The way crate_barre phrased his objection to "10 years of experience" may have been a bit harsh. But he brings up an important point that I've seen many develo

The way crate_barre phrased his objection to "10 years of experience" may have been a bit harsh. But he brings up an important point that I've seen many developers fail to understand. When you're 20 and you say you have "five years of experience", most employers will think "that's great that he was passionate about programming when he was just a teen". But by the time you're 25, if you say "ten years of experience", most people will think that he's exaggerating or embellishing. If you say "15 years of experience" at age 30, I dare say that most people will question your grasp on reality. After that, impressions gets even worse rather quickly. In short, as you get older, the less and less non-professional experience is taken seriously. And to be blunt, the vast majority of people will assume that anything you did as a teen -- even if you got paid -- was non-professional. I understand that there are exceptions, but I'm not talking about reality. I'm just describing how people will perceive such statements.