Should I remove graduation year from my LinkedIn for jobs?

Are you going to strip all years of employment, duration of employment, etc?

I get it, age discrimination is real, but people are going to work out your old if you’ve been working professionally for more than 5-10 years.

I think it’s irrelevant, I’d tell people to take it off resumes, but… hm… if people want to know they’ll work it out.

Yeah, this feels like one of those hacks that doesn't really accomplish anything and over-indexes on what toxic employers want. It seems strange to leave it out, and if people want to find out, they'll find out.

Let's say you have the following scenario:

1. You are now "old" by tech industry standards (45+).
2. There is a company that discriminates based on age. They give you an interview.
3. You do the interview and they find out how old you are. You get kicked out of the interview.
4. If you somehow pass the interview without really revealing your age and avoid #3, you join the company. People eventually find out how old you really are and start treating you terribly. You exit the company.

This would be a huge loss all around, so I don't recommend it. It's much better to just be transparent and have these horrible, discriminatory companies self-select themselves out of your life.

For what it's worth, I don't think age discrimination is a huge deal at FAANG. These companies were founded 15+ years ago at this point - A ton of talent there is now "old" by Silicon Valley standards.

If you haven't already, I recommend checking out this thread where I left incredibly detailed thoughts about age discrimination in tech and its effect on Big Tech.

I have different take from Lee or Alex: unless there's a benefit to you, you should not include graduation year. For example:

• If you've been promoted quickly, hiring managers may hold your recent graduation date against you and not offer your desired level. (e.g. I applied to Senior SWE roles with 3 YoE)
• If you are breaking into the tech industry after a career switch, hiring managers may think you're too old for a junior role. (FWIW, I certainly don't think graduation in 2018 makes you old!)

I kind of view this as getting a PIP, or being an expectant parent. Unless there's a benefit to volunteering that information, you should not.

There are times when displaying your grad year could help you, for example, if you're applying for new grad roles, or you're part of some cohort-based program.