As someone approaching 50 myself, I've seen my career growth options limited as an individual contributor. I love coding and have never been interested in manag

As someone approaching 50 myself, I've seen my career growth options limited as an individual contributor. I love coding and have never been interested in management, and I think this has limited my salary increases. As an experienced Java back-end developer there is no shortage of employment options, I get contacted by recruiters all the time, but the salary range I am being offered seems to have reached a plateau. I would prefer to stay in the technical track, but I probably need to specialize in a hot field, i.e. machine learning, in order to become more sought after and less of a commodity.