I don't know if this has already been observed... but that fateful hiring decision (the lack of cultural fit with the 20-something brogrammers) sounds like a great one: there evidently was poor cultural fit.
I know that you believe your experience is valuable and your perspectives correct. If you didn't, you wouldn't hold those perspectives. But likewise, the exact reason these people are starting their own company versus going and working under you at Xerox is probably because they disagree with your approach.
I don't profess to know what the right answer is here. But I am very skeptical of claims of age discrimination when the author also says that these young 20 somethings don't know what they're doing and don't appreciate the hard won lore an older developer can bring. This clearly undermines the age discrimination notion, because it indicates that there is an attitudinal difference, and that difference could well be a net negative and a thoroughly reasonable thing to hire based on.
Again, this isn't intended as a judgement on who has the right perspective. I think many (not all) younger engineers would have fuller perspectives if they had more hard won experience, but I also think many (not all) older engineers may have a bias toward BigCo approaches that are at a different place with regard to the trade of between quality and speed to first version. But a lot of people start companies because they want to do things their way. Complaining about the way they choose (outside of things that are actually illegal) seems futile.
I know that you believe your experience is valuable and your perspectives correct. If you didn't, you wouldn't hold those perspectives. But likewise, the exact reason these people are starting their own company versus going and working under you at Xerox is probably because they disagree with your approach.
I don't profess to know what the right answer is here. But I am very skeptical of claims of age discrimination when the author also says that these young 20 somethings don't know what they're doing and don't appreciate the hard won lore an older developer can bring. This clearly undermines the age discrimination notion, because it indicates that there is an attitudinal difference, and that difference could well be a net negative and a thoroughly reasonable thing to hire based on.
Again, this isn't intended as a judgement on who has the right perspective. I think many (not all) younger engineers would have fuller perspectives if they had more hard won experience, but I also think many (not all) older engineers may have a bias toward BigCo approaches that are at a different place with regard to the trade of between quality and speed to first version. But a lot of people start companies because they want to do things their way. Complaining about the way they choose (outside of things that are actually illegal) seems futile.