The first claim -- that older programmers are more knowledgeable -- is obvious and is not unique to the software industry. This is true of pretty much any profe

The first claim -- that older programmers are more knowledgeable -- is obvious and is not unique to the software industry. This is true of pretty much any profession: the longer you do it, the better you get at it and the more you learn about it. The fact that there are few older programmers is also not very surprising. This is still a pretty young industry and historically, the demand for programmers has been pretty low. Also, until very recently (the last 10-15 years), advancing in one's career meant moving away from technical into managerial roles.