As a spectator, the golden age has to have ended around 2013/2014.
Tech culture is so rampant with ruthless capitalism that it'll never happen again. You used to at least have the sense that there was a will to innovate and experiment. Now it's just oiling the machine.
In most countries there are hardly glamour tech culture jobs, capitalism has always been there.
Developers are seen as yet another office job, and unless you make it into manager, you will be always looked down has not having made a name for yourself.
Written as someone approaching 50y, that has been trying to avoid the management trap forever.
Tech culture is so rampant with ruthless capitalism that it'll never happen again. You used to at least have the sense that there was a will to innovate and experiment. Now it's just oiling the machine.