A recent Wall Street Journal article dared to ask “How old are you?” and the answer was “As old as your skills.” The article cites cases where age-bias may have played a role in a job applicant not getting a job offer from a prospective employer. Deborah Russell, director of work-force issues at AARP, the large Washington-based advocacy group for older adults, is quoted as saying "There continue to be the same stereotypes about older workers, such as they're not willing to try new things and don't have the experience with technology."

Of course, in the IT industry, just the opposite is true when it comes to experience with technology. IT professionals tend to have years and often decades of experience. When I’m sitting around gab sessions with IT people, they often brag about “how far they go back,” as in “the first computer I ever worked on filled an entire room and had less processing power than today’s dollar store calculator.” Years of experience in this industry are worn as a badge of honor.

However, experience, especially in the IT industry, is a two-sided coin. On the one hand, the decades that a person has put in as a systems engineer, a communications expert, an applications developer, or other IT-related position are a real plus because it shows the person knows the evolution of technology. He or she has tried many things, failed at a few and succeeded at a lot. Along with the knowledge of technology comes the business experience of how the technology enhances or changes how business is done. A “seasoned” IT professional brings significant value to any team.

The flip side of the coin is the fleeting nature of technology skills and how quickly a person’s knowledge becomes stale. IT product life cycles are getting ever shorter, and that means what a person knows about technology today will become obsolete when a new product or updated version is released next week. This phenomenon affects every IT professional, whether he has 30 years of work experience or just three years.

Think about it. It’s a rare occasion when you want to deploy a technology that hasn’t changed one bit in three years’ time. Would you want a current technology to be deployed by someone who hasn’t had a skill refresher in three years?

The only solution to the problem is continuous learning – a constant updating of knowledge and skills. An update might be something as simple as sitting through a web-based tutorial that provides an overview of what’s new with a product or technology. Such an “awareness” update is usually sufficient when the technology changes are relatively minor or when the person already has an extensive background on the technology.

The other end of the spectrum is when a technology is radically new, or at least new to the person who must work with it. This is when extensive training – maybe even instructor-led with a hands-on lab – is most helpful.

Many IT companies with certification programs – HP included – have formalized continuous learning or continuing education programs. HP’s program encourages HP Certified Professionals to keep their skills current through a mix of online and face-to-face learning opportunities. These ongoing updates can keep you highly regarded by both your employer and your customers.