One of the issues is using the word "engineer" for any of the brogrammer types. an engineer in any other proper engineering discipline does not become worthless

One of the issues is using the word "engineer" for any of the brogrammer types. an engineer in any other proper engineering discipline does not become worthless with age, their experience actually counts for something. My fiancee who is a commercial bank loan underwriter made this observation: There are some people who have been in her industry for decades, but effectively have little experience, because they don't examine their decisions and figure out why things went right and went wrong. Then there are other people who have far less "experience" in terms of the number of years they have been working, but are effectively more experienced, because they can analyze new opportunities using the data they've encountered before. Experience as a software developer does count for something, so long as you're aware, and you're constantly developing models for evaluating cost/benefit and risk. If you can add in the ability to deal with and manage people, then you will have a very valuable and uncommon toolbox of skills!