When I was in fourth grade my Baby Boomer parents thought it was a good idea to send me home alone with a key wrapped around my neck, and the freedom to make 100% of my own decisions without any adult oversight. I was a latchkey kid.

When the school bell rang at the end of each day, approximately 100 first through fifth graders would swarm out the front doors of my elementary school and begin their journey’s home. Mostly unencumbered by any sort of parental guidance.  I would hop on my Huffy bike, helmetless, and begin my voyage home with my best friend by my side. A 10 year old, towheaded boy, obsessed with Fonzie from Happy Days, that lived in the house next door to mine. He even had a full-size poster of The Fonz hanging on the back of his bedroom door to attest to his admiration. Christopher, also a latchkey kid, and I were both told that once we arrived home we were not to leave our respective backyards until our parents returned from work.  Suffice it to say, we were never in a hurry to get home.

Since smart phones had not been invented in the late 70’s, the ability to remotely track, or ‘stalk’ me, as my own iGen children warmly refer to the practice, was not an option. My parents used something better. Something I have yet to replicate to the same degree and effectiveness in my own offspring.  They used fear. I’m not talking about fear of creepy dudes on the corner, or strangers asking you if you want some candy.  What came with my independence were my Boomer parent’s rules, and a clear understanding that if I broke any of them (and got caught) I would, without question, get my butt kicked.

To be fair I don’t actually recall my parents ever literally kicking my butt, but there was no question in my head they would follow through if necessary. Mind you, that does not mean I did not ever break any rules, it just meant I had to think a lot about it before taking on the risk. By my teenage years I had, thank you to my parents, become a pretty strategic thinker and risk taker, not to mention confident, and comfortable with my own decision-making skills. I should also point out that I did spend a fair share of time at home in the evenings grounded during those same teen years, proof of a few miscalculated risks and my parent’s commitment to follow-through. Ultimately strengthening my resolve for, and anticipation of, even more independence.

Considering that Generation X is often referred to as the latchkey generation, and gauging by the number of my peers that came to school with their own key wrapped around their necks, my experience was not unique. This lack of constant adult supervision, and the independence to stumble, fall, get scraped up, and find our way back home for a band-aid, and hopefully some empathy, was the backdrop and environment that I and my fellow Gen-Xers grew up in.

The silver lining is that those of us that survived, turned into a generation of independent, strategic, risk takers that would launch our careers leading into the dot-com boom. Successfully building some of the biggest companies we know today, such as Google, Amazon, and YouTube. Even more of us would survive a fair share of busts, like Pets.com (remember the sock puppet?), Webvan.com (a grocery delivery company before its time), and Geocity.com to name just a few of the more famous ones.

I personally have more obscure startups on my resume, that never made it to any notoriety, than I do run-away successes. But each of these experiences represent unique learnings, and without question impact the way I approach each new project.  I like to think that my failures just made me a more strategic risk taker going forward.

I’m lucky enough to claim a couple successes as well, such as helping define what would become a two billion dollar All-in-One printer market in the late ‘90s.  As well as an opportunity to work with pioneers in the music services arena during the days of Napster, for a startup that operated on a profit, and was eventually purchased by Yahoo! in 2004.  I’d argue however, that although success does build confidence, and with a little bit of luck discretionary income, it does not necessarily encourage deep reflection.  Failures on the other hand are humbling, and for me the learning more potent as it is human nature, and frankly a personal goal of mine, to avoid the same pain points twice.

Through all of these experiences it is hard to refute that Generation X has grown into a resilient, tech-adept, valuable pool of knowledge and leadership. In addition, the spending power of GenX is currently unrivaled. With 29% of estimated net worth dollars and 31% of total income dollars, Generation X has more spending power than any other generation, and we’re using it. Despite all of this, Generation X is mostly overlooked by both recruiters and marketers.

The technology arena is notorious for its ageism, and Gen-X hiring managers, executives and venture capitalists deserve to take a large share of the blame.  I am no exception to this generalization as I have sat in more than one meeting with a team of execs strategizing about how to attract and hire more Millennials, but I don’t recall too often, asking ourselves, “How do we get the attention of more middle-age Gen-Xers?”

Truth is the tech industry’s desire to chase, hire, and fund the latest Mark Zuckerberg, and fill as many seats as possible with Millennials, is mostly unfounded by data to suggest this is the best path to success. It’s fair to conclude that there are real advantages to making sure a diverse group of people and experiences are at the table, and due to the number of Millennials this generation is an important part of success now and in the future. But logic and history make it clear our younger cohorts are unlikely to be more experienced. So, is it just the sheer size of the Millennials, or the perception that they are more tech savvy that drives this ageism?

Two trends often used to assess tech savviness are the adoption and use of social media, and the willingness to shop online.  Most people assume that Millennials, or iGeneration, are the obvious winners when it comes to use of social media. In fact, the graph below does indicate they indeed have an edge with respect to adoption rate.

However, if you dig a little deeper, according to a Nielsen report, Millennials are not the ones you will find scrolling their feeds the most. Although more of the adults 18 to 34 have a social media account, and likely a higher appreciation for a good selfie, they are actually less obsessed with social media than their middle-aged peers. In fact, my fellow GenXers are the winners here, spending nearly 7 hours per week on average scrolling our networks online, versus a Millennial’s 5-6 hours.

With respect to online shopping, GenX is also in the lead, at least for now, even though they only represent a bit more than 20% of the total adult population.

The Xers I know are not afraid to learn, try, adopt something new, fall down, get scraped up, and find a band-aid on our own. We’ve been unattended minors charting our own way since fourth grade. Many of us have had successes and failures, raised our kids, and as we turn into empty nesters we have time and experience we are willing to share if asked.