Go freelance maybe. Then you are in control. As a business, you also won't be making statements like "young programmers have a better chance of knowing the ho

Go freelance maybe. Then you are in control. As a business, you also won't be making statements like "young programmers have a better chance of knowing the hot new languages" but rather "my business needs to keep on top of new technologies to survive." It is a different mind set. I'm not sure your observations reflect reality though. I think you are over generalizing. Everyone is a tool. Making $150K per year is good pretty much anywhere. The owner might actually be making less than you. There is always a "top" when trading dollars for hours. There is nothing wrong with programming at 50. I know lots of web developers (I am a web developer as well) around that age. I actually look up to them.