No one has used the word “hacker” with this esoteric / old school context in over 30 years.

The name of the site you are writing this on is a usage of this "esoteric" meaning.

	▲	vesche 3 hours ago \| parent [-]
		It was an intentional, near-archaic throwback even at the time HN was founded. Paul Graham has written about it, you can probably still find his blog written about it 20 years ago.