I've worked as an engineer in over 14 different software companies of all sizes over the last decade (including one Y Combinator company for 1 year) and I've in

I've worked as an engineer in over 14 different software companies of all sizes over the last decade (including one Y Combinator company for 1 year) and I've interacted with hundreds of top engineers but I've never once seen a talented engineer 'straight out of college'. There is no room for lone creative geniuses in the software industry. It's more science than art. On the other hand, I've met plenty of very good engineers in their 40s; even those engineers who were never passionate about the work tend to become really good at it after a couple of decades.