“engineer's career usually tapers off beyond a certain age.” With the caveat that we’re talking about software, not most other kinds of engineers, I know that this is broadly true, but just now this made me think of how modelling careers or pop-singer careers taper off beyond a certain age. There’s a lot of diva-like behavior in those fields - which aren’t so much about skills acquired through hard work but rather one’s inborn gifts (and a bit of malnutrition to stay skinny). Many engineers, especially ones who bank primarily on their innate talent/intelligence as opposed to hard earned skills (in combination with natural talent) like the average non-software engineer also tend to be predisposed to diva-like or fratboy like behavior.

I’ve also noticed that many of the (s/w) engineers who’ve survived way past that certain age tend to be of a very different personality type than those who “retire early”, and their persona has more in common with the average non-software engineer of comparable experience. Of course the huge bias on the recruiting side, and the fact that a majority of apps are basic CRUD type stuff fuelled primarily by cheap VC cash, that have no real use for 20 years experience, exacerbates this situation. But I wonder as the industry matures, and the proportion of apps with serious scale possibly grows, if the need for engineers “past their prime” wouldn’t gradually rise.

Just a thought...