I don’t think this is unique to tech companies. Cynical people often create a toxic environment that discourages open expression and kills creativity. I’m not referring to occasional cynical remarks that might be humorous, but rather to people who are persistently cynical about everything, which can be truly damaging.

If you’ve allowed yourself to develop a cynical mindset, and you articulate this during the hiring process, I think you will struggle to be hired at any company, tech company, or not.

Regarding age, it’s certainly common that as you have more experiences, some of those might tempt you to adopt a cynical attitude. Whether you do or not is up to you. As an old, I would recommend against it. Life is better when you assume the best of people rather than the worst.