I'm 48 and been a programmer since I was at school. I do contracting/consulting work so regularly change jobs, and I personally feel I have encountered surprisi

I'm 48 and been a programmer since I was at school. I do contracting/consulting work so regularly change jobs, and I personally feel I have encountered surprisingly little ageism. I suppose a lot of it comes down to your attitude and enthusiasm. I think the following generally helps:- * Keep your CV/resume impressive. Nothing says "unemployable" like 10 years running an outdated DB system at a boring company; * Change job or interview frequently; * Don't try to adopt all the latest fads (impossible, anyway) - instead, play to your strengths and focus on your general area of expertise, and every few years learn a new relevant language or system in depth; * Keep those old-school skills sharp! You can always impress a 21-year-old hacker in a hoodie if your command line / regex / disassembly / wireshark (or tcpdump!) skills are better than his.