Young kids aren't going into science and technology careers at the rate this country needs -- and there are very good reasons for that.
I’m telling relatives with kids that engineering is now a loser as a degree — it’s a big investment in time and money, and in a couple of years the job will be outsourced to India anyway with the U.S. government either looking the other way or being in full support.
You could say the same thing about most fields (especially the item I highlighted). One of the issues we must contend with today is that younger workers in many fields will typically have an advantage in that their training is more "current" than their older counterparts. This would apply in any field where advances in technology are routine, ongoing, and difficult to keep up with.
A lot of technical people steer their children away from technical careers. Sure, the career itself can be rewarding — but companies always want to hire people who are younger and cheaper. It’s definitely not a field for people over 50, and I’m not sure it’s a field for people over 40.
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Your blanket statements “but companies always want to hire people who are younger and cheaper” and “It’s definitely not a field for people over 50, and I’m not sure it’s a field for people over 40. “ are not true in my experience.
I have seen multiple examples of engineers over 50 being hired (in fact preferred) for a number of roles in my company. A smart company uses the experience and wisdom of older people and brings in fresh perspectives younger professionals.
Anyone in a technical or scientific field needs to “keep up with technology”, if they choose to stopping learning then I can’t understand how they would continue to find their career challenging or rewarding.
It’s probably better thought of as a first-stage career: 15 years as a pure techie is probably as far as you want to take it. By then you should have transitioned well into management or marketing—or be gearing up to learn a new profession.
But that’s as it should be for many more manual laborers as well as teachers, police and firemen, etc.. We can’t be expecting to be retiring in our 40’s—and then living off of some grand pension for twice as long as we ever worked.
Our brains and brawn are best used early, in a first-stage career.
The age thing is changing in a lot of places, especially away from the tech hubs like the Bay. Where I’m at almost the entire engineering department is over age 40, quite a few over age 50. We value experience and wisdom over the willingness to work 100 hours a week. It’s great to be in a “mature” work environment, we almost never work OT, everybody has a life outside work, and we make our dates.