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I'm ancient by HN standards, but I still find my skills are in demand. I would categorize myself as a lifelong learner; I got into python over 15 years ago, mongodb almost 10, and I have taken the time to understand what I need to know about front-end frameworks like angular and react. One employer called me a Swiss army knife, and I take that as a compliment. My knowledge is quite broad and quite deep, though I'm not a super expert at any one thing and I can't claim to know everything about everything.

However I have several friends around my age who never bothered to learn anything beyond C++, and they are definitely struggling. They either are stuck in jobs because they're the only person who knows how to recompile some ancient module, or they're out of work and freaked out about the future.

Ageism is real, but so are some of the stereotypes. Older programmers are often going to be more resistant to change, and can be more sure of themselves even when they're wrong. The flipside is they often have forgotten more than a young programmer even knows.

Present Valley hiring practices seem to optimize for general aptitude, and downplay or disregard the value of experience.

There's also the undeniable fact that older people in general have built up more obligations and responsibilities, and are often more skeptical of the value of equity because they've been a few startups and their options never amounted to anything. Therefore, they are going to prefer stability and cash over the promise of future rewards.




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