I agree that a lot of this is perception, and the "young man's game" assumption is largely false, just driven by meaningless demographic trends (not as many people started coding in 1980 as in 2010, so there are proportionally few old programmers.
I'm talking about a larger feeling. The industry is ethereal. The companies and jobs in the 2039 information economy will be very different. Sure, it's possible to keep up. But, it may not be easy. In a lot of cases, you can probably expect the rug to be pulled out.
I agree that a talented engineer will probably be in demand. But that's just a small portion of people.
Compare this to bookkeeping, welding, lawyering, nursing...
An average 35 year old nurse (or most people working in a hospital long term) can imagine themselves continuing on some relatively uneventful path for another 30 years. An average employee at Uber? A lot less so.
..and most people work at much less prestigious companies than Uber.
I'm talking about a larger feeling. The industry is ethereal. The companies and jobs in the 2039 information economy will be very different. Sure, it's possible to keep up. But, it may not be easy. In a lot of cases, you can probably expect the rug to be pulled out.
I agree that a talented engineer will probably be in demand. But that's just a small portion of people.
Compare this to bookkeeping, welding, lawyering, nursing...
An average 35 year old nurse (or most people working in a hospital long term) can imagine themselves continuing on some relatively uneventful path for another 30 years. An average employee at Uber? A lot less so.
..and most people work at much less prestigious companies than Uber.