
I recently discovered this new Web 2.0 technology so I suppose I am one-up on most of my old peers.
The thoughtful insights I now have access to have been enlightening and have kept me fresh – standing out amongst my peers as a renegade and rebel against the onset of technologies many underestimate or just don’t understand. (Even after they have read their Gartner and IDC reports).
The Net is an amazing place where anyone can be anything and while I am passing my prime, it is great to think that the likes of the Big Galoot are ready to take my place and set the platform for the next generation of electronic business. The IT world is in good hands.
Keep up the good work Big Galoot. I do enjoy enjoy your work here and you are spot on most of the time.
Signing off
The Big OC
Dear “Big Old CIO”,
you’re only as old as the woman you feel. (My sincere & humble apologies to Germaine Greer & any bra burning lezzo feminazis who read this.)
Seriously though, you’ve obviously inflated your age calling yourself “old”, mate.
For instance, you’ve used the expression “The Net”. While outdated, if you were really as old and crusty as you say, you’d use terminology such as “The information super highway.” And instead of using the term “Web 2.0″ you’d be trotting out some ancient grandpa-simpson-like language, ie: “interactive multimedia on the internet”.
And another thing, ‘old’ fella. Thanks for the sanctimonious pats on the head with “Keep up the good work” and “you are spot on most of the time” etc. My real fans know that I am right, 100% of the time. Even when I’m wrong.
So shove that in your pipe & smoke it, oldie.
BG.
@BG I’ve now had to explain to my colleagues why I spat my coffee over my keyboard… and there’s no easy way to say “bra burning lezzo feminazis”