Consider recruiting older engineers. Locate somewhere other than SV. In other words, plug into a more mainstream talent market. There are plenty of people willing to do "good" work that isn't sexy.
Pick a state, and determine the best public school system in it. Within that area, find an "unsexy" office building with vacant space. Stick a pin in your map there. Now open up a real estate site and search for 4 bedroom/3 bathroom homes within X miles of that spot, both purchases and rentals. The rentals are easy. Multiply those numbers by 4, and that is what you want your developers' take home pay to be. For purchases, assume a 10% down payment and 4% interest rate on an online mortgage payment calculator, then multiply whatever you get by 5. Work backwards through benefits (assuming employee+spouse+kids options) and taxes to get the median gross pay.
For this sort of thing, you can assume that your employee will be the majority or sole earner of a household, you will provide better benefits than the spouse's job, and you can skip all the stupid perks like foosball tables and catered lunches.
Compare your bar-napkin math with current Silicon Valley prices.
What you will be offering with those numbers is a low-stress job that supports an upper middle class lifestyle. All you need to do then is to make sure that your candidates can actually do the job.
My previous gig was at Instagram, so I was in an environment where at 28 years old, I was amongst the oldest.
My target market is an area where the experience of older engineers will be extremely beneficial. I'm the first to admit that I am not clear on: a) Where to find these people. b) How to create a culture that is inclusive of everyone and is not ageist (or any other 'ist' ideally).
Is it really as easy as ignoring it, and addressing them as I would anyone else?
xpatel at pulsecode [ca]
If calgaryeng = living in Calgary, e-mail me, I might have work for you in the near future.