I know you're taking some flack for making it about age, but I do think there's some merit there. I'm 34. I feel like I'm in the middle in terms of software developer / sysadmin age. Lots of bright minds came before me and there are lots of bright minds out there right now in their early 20s.
A key difference is I can remember a time when network connectivity was flaky. When it was hardly a given. Even when it was available, the download times alone could often constitute a large part of the overall build time.
I think that we have all become complacent with regard to internet connectivity and service availability, but I think the younger you are the more complacent you are likely to be. If github.com goes down entirely, let's be honest - there are a lot of Jenkins builds that are going to be in the red.
A key difference is I can remember a time when network connectivity was flaky. When it was hardly a given. Even when it was available, the download times alone could often constitute a large part of the overall build time.
I think that we have all become complacent with regard to internet connectivity and service availability, but I think the younger you are the more complacent you are likely to be. If github.com goes down entirely, let's be honest - there are a lot of Jenkins builds that are going to be in the red.