In my personal experience, “the really old colleague” is often a real throw of the dice between stubborn-as-fuck-never-matured-know-it-all and very-interesting-seen-it-all-genuinelly-mature-colleague - so basically opposite ends of the scale. Often there’s also the corner-guy-just-counting-their-days-till-retirement, which doesn’t say much about that person since they’re not really into establishing relationships with people whom they will soon never see again and just keep a low profile.
If you’re early career, having one of the seen-it-all kind of older colleagues is probably one of the best things it can happen to you, especially if you’re a bright kid.
In my personal experience, “the really old colleague” is often a real throw of the dice between stubborn-as-fuck-never-matured-know-it-all and very-interesting-seen-it-all-genuinelly-mature-colleague - so basically opposite ends of the scale. Often there’s also the corner-guy-just-counting-their-days-till-retirement, which doesn’t say much about that person since they’re not really into establishing relationships with people whom they will soon never see again and just keep a low profile.
If you’re early career, having one of the seen-it-all kind of older colleagues is probably one of the best things it can happen to you, especially if you’re a bright kid.