You bring up some interesting points, but I must disagree with what you seem to be implying.<p>While it is true that there are many 20 year olds with very impressive tech resumes, many more impressive than mine (I went in the Army and did some other things before entering the tech industry, so I came in older than average).  But they are the exception, not the rule.  When I interview young programmers, most come as the post described with a CS degree and I hope to work 9-5 having done little-to-no programming that was required.  At least from what I see in interviews, those are more common than the impressive resumes.<p>Next is, <i>All of your experience becomes a hindrance when you start to follow your old steps to the "right solution" every time.</i>  This can be true in some cases, but again I think those are the exception, not the rule.  Remember that most mid-career people, especially the successful ones and especially in technology, can be quite adaptable.<p>Also, remember that most disruptive thoughts are older ideas that are just now coming into their own.  Lisp has been around for a very long time, but it is starting to take off now (at least more so than it was in the past).  Thin clients are a very cyclic idea that once were the norm in an extreme with dumb terminals to mainframes, then gave way to desktops, then were talked about without much success, and now are seeing some success in netbooks/smartphones/etc.<p>Most of the time the more experienced and seasoned person can adapt and then leverage their experience with similar things even in a new, disruptive idea.