I'd say we're in a new golden age, after which we'll have a bunch of generic, open source implementations with very little need to engage in that type of develo

I'd say we're in a new golden age, after which we'll have a bunch of generic, open source implementations with very little need to engage in that type of development again. This is actually happening all over the tech world -- companies like Google and Amazon are intentionally commoditizing key technology in their supply chain where there are a few powerful vendors extracting rents from everyone (see Cisco in the late 90s/early 00s). Just remember that 50 years ago, Ethernet didn't exist as a concept. This stuff moves fast, so the fact that your skillset has been useful for 40+ years tells me that it's probably not going to be highly valued for too much longer :)