I agree with most of what you said, but this...

> At this stage though you’ll be a grey beard and be unemployable.

isn't as true as people think. I'm a graybeard and remain very much in demand, as do the majority of the graybeards I know.

YMMV but the vast majority of greybeards I know are unemployed or are doing other things than software engineering now.

	▲	JohnFen a day ago \| parent [-]
		What I have noticed is that graybeards who work for SV-style companies are treated as disposable, incompetent, etc. But outside of that, things aren't as bad as people think, and most dev jobs aren't in those companies.