It seems like every time you meet an IT professional lately, the conversation turns to the current state of employment. Obviously, there are a fair amount of IT professionals out of work these days and the simple truth of the matter is that they tend to be older workers.

This situation exists, in spite of the fact that the number of IT people working today is at an all time high, because older IT workers are challenged on three specific fronts. And given the dismal rate of adoption of IT automation tools, it looks like it will be years before managing IT will become any less labor intensive than it is today, especially when you consider the number of devices that are actually being managed per employee.

Despite whatever companies put in their employee manuals, the simple fact is that companies will shy away from older workers regardless of the position. What drives this is first an economic interest in trying to limit their exposure to health insurance costs. Secondly, they frankly find older workers harder to manage. Older workers have had multiple jobs where many of them have been abused or mistreated. This can leave the older worker with a negative attitude towards all employers. The simple truth of the matter is that managers don't want to have to pay for the sins of others by hiring older workers that are disillusioned. Finally, younger workers have fewer commitments outside the office, so the perception is that they are willing work longer hours for less money.

This doesn't mean that older IT workers can't find employment. But a lot of them don't always do the best job of keeping their skills current. There is a perception that employers should pay for training to keep their skills current. But when the economy is soft, training is something that tends to get cut. Like it or not, it's in the self-interest of the IT professional to keep their skills current. After all, we live in a market place and IT skills are product being sold in that market place. The simple fact is that for certain IT skills, the demand far exceeds supply regardless of age.

Of course, the other option is to go into business for your self. Thousands of IT professionals have thriving consulting practices that let them choose who they will work for and when. This requires the IT professional to gain a certain amount of business skills, but the freedom of being your own boss more than offsets the daily headaches of keeping track of who you billed for what.

The bottom line here is that more often than not it comes down to attitude. The deck is most certainly stacked against older IT professionals, but it's hardly insurmountable. The last time anybody checked, experience usually has a way of winning over raw talent when the big game is really on the line. As they saying goes, you're as young as you feel. So maybe it's time to get back in the game with a new attitude and start kicking some butt.