I think the things you bring up: virtual dispatch in a performance critical loop, template bloat, and other performance problems aren't so much a "younger programmer" problem but the result of increasing compute power and the fact that Java and JavaScript are the programming language of choice in CS programs in American Universities. Unless you really had a reason to learn higher performance programming: like a systems programming class or a microcontroller based engineering class, you won't be exposed to the pitfalls you talk about and therefore won't learn how to avoid them. Also: complexity analysis (big O) is huge, and it's amazing how few people look at a nested for loops / crazy STL container searches/finds without realizing the performance implications. I think ignorance of the art of writing performance critical code is equal throughout the age distribution.
Maybe it just my "embedded guy" superiority complex, but you can't get away with that shit in the embedded world.
Although, now that we're getting super powerful ARM microcontrollers I'm actually afraid that average code will become more and more common.
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