Always found flying with the guys who had a life before aviation much more enjoyable, they bought life experience and didn’t have, for want of a better word, the rigidity of the books.
i think a lot of the problem for the oldies who now want to join is the training ain’t the same and they have to pay!
when I joined an airline I was late 30s, the training was just that, training, can’t remember details but sake of argument. 3 week groundschool and 15 sims.plus the company paid.
towards the end of career changing jobs it was study on your own and 9 sims. That with being old made the conversion not enjoyable and for those that do the recruiting it ain’t good for their bonus when someone fails.
with that, Covid and the fast dwindling terms, wages etc if I was doing it now at the age I was I wouldn’t.