That may be one part, but somehow that should rather mean that most big-city corps should hire really good 40 year olds to telecommute and be paid less than the 20 year olds in whatever tech mecca this may be taking place. But that doesn't seem to happen in my experience.
Another reason of course is the ever changing tech landscape; when I had 5 years under my belt C# had existed 5 years and I had 5 years of C# experience. I had more pro experience with C# than anyone, including of course most of those a lot older than me. The takeaway is that the exaggerated focus on experience with specific tech keywords means that young age often trumps longer industry experience, simply because the young dev may have started just as Tech X took off. This obsession with resume keywords will go away as our industry matures. Companies that don't realize that won't be around long.
Another reason of course is the ever changing tech landscape; when I had 5 years under my belt C# had existed 5 years and I had 5 years of C# experience. I had more pro experience with C# than anyone, including of course most of those a lot older than me. The takeaway is that the exaggerated focus on experience with specific tech keywords means that young age often trumps longer industry experience, simply because the young dev may have started just as Tech X took off. This obsession with resume keywords will go away as our industry matures. Companies that don't realize that won't be around long.