Yea, 3 years can be very little. But 3 years of real experience (plus intelligence) and the ability to actually come up with new and relevant solutions to problems probably trumps 15+ years of doing the same year's worth of work over and over again (not that uncommon), 20+ years working on technology that's no longer relevant, 10+ years of only doing what you're told while not being able to think for yourself, or any other number of things.

Filter out cockiness/arrogance that gets in the way of productivity/progress, etc: yes. Tell someone who's simply confident in their abilities that they don't know what they are doing because they only have 3 years of experience: no.

I understand that the prevalence of the so-called "entitled youth" has everyone ruffled these days, but there's a difference between being arrogant and feeling entitled (I'm sure these people exist, but don't they always), and not accepting the old world BS of bowing your head, taking everyone's shit, doing what you're told, then settling for the scraps that get thrown your way (something you should feel so lucky to have happen). In the case of the latter, that world needs to die, and I'm all about progress and moving past such suffocating, stagnating, backward nonsense.

Also, when it comes to programming, after about 5 years everyone evens out (with regards to gains unique/specific to years of experience) and there isn't really much difference. Everything past that is mostly inside knowledge or factual knowledge that you get from happening to work at one company or another (or with some person that happens to know said things). And since the technological landscape (past whatever the latest buzzwords or fads are) changes at least every 5 years, all that specific knowledge loses relevance with time.