I noticed with interest the reference in the original post to “connecting with experts” and wondered how you become an expert on anything following the lead of the author. Scanning Wikipedia and parsing a few tweets on a subject while doing five other things at the same time won’t get you a P.H.D.

By the way, undergrad is the new high school…

I was born right in the middle of GenX and I am extremely computer-literate, and I have to say it pisses me off when my co-workers slack off at work by goofing around on Facebook. Trying to justify that by calling it “networking” is pretty transparently weak… Baby Boomers probably whined and tried to justify smoking pot on break as “networking” too, and had the same immature rants about their elders “not getting their working style”. Don’t be a spoiled crybaby, suck it up and get back to work.

Commenters like this are why it’s very difficult for Gen Y in the workplace. I believe my impact on the business is more important than the time I arrive at work each day, and fortunately upper management is beginning to agree (I am gen x-y). Baby-boomers who are intolerant of younger workers are setting themselves up to be pushed out in some horrible self-fulfilling prophesy of some lower paid, less experienced upstart taking their job. I’ve already seen it happen to a few boomers who were deemed “slot blockers” because of their attitude towards technology and younger people in the office. The job market changes so quickly that none of the top jobs in 2015 even exist today, which dictates that experience is less important than flexibility, resourcefulness, learning quickly and adaptability to change. Get used to it.

I was raised by two baby boomers, but it would be more appropriate to say I was raised by television. My parents worked long hours and brought their work home with them, hoping to move up and provide a better life for their family. The reality is that they worked, watched TV, bought a bigger house, worked harder to afford the house, watched TV, bought stuff, worked even harder for the stuff they bought, watched more TV, etc, etc, etc.

Everyone has a different experience, but I think many people in my generation don’t get to work early and stay late because they were raised in the devastation of that lifestyle, and have decided to pursue an alternative. There’s nothing wrong or lazy about it. I can’t speak for anyone else, but Baby Boomers literally MADE me like this.

And if BFF Manager is in an industry that avoids hiring generation x and y, I have doubts that industry will even be around in 5 or so years if they don’t start bringing in more young people. I am in the maritime industry (one of the oldest) and our leadership is pushing baby boomers to take what’s in their heads and put it into databases (notice I didn’t say “give it to young people”) so the industry can survive the 21st century. Not to mention that what the internet says about your company is more important to consumers than what you say about your company, so all companies get with the program eventually, one way or another.

I’m leaving a job of three years (not long, I know) for a couple of the issues you’ve stated. Does my new job have a different stance on these? No way. It has one less. I call this change a win.

Working with baby boomers has been a love/hate experience for me. Some of them have provided opportunities for growth, but overall I had to break out on my own to really advance. They are so threatened by younger people – almost to the point of paranoia. The women are the worst. Talk about insecure. I have also worked with people of my generation who might as well be baby boomers. They are cuspy Xers who have been in government for most of their career. Enough said…

And being a minority woman has had its challenges for sure. Note to the last Director I worked for:

Slavery is over;
Yes I went to college and didn’t have to play a sport;
No I didn’t grow up in the ghetto;
No I am not some black man’s baby mama;
And oh yes, they didn’t burn all the books! I can read! SHEESH!

I now publish and edit investment education books, web sites, etc. I also work with small companies to set up retirement plans and create investment education curriculums for the plans. I don’t love what I do – I reserve love for people and pets – but I am good at what I do and I am motivated because I know that I am making a positive impact on someone’s life each day.

To be honest, I would not go back to corporate or government because the autonomy of working for myself has pushed me to learn and do things I would never have been able to do in traditional business setting. I am hoping that changes soon. I hope to hear that more companies are adapting to changes that are coming whether they like it or not.

In all, I would say to baby boomers what the bartender’s use to say to us in college – “You don’t have to go home, but you need to get the hell up out of here!”

Oh please! As a baby boomer Manager I never met a Gen Y’er that was not selfish, self-centered and lazy! Hate to break it to you, but you seem to be the exception, not the rule.

Their idea of a work day is to stroll in at 10:30 AM, take a two hour coffee break at Starbucks (while they bit*ch about their baby boom manager) and then leave at 5:00. A Manager can’t ask them about their personal lives and make conversation because they become offended. You can’t ask them what days they will work from home because they feel that it is none of your business….And status updates! Forgetta about em’! They don’t believe in status updates.

My only hope is to never have to manage a Gen Y individual again. It is possible, believe me, in my industry to avoid them!