[mdemare]

I think there are four different issues here.

1) To what extent does starting programming at a young age help in becoming a good programmer? 2) To what extent are young people better at programming than older people? 3) To what extent are older people better at programming than young people? 4) How much do years of experience count?

Brief thoughts:

1) It helps a bit, but most people don't start very young. Solid foundation of math, logical thinking is important, though.

2) Young people have better memory are able to focus for longer periods of time, and learn quicker.

3) Older people have more knowledge of the world, and are better at communication and navigating social relations, which is very helpful at real world programming jobs, not so much at coding tests.

4) Experience is very important. Some of it generalizes to the entire programming domain, other parts are specific to languages and frameworks. Some fields change rapidly, and there experience is more transient.