No BS Career Advice February 23 2025

By Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter

ALEX FREUND — The Landing Expert tagged me on a post about how many older people rely on their children for help with their technology. Adapting to change, he wrote, is one reason why ageism is so prevalent in the workforce (and, in my opinion) elsewhere.

This isn’t me (although I never set the time on my VCR). I’ve been an early adopter of new technology, trying to figure out how to use it to communicate with people.

I launched my podcast, No BS Job Search Advice Radio, in 2010. I almost started a year or two before but this software I tried using, Odeo, was awkward. Apparently, my experience wasn’;t unique because the founders returned investor money and started their next company. You may have heard of it — Twitter. I started YouTubing in 2008 when you were limited to 10 minute videos.

Alex shared with me that he asked a childhood friend whether he was using AI and ChatGPT. His friend answered, “What’s that?”

Once there was a programming language called COBOL. No one uses it anymore for reasons it’s unnecessary to go into. If you were a COBOL programmer, you lost your careers if you didn’t adapt. The same is true for ADA or Fortran programmers (look them up).