Geordi A Late Bloomer?

[Mojochi]

In "The Next Phase" Picard remarks that Riker knew Geordi longer than any of the crew. So I looked into. Turns out, they were in the same class at the academy 2353-57, and are the same age

When they both begin duty on the Enterprise, Geordi is still a Lt. Junior Grade, & Riker is a full blown commander, who'd already been offered his own command

Seems like Geordi was going nowhere, in the command track, for like 7 years. Since he's been in operations, he jumped up to Lt. Commander, during that same amount of time, on the ENT-D, & had since been bumped up to full commander... all before Riker made captain

It's obvious that Riker stalled, but did Geordi have a slow start too?

Don't even get me started on Data, who fell behind Troi, for god sake

 

[WillsBabe]

I've often wondered about the thing about Riker and Geordi being in the same year at the academy and what happened to their respective careers. Personally, I just put it down to the writers tossing around throwaway lines they haven't thought through!

 

[Mojochi]

Yeah, & I think it was initially rather obvious that Geordi was supposed to be younger than Riker, like around Worf's class, a few years later. Burton's like 5 years young than Frakes. They must have felt Riker was in too isolated an age group

Picard's an old man, 20 years up on Riker & Geordi, & Beverly is listed as 11 years older than them, which is rather shocking as McFadden is only 3 years older than Frakes. Data is ageless or whatever, but his academy class was closer to Beverly's. Worf's was was a few years after Riker's

Deana is close to Riker's age, but I guess that wasn't good enough, & Geordi got nominated to be his classmate

 

[Snaploud]

Geordi probably got somebody's bad side during his previous assignment, and Picard took the liberty of speeding him through the ranks during his time on the Enterprise.

 

[gianderosa1990]

I thought it was weird that Troi had the rank of Lt. Commander in the 'disaster' episode, didn't expect that. As for Geordi, I don't think command or his rank was that important to the character itself, he was more interested in having a team under him in engineering and being the chief in that area.

Can't say I liked Geordi at all, if someone had a better idea than him..... he was the jealous type and was crap with women LOL.

 

[Lor'Vela]

Wouldn't ambition play a vital part of career advancement? I'd imagine there would be some characters who simply did not want to advance through the ranks or have additional responsibility, so they didn't push themselves as much. IIRC correctly, there was an Ens. Jones at Tactical who looked about Picard's age in Rightful Heir.

And to be honest, I thought Geordi was advancing quite normally. It was Riker that seemed to be one who was accelerating... at least until he become XO of the Ent-D.

Can't say I liked Geordi at all, if someone had a better idea than him..... he was the jealous type and was crap with women LOL.

I like Geordi, but you are right... He did seem snippy all the time. Out of all the Chief Engineers on Trek, he to me seemed to have the least "special talent", as well.

 

[Admiral Shran]

^ That's what I was about to say. Maybe LaForge just decided he was happy in his rank of Lt. JG, like Riker did when he was a Commander.

 

[data_lover]

heh geordi was probably snippy because he was getting so very little tail, and what tail he did seem to get (leah brahms) wasn't real and what tail wanted him (the chick in engineering) he didn't want.

 

[Tom]

Wouldn't ambition play a vital part of career advancement? I'd imagine there would be some characters who simply did not want to advance through the ranks or have additional responsibility, so they didn't push themselves as much. IIRC correctly, there was an Ens. Jones at Tactical who looked about Picard's age in Rightful Heir.

A good example of this would be Picard's lowley rank had he not been ambitious in 'Tapestry" .

 

[Finn]

They made it clear in some episodes that Riker was climbing up the ranks rather quickly. Besides, I'm betting that some of Harry Kim's old classmates made first officer by the time Voyager got home...

 

[SpyOne]

As others have suggested, it is more that Riker was being promoted very quickly than that Geordi was in any way slow. Riker was on track to become the youngest Captain ever, before he turned down command multiple times IIRC.

In "Datalore", Data describes how to become a Lieutenant Commander in Starfleet. He is describing either an average career or his own, and possibly both, but what he says is, "four years at the Academy, another three as ensign, ten or twelve on varied space duty in the lieutenant grades.".
If we assume that "ten or twelve ... in the lieutenant grades" means 5 or 6 years as a JG and 5 or 6 at full Lieutenant, we can see that Data, Academy Class of 2342 (assumes he joined the Academy the same year he was discovered), made LtJG in 2345, Full Lieutenant around 2351, and Lieutenant Commander around 2357.
But we were talking about Geordi: Class of 2357, he'd make LtJG in 2360. He should make Full Lieutenant around 2365 or 66, which is Season 2 or 3, and Lieutenant Commander in 2370 to 72 depending. So, he started getting promoted faster once he was on the Enterprise. This is because he was getting the same kind of "Fast Track" treatment that Riker has had his whole career: put in positions where he can excel, and under people with the desire to recognize his achievements and influence over the people in charge of such things. An "I really think he's ready for promotion" from Jean-Luc Picard is just the thing to put you over the top before the Promotions Board. And nothing gets you promoted like doing the job of someone who outranks you and doing it well: that's how Picard became a Captain, and it's how Geordi became a Lieutenant Commander (Chief Engineer on the Enterprise being a Lieutenant Commander's job).

As to relative ages, in the first season of TNG:
Patrick Stewart was 47, Picard was 59
Gates McFadden was 38, Beverly Crusher was 40.
Johnathan Frakes was 35, William Riker was 29
LeVar Burton was 30, Geordi LaForge was 29
Marina Sirtis was 32, Deanna Troi was 28
And, while we're at it,
Michael Dorn was 35, Worf son of Mogh was 24
Denise Crosby was 30, Tasha Yar was 27
Wil Wheaton was 15, Wesley Crusher was 15
Colm Meany was 35, Miles O'Brien was at least 35 (if he had been 18 on Setlik III).

Almost nobody on TV is the right age.

So, it wasn't so much that they made Geordi older to be the same age as Riker as it was that Johnathen Frakes had been playing a guy about LeVar's age.

 

[Hober Mallow]

Patrick Stewart was 47, Picard was 59

The producers must not have bothered to tell Stewart. On the Arsenio Hall show when talking about the episode "Inner Light" he said Picard was 45.

 

[Admiral Shran]

Michael Dorn was 35, Worf son of Mogh was 24

Dang, Worf was only 24 when the show started. I always assumed he was older.

 

[Snaploud]

Yeah, I'm glad that they never tried to hit us over the head with their supposed ages. I'm fine with believing the age of the actor equals the age of the character (a shocking idea, I know).