Hi Phil
After each meeting, Ray sends out a survey to all participants. The results
from the latest one:
When were you born?
Before 1950 2.9%
1950 - 1960 16.6%
1961 - 1970 33.7%
1971 - 1980 32.8%
After 1980 14.0%
I think an earlier survey had the 1971-1980 crowd inch past the 1961-1970 one,
but it does seem like the 30-50 age groups dominate. I don't believe you really
are among the youngest, and neither am I (I'm 40). There are quite a few WG
chairs, and some area directors who are younger than either of us.
20 years ago, was the balance of industry vs government and academia the same
as today? I am guessing that it was not, and that only a small minority came
from industry. I am also guessing that doctoral students and post-docs are more
eager than tenured professors to publish internet drafts, so the average age of
an academic at the IETF is low. OTOH in industry you get to participate in
things like the IETF only after you've "been around for a while". How many of
the participants from Cisco carry the "distinguished engineer" title? A lot. I
think that explains why the average age has moved up. Are things any different
in ITU or even W3C?
Yoav
On Apr 27, 2012, at 5:06 PM, Phillip Hallam-Baker wrote:
A question arose on the RFC-interest list, I observed that 20 years
ago I was one of the youngest IETF participants and 20 years later
that still seems to be the case.
I see some grad students and some postdocs in their 20s but not as
many as I think there should be. By now at least a third of the
organization should be younger than me, preferably half. That is
certainly not what I see when I attend IETFs. And yes, the lack of
women is also highly noticeable.
If this is the case it should worry us greatly. But first I think we
need to determine if it is the case or not. I suggest an optional
demographic survey of participants in the next IETF meeting to be
repeated at regular intervals (no more than 5 years apart).
People can argue about process, RFC formats and governance but it
should be beyond argument that any institution that cannot recruit
younger members is going to die.
--
Website: http://hallambaker.com/
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