For what it’s worth, I am a relatively young engineer who has recently been working very closely with other engineers over the age of 55 on a daily basis. It has been one of the more enriching periods in my career so far. I often wonder if the ageism that I see so often referred to on Hackernews is more projection than reality because I consistently find it pleasant to work with individuals who have a very large body of experience to draw from. Ageism in general baffles me as one could very well ask the question: “would you rather have a carpenter with 2 years of experience working on your house, or one with 30 years of experience?” The answer seems obvious to me, and the question could easily be applied to software engineering.