The reason for age discrimination is almost never capability. The majority of older engineers, especially in more established professions like Civil, Mechanical

The reason for age discrimination is almost never capability. The majority of older engineers, especially in more established professions like Civil, Mechanical and Electronic Engineering are obviously and demonstrably better engineers than younger ones. This comes from simple experience and time spent on a subject. In less established professions where techniques and processes are more in flux, not enough time is spent on any topic to produce true masters - in software, there are only apprentices and journeymen. Principal level Civil Engineers can expect to make about 120% more than juniors - so firing one principal saves a lot of money on the books this quarter. These companies wither and die as they bleed away core competencies and corporate memory.