Coders of a "certain age"..

So true. 

I find that people get to a certain age in my business (software) when learning new complicated stuff is simply too much like hard work. They start saying to themselves things like "the people paying the bills don't care or understand how it works, they just care that it does", and hence justify writing stuff using older, more established patterns and technology that they know inside-out. Then that little plan comes into contact with the enemy, in this case the enemy are the youngsters on the team who (in the boundless flush of optimistic youth) see the world quite differently, and, thank goodness they do.