Here right now the age vibe is coming from ;) It's not like a doctor can coast it out (or maybe I'm also naive).
(I'm an employer as of now)
I run a contract shop and all my best DB guys are greybeards... coasting. It doesn't matter, after so many years with postgres & MySQL they are amazing.
I would probably differentiate by work visibility: good work in DBA/sysadmin/security/accounting/quality is invisible, you only notice those folks when they have screwed up.
With product/UX/new features it's the other way around, coasting is not possible.
That very much depends on the application. I maintain some enterprise solutions for customers. Clients get upset if UI has flow changes. Also, changes don't make me money unless they are required for a new customer. I will do it on request and invoice for the work but no one is interested in change for the most part. I think this is VERY common in enterprise software.
There was a time when machismo was my middle name (much younger) and would have seen that as necessary for a successful startup. Now that I have several startups behind me I see it as simply bad management which decreases your chance for success which is stacked against you from the beginning anyway.
That was several years ago. I don't think that startup exist any longer.
Shhh... please don't tell the tech bros that there is a world outside of the Silicon Valley bubble!
Where you can raise a family and make a good living working 9-5.
Where you are not constantly trying to ruin and exploit the lives of normal people to make a short term gain.
Where most of the actual work keeping the world afloat happens.
It is better for us working dinosaurs that way.
Most devs aren’t terminally online, they treat coding as a job not a lifestyle and for them it’s just like any other industry - so you don’t hear from them.
Also, some devs retire into SQL and DBA like work since you can basically make yourself unfireable if you want to coast out the last decade of your career.