My dad went through a similar transition. In his case, the world transitioned away gradually from his skill set. He was able to continue moving to new jobs that

My dad went through a similar transition. In his case, the world transitioned away gradually from his skill set. He was able to continue moving to new jobs that needed his legacy skill set, until eventually he couldn't find them easily anymore. By the time he was in this predicament, he couldn't find a a path to restart his education. The critical issue was employment, once he found a job, the critical issue was working and keeping that job. He didn't have the luxury of taking the time to build a new skillset.