There's a lot out there that is not in the VC-funded ecosystem. Sure, most corporate jobs are crap whereever one goes, but the odds aren't any worse than in VC-

There's a lot out there that is not in the VC-funded ecosystem. Sure, most corporate jobs are crap whereever one goes, but the odds aren't any worse than in VC-istan, and the ageism problem is less severe. For one example, banking is considered ageist (most people retire by 50-55) by society-at-large standards but no one is going to look askance at you for being 40 and a non-managerial programmer. You should be at least VP by that age (and preferably ED/MD) but you don't have to have reports. One nice thing Wall Street has done for its top (non-managerial) traders and programmers is use the title system to validate non-managerial high performers: you can be a "Managing Director" without having to manage other people. If you're going to have titles, you have to start giving them to engineers... even though a part of me would like to see titles just not exist.