I think the reason you're hired is because they think you can perform at the same level of said peers. And you accept the job because you think you can. And want to.

I'd say the average employee age skews towards 35+. No young whipper-snappers here! Except for a few :) Most everyone seems to have a family they need to take care of, which means leaving early some days.

Mailing out DVDs is big business! You have no idea how important Netflix is to people's happiness. I think that's closer to changing the world than most other companies. Just do a search of Netflix on twitter and you'll see what I mean.

"your peers are talented twenty-something kids who cheerfully work 60-hour weeks"

Personally I've found, and read research to the effect, that the difference between skilled/knowledgeable coders can be up to 10x in efficiency. If you're a talented older guy with a family and such, then you should've put in the 60-hour work weeks when you were twenty-something, such that your knowledge and talent at your current age means you don't need to work 60 hours to accomplish the same goals.

If you weren't a talented twenty-something, and didn't work your butt off, then you're most likely not a talented forty-something, and thus won't fit in the Netflix firm anyway.

Doesn't sound like you're competing against your peers so much as you're competing against the market. Outperform the market, do fine. That doesn't sound too tough to me; talented, motivated people are always in short supply.

Makes me wish they were hiring in a city where I wanted to live.