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Embedded development is safe from the young turks in the US. Nobody is being taught how to competently develop in C and work with hardware. There is no apparent ageism where I work because older devs are in demand for skills that aren't available in a younger cohort.

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This. Embedded isn't in love with the latest web framework. Skills live for decades, not for minutes.

Now, even in embedded, not every employer sees the value in 30 years of experience. Those that do, though, understand that such a person is more valuable than someone with 5 years, and will pay accordingly.

I worked in embedded (mobile phone OS) about 8 years ago (UK). The pay was appalling for such a high-skilled job. I could have doubled my salary if I changed to flinging out JS for some website.

The pay is appalling in the UK. The "problem" with businesses that build hardware is that there is a lot of additional work that needs to be done to make something physical. The extra headcount means that developers can't demand prima donna compensation. If the base compensation for pure software devs is already low in a country, then it will not be able to sustain a domestic electronics industry.

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