Someone in Silicon Valley, a respected and very smart middle-aged CEO of a well-funded startup, once said to me that programmers over 45 either become CTOs or t

Someone in Silicon Valley, a respected and very smart middle-aged CEO of a well-funded startup, once said to me that programmers over 45 either become CTOs or they probably aren't very good (and therefore not worth hiring). A generalization, to be sure, but it fits with edw519's view of 75% of middle-aged programmers in https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8481761 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8481761.