Your experience may vary, but as a relatively younger person, I've had a ton of respect for older, wiser programmers, but only when they do show said wisdom. Th

Your experience may vary, but as a relatively younger person, I've had a ton of respect for older, wiser programmers, but only when they do show said wisdom. These are people who are technically very sound, are very precise when they speak, can explain clearly the consequences of different engineering design decisions. They are also adept at staying mostly out of office politics and bringing the focus on engineering, mostly because they are very low drama people themselves, and are genuinely interested in good engineering rather than their engineering. I hope that when I age, I do become somewhat of a similar person. But I know that there is a ton I have to learn. On the other hand, I've also seen older people who seem worse than the dumbest college graduates. These are the uncurious people, who never delved deeper, never tried doing more than required, to learn more than necessary, and went from satisfying requirements of one role from the next without developing the wisdom that comes from having made a ton of mistakes, the knowledge that comes from asking curious questions. These people are safe only because of their seniority, and are among the first to be laid off during harsher times.