> the people hiring people that are relatively inexperienced but not practicing undercover age discrimination tend to be very much not representative of the industry
That is our gain. I've interviewed some great talent for entry level positions who have 20 year experience in weird non-programming things. They lack the technical skills to be worth more than entry level pay, but their resume shows more passion than many of the fresh out of CS (or boot camp) they are competing against. They also have enough background that if their skills develop as expected they will move up the ladder quickly.
That is our gain. I've interviewed some great talent for entry level positions who have 20 year experience in weird non-programming things. They lack the technical skills to be worth more than entry level pay, but their resume shows more passion than many of the fresh out of CS (or boot camp) they are competing against. They also have enough background that if their skills develop as expected they will move up the ladder quickly.