To have longevity in a technical discipline you need to do one of two things: 1) choose a field that changes very slowly, or not at all, and become an expert in

To have longevity in a technical discipline you need to do one of two things: 1) choose a field that changes very slowly, or not at all, and become an expert in it; or 2) work in a quick changing field, but be prepared to learn quickly and compete with younger workers (means no wage premium just for seniority) When it comes to 1), the best fields are ones where either hardware or regulatory issues slow evolution. Examples: embedded systems programming, working on highly regulated systems for the aviation, medical, or automobile industry. Finally, and its not really in my list, but you could always create your own product or service. That's a sure way to protect your income against age prejudice. Nobody cares what age the developer of their software is ... they just want to know it works.