Ask HN: How do you fix “one/few years of experience repeated multiple times”?

Usually it is said in the form of "one year experience over 10 years". Or similar variations. I see this phenomena being mentioned several times in the field of programming.

It suggest problem of lagging in skills, basically spinning your wheels and falling well below expectations of employers.

I sometimes read about ways on PREVENTING it, but I rarely see it come up with solutions to fix it once you're waist-deep into this problem.

For the sake of convenience, a lot of companies correlate years of experience with skill level when vetting candidates for jobs. But several programmers have fallen on the "slow" track for one reason or another, and break those expectations making them very tough to judge.

These programmers end up with "senior-level" years but still maybe junior-level in skill and wisdom. And need to catch up to the status quo or risk being un-hireable at many places.

How do you solve this problem when you're already regarded as unfit for work?

How would they stand a chance against the average developer?

What companies are most willing to give the "one year experience over many years" worker a fighting chance and get them up to speed?