F**k Yeah, I’m Fifty.

(Image: Clem Onojeghuo on Unsplash)

Pardon my French, but as someone about to reach their fiftieth year on the planet, I need to put to rest a backward notion that exists in the corporate mindset, that anyone over fifty years of age has reached an arbitrary professional expiration date.

Age discrimination is pervasive and real, as evidenced by the fact that colleagues and friends have been asking me to shave my salt and pepper beard prior to a job interview…