I'm not sure why people struggle so much and fight abstractions so much but I guess that's a sign a techie is getting "old".
Yeah, it's a sign they are older, and have seen the same shit play again and again, and starry eyed newcomers fall for every new fad with shit-eating grins...
Some abstractions cause more trouble than they solve, and then create solutions to their own problems on top. That's the point.
Older techie might have seen more abstractions, and choose more wisely the lesser complicated one for the job.
On the spectrum of abstraction by Cheng Lou (react-europe 2016) [1]
If you've read some of the classics, such as Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs (1979, Gerald Jay Sussman and Hal Abelson) [2], this talk is a really interesting look at the state of affairs on abstraction circa 2016.
Some of those "older" techies have gotten a wisdom that only comes with experience.