If that's the case and if older developers are always complaining/citing ageism or leetcode startups getting them down, why don't they band together to propose an R&D lab?
2. The biggest barrier to starting a research lab is how will this lab make enough revenue to fund the lab’s operations and the living expenses of its staff? A significant challenge of running a research institute is fundraising. The first thing a lab must do is to establish a mission. Will this lab do long-term, speculative work or will it aim for shorter-term surer bets? What are the lab’s boundaries; what stipulations from funders can it live with, and what ones are unacceptable? I say this because as a researcher, I have learned The Golden Rule: “He who has the gold makes the rules.” Another way of putting it: “he who pays the piper calls the tune.” It is often the case that money comes with strings attached; it’s up to the lab to determine which strings are acceptable or not.
Because while there is a place for some hands on developers at such a place that is not most of the staff? The Manhattan project hired a lot of engineers but none of them were the design leads.