How old were you when you became director/VP

[chatenoire]

So I'm turning 40 this year and I'm starting to think I'm getting too old to ever be one.
I've been (but that was 6 years ago). And ever since I was made redundant, I've been an individual contributor in two different roles. I'm moving again to another IC role with a glimmer of maybe growing to having people reporting to me. So am I too old to keep climbing? I know it's probably my turning 40 crisis

My first GM role was at 29.
MD 32, CEO 36.

I'm now 58, a CEO, however over the last four years my salary is the largest of my career. That amazed me.
I'm an expert in my field but when I had dependants I had to take less. There was always an inference I needed flexibility. We had a 3G family so not true but I took what I could often at 50% less than my rate.

So by those numbers I'm definitely too old ;(

It's not age, it's stages.

Keep going, you'll make it. It's all about mindset.

Keep networking, performing. There will be industry downturns which affect everybody but just ride the wave.

I was a director at 38 and CEO at 42. However I didn't stop working when I had my children except for maternity leave.

No you're not. My bosses are 28/39/32.
Its weird sometimes but I am one of the oldest people from my cohort of the 1990s still working. Lots retired after Covid. I'm off at 60!
Can you update or add to your education? I got my biggest break when I did my MBA. Young people are really well educated these days.
And I'd love to be forty again, happy days.

30. I was young, 15 years younger than the other directors. Very ambitious and had an amazing boss and mentor who stood aside (moved sideways for me).

Still a director at 48 though more a NED nowadays.

I'm 50 and in a senior management role, I'm a subject matter expert with a small team of specialists, in a large public sector organisation.

I have zero interest in rising any higher. Work life balance is difficult enough at my level.

Not what you asked but my question would be why it's so important.

These ages are young. We have a few directors in their 30s but generally they are mid 40s and up. My director was 48 when she got the post about 5 years ago.

maybe it depends on the industry but a ceo in their 30s wouldn’t be normal at all in my industry.

i was 34 when I was a Director of a global corporate. I then made it my aim to be a VP by 40 but I was made redundant at around 36 and decided to do some freelance consulting.

im now 44 and am back at being a Director but this company is smaller so a Director is the equivalent of a VP at least (possibly even SVP) but we just don’t have those kind of job titles in this company. You just need to remember that different companies use Director/VP/SVP etc differently so it’s not always comparable. I’ve also worked a large globals where any Tom Dick and Harry has a VP title, so doesn’t always stand for much

i should also note that by the time i was 40, i had lost all desire to become anything bigger, title wise. Totally lost the appeal of constant business travel, working crazy hours etc. it suddenly lost all
importance from 40 onwards.

I've done the analysis on an MBA and frankly I didn't think I'd get a good ROI. Especially because any role I take (for the next 5 years) has to be remote.

I have two degrees and a master's

I was 48. Many years as a manager, then a few as senior manager, then director and a couple of years later senior director. 54 now.

36 but charity sector not private

I was 46. Then got made redundant at 50 and retired instead! Was a nice salary / bonus boost for last few years.

Yes, so definitely on the older side for sure. I'm in the private sector, and I've worked for global companies with 3k+ employees (where I was a manager for 4 years), and then in the 200+. It's all been in tech too. I've had 13 years of continuous experience in tech, but it's been really hard to get back into management for the past 6 years.

You have 25+ years of work left. Of course you're not too old. You have more work ahead of you than behind you. However, there are always more minions than CEOs/directors so it depends on your drive, experience, ruthlessness (in some organisations anyway), personality, qualifications etc.

DH and I are both 40. I'm equivalent to Deputy Director albeit that role doesn't officially exist and is what my boss calls me. DH is currently deputy CFO but looking for his next role to be CFO level.

I think I'm fairly capable, and driven. The job I left 2.5 years ago they had made me "head" of my own division because of my drive. We just never agreed on salary, so I left.

Totally agree with this. Hit 40 (5ish years ago) and suddenly had a dawn of realisation about WTF is all this for?! My good friend and her partner are also mid 40’s and are SVPs’ and they said they their entire life revolves around working and they don’t even get to enjoy the money they earn as they rarely have free time together. They are about to sell up and move to Spain and become dog boarders instead

you often very quickly question the meaning of life when you realise yes, you may have nice material things, but you don’t have a lot of time to actually live life

you’ll find a lot of ‘successful’ people consciously took a decision on a slightly lower salary at times as they would have seen it as an investment into their careers for a couple of years with the job title… a couple years later you can leave and command more money as you now have the job title

I still think it was for the best... Within a year I almost tripped my salary (that tells you how really low it was).

The new job I'm starting was actually a pay cut, but the opportunity of growth is.more tangible too.

I was a Director (CEO) at 42 having been a sahm from 36 - 41.
I'm now 54 & was a CEO for 13 years. I w now moved roles & organisations for better benefits & small salary increase but pathway for increases better & FAR less responsibility overall.

I think I'll do 3 years here & move again then.

Age is irrelevant imo - it's about experience. And confidence.

Specialism really helps too if it's appropriate in your sector

This thread is peak MN. 😵‍💫

I think women need to talk about progressing in the work place, we shouldn't all be happy at the bottom of the hierarchy and sharing information about how it worked for you is never going to be detrimental.

Care to expand?