Thank you, Steve. This was one of your better editorials and highlights an attitude than is too prevalent in our industry. A young programmer might certainly call me a 'grayhair' and I'm still programming for a living. I believe that I'm much better at it how than I was 20 years ago, and I'm still learning new things about how to do it cheaper, faster, but most of all, better. While I am a team player, I enjoy working alone, often in unexplored territory and depending on my own skillset and determination to pull through.

Many of us may be a loners at heart, but we've had to learn at least one new technology or language every year, so don't tell me we can't adapt. I've never met a manager who constantly worked to upgrade his or her management craft from books, or pushed their own skills development as hard as programmers and DBAs have to push theirs just to stay current.

It's funny that the management types passing these sorts of silly judgments on workers' value being a function of youth are generally older workers themselves. If it's true that older workers are really not up to par, why are so many of them in management? Are they doing good work there, or just riding on the coattails of their real producers, whether young or old?