[mgkimsal]

I'm not sure we're at a point in the evolution of programming having been a viable career path for enough people yet to judge one way or another. There's not many people in their 60s who have been professional software developers most of their career, so you wouldn't (yet) see a large number of retired people "creating awesome open source projects".

IMV, the it was the tail of of the baby boomers who could have started doing programming in anything resembling what we might have today, and they wouldn't/couldn't have started until at least the late 70s/early 80s. When 'home computers' started becoming commonplace, 'programming' started to become an accepted vocation. Those people are now approaching or in their 50s, and still have another 10+ years to go before 'retirement'.

Frankly, I don't see that many 'awesome open source projects' compared to the total number of projects launched/opened. What I value more are 'awesome open source projects maintained and kept current'. I don't see many of those around at all, by young or old people.