I have been working in and around Silicon Valley for several decades now, and in my experience, certificates are generally considered to be products (i.e. something to create and sell along with the technology being developed), not requirements for employment. On the other hand, if you want to be a technician for a widely used and established technology, they can useful in signalling to potential employers that you are not simply making up whatever experience you claim to have, which is apparently a big problem these days.

Look at it this way; there is no certificate you can get (apart from a good resume) for developing new technologies, so they won't mean much to companies that are developing new technologies.

The implication of the quote is that if you are older and not conservative, then you don't have a brain. That is indeed a bare faced insult to anyone that is older and not conservative, and it is rather silly to claim otherwise (your statements about changing political views, with which I would generally agree, notwithstanding).

As to your comment about my views being based on ignorance of history and the humanities....well argued sir! You have laid bare my obvious weaknesses...I capitulate.

Not surprisingly, this is a very popular quote among conservatives. Translation: liberals are young, foolish, and/or stupid. It just sounds less like an bare-faced insult when phrased that way.