Is Software Development Really a Dead-End Job After 35-40?

I generally assume the absurd hiring practices are either large companies that have become institutionalized and thus have terrible processes free from the scrutiny of sanity (Google, etc) or are small companies that don't really know what they are doing or need. Both sound like terrible places to work.

I assume that's what he/she means.

Maybe not when you're young, but you can coast just fine as an older software dev. I'm doing it right now. Now, it might not look like coasting. Sure, I get pulled in to build test infrastructure from the ground up, prop a build server to fit the source control flow that a particular team has chosen, can walk a dev through writing unit test and integrating them into their flow. Hire some testers and dev with a high percentage of "good fits". Hell, manage a team if you need me to. Deal with the client in a professional manner instead of coming across as some basement dweller? All of that before my first cup of coffee without breaking stride. But only because of years of experience does it become second nature.

The tech stack? Meh, you've learned a dozen, you've learned them all. That's the easy part, and when it's not easy I'll go read up. But to me, the truly hard stuff gets easy after enough years and one can cruise through the non-tech parts that (to me) are the hardest part of the job. The only thing I still struggle with is putting up with bullshit in a tactful manner. That gets harder with each passing year, probably because experience makes it more obvious and harder to ignore.

The latter is funny, as when I started out (and maybe even now), I was always up for putting many hours into the product I was working, but only if it was worth doing and interesting to me. What I quickly learned was that these projects did not exist, especially at larger companies, and if they did, they were almost impossible to join. And even then, once on the project, political BS and favoritism could easily leave you working on an irrelevant/meaningless feature.

The reverse of "aging out" ("they're young, so they're stupid") is what I experienced when starting out.

While at eBay, the idiot managers did everything in their power to try to paint me as a stupid know-nothing and would constantly try to box me in. Whenever I did anything that showed ability, knowledge, etc, they'd freak out and try even harder to stomp me out. Working longer hours (or having to work longer hours) wasn't a display of anything other than me inconveniencing them and other employees, as now they have to stay late as well. Then right in line with such accusations, there'd be claims I'm not working enough, am a slacker, am always late (these Bay Area companies have a "show up and leave whenever you want" policy, but then magically everyone is always late), etc.

While at Google (2010), there was nothing but crap to work on, then later there'd be statements along the lines of, "you won't really be able to work on anything until you're a Senior Software Engineer or a Staff Software Engineer, as it's assumed anyone at the Software Engineer III level or below doesn't know what they are doing." There's always an excuse or some BS explanation as they tried to trap everyone into working long painful hours on nothing special, while dealing with endless BS.

Google was strange. There was overt discrimination based on age (older folks would complain about it, but then turn around and say the above about younger ones), gender, ethnicity, school attended, and anything else they could use, but it's magically never been mentioned publicly. They'd also talk down to QA Engineers and contractors like they were nothing.

Google was swarming with off-putting, arrogant, anal retentive pricks that would use everything as an excuse to say the most insulting garbage. It was a hellish environment in which many were on edge (anxiety) or miserable (depressed), while working long and hard on an irrelevant part of nothing special (something that's also magically never been mentioned publicly).