I've never lived in a wealthy neighborhood but have always lived in at least nice neighborhoods. In each of those neighborhoods, if look around, see that the mo

I've never lived in a wealthy neighborhood but have always lived in at least nice neighborhoods. In each of those neighborhoods, if look around, see that the most common job that supports the families is being the head, often a sole proprietor, of a small or medium business. For the point of the article, these small business heads have a big advantage: Their age doesn't matter as long as they can keep doing the work or at least keep doing well managing the work. Yes, there are reports of major companies who hire Bachelor's and Master's degree engineers and by age 35 want them into management or out the door. So, maybe 1 in 100 stays around for a full career. So, at age 18 there is Joe and Sam. Joe goes to college and graduate school in engineering, joins the big company, and is out the door at age 35. Sam did some yard work in high school and just continues. Soon he has six trucks and 12 guys working for him. He has a house and a family, and his wife helps with scheduling, billing, and customer service. As long as the grass keeps growing, he's okay. He's expanding into lawn service for higher end clients, e.g., banks, medical office campuses, etc. He's planning to expand into landscape architecture with a plant nursery. So at age 35, Joe is out of work and Sam is doing much better. Sam has a neighbor Pete who is an electrician. He doesn't bother to put his name in the Yellow Pages; he doesn't have a Web site; actually he does nothing on publicity. But he still gets plenty of calls, has a house, family, truck, and an apprentice. Roger got a Ph.D. in electronic engineering, worked for the big company, got fired at age 35, and wishes he could swap his Ph.D. for an electrician's license. Kelly's father ran a small grocery store with two gas pumps out front. Now Kelly runs 10 gas stations with convenience stores, has a 50' yacht, a summer place on the water, a winter place in the mountains, and is paying full tuition for his children at private high schools and colleges. At his yacht club he notices a lot of small business guys like himself but nearly no technical employees or venture funded entrepreneurs. More generally, a career should last 40+ years. Okay, look around: What big companies have ever provided such long lasting careers? How commonly? E.g., IBM? Okay, near 1994 they lost $16 billion and went from 407,000 employees down to 205,000. A LOT of careers got ended way before 40 years. So, at IBM, if joined in 1954 then had a chance of getting in 40 years. Much before 1954, IBM didn't look so good. So, really, for revered IBM, really had to join in the early 1950s -- that was about the only chance. Much the same for GM, GE, AT&T, etc. Lesson 1: For a 40+ year career with one big company, mostly just f'get about it. Maybe can pull that off in K-12 teaching, college teaching if can get tenure, or working for state or the federal government. Lesson 2: A huge fraction of the people with stable careers for 40+ years head their own small businesses. Okay, for hackers and HN, we have: Lesson 3: By age 35 or so, likely gotta be running your own business. Just grind that into your planning. For 'information technology', maybe it can be a great advantage. Still have to be running your own business. Competition, how to handle competition? How do the people in the houses on the nice streets do it? Sure, they nearly all take great advantage of a geographical barrier to entry. Since nearly no one drives over 50 miles to see a dentist, be one of the best dentists in a radius of 50 miles and do well. Same for being an electrician, running a lawn service, remodeling kitchens and baths, auto repair, auto body repair, independent insurance agent, manufacturer's representative, etc. So, hackers should plan to do an 'information technology' startup. If it does as well as a successful electrician, okay. As well as a guy with 10 gas stations and convenience stores, still better. As well as Google, terrific. Still, can't much hope to do well just working for a salary. Alternatives? Sure, there can be many. Maybe will get founder's stock in a successful startup. Still, look up and down the nice residential streets and see a lot of guys running their own businesses. So, do much the same except use information technology as an advantage. For the article, it goes on and on about the 'reasons' a guy 50 can't get a job programming -- he asks for too much money, his skills are out of date, etc. The "too much money" is no reason to be unemployable; the fact is, he won't be hired at anything much above minimum wage. Skills? His 'skills' may be far superior, and for being 'up to date' with the latest version of some language, that's as easy or easier for an experienced guy than a young guy. But there is another reason: The supervisor is supposed to be older, and the subordinate, younger. So, a guy 50 has to work for a guy 60 and can't work for a guy 40. There's just no way out of it: In the US, big corporations as sources of careers are going away -- have heavily gone away. Maybe if the US would get back on its feet, e.g., quit being so happy about creating economic booms in distant countries, big companies could be stable enough to provide good, long term employment. Maybe. So, right, notice that one of the keys is to have a good geographical barrier to entry, that is, no competition from distant countries. So, basically the US is losing out on competing around the world so that what's left are lots of small businesses each of which serves customers in a radius of about 50 miles. Sad situation. There is another observation: Supposedly the 1-2 wealthiest areas in the US are Silicon Valley and Greenwich, CT (with the hedge funds). Well, third is within about 60 miles of the Washington Monument. Because the Federal Civil Service pays so well? Yes, but only indirectly. The guys with the really nice houses in the best neighborhoods in that area mostly are not working for the Federal Government. Instead they are running small businesses where the customers are the Federal Government or are working for the Federal Government. E.g., a dentist can do well because the millions of people there working for the Federal Government aren't rich but are relatively well off and can afford to pay for a dentist. So, if want to run your own small business, then maybe pick one of those three areas. E.g., in Silicon Valley, to heck with venture capital and information technology and, instead, be an electrician who installs fantastic underwater lighting in swimming pools of successful information technology entrepreneurs. Or run a red sauce Italian restaurant, say, near Gaithersburg, MD.