One of my first hires was in his 50s, too. He kept falling asleep at his desk. Not everyone ages well. While there are certainly great employees in their 50s

One of my first hires was in his 50s, too. He kept falling asleep at his desk. Not everyone ages well. While there are certainly great employees in their 50s and 60s, you'll also find a pretty high percentage that 1. Stopped learning 20 years ago, either because they didn't force themselves out of their comfort zone or because they became experts at something and couldn't take the financial hit to do something else as a non-expert. 2. Have some sort of medical problem that affects their concentration. I work with a guy who has terrible back problems for which he has pain meds. He can go for a few hours without taking his meds and he's pretty productive then. Otherwise he can't concentrate very well and doesn't add much. Nearly everyone ends up taking blood pressure medications, and they have side effects. 3. Have ordinary age-related cognitive decline. This is the big one. If you were a genius at 30 you'll most likely be pretty smart at 50. But if you were average at 30 you're going to be below average at 50, with below average memory and reasoning skills. Everybody has cognitive decline, even in the absence of other problems. In many industries experience makes up for it. Not so much in software. Don't get me wrong. I'm not saying you shouldn't hire people over 50. All I'm saying is there's truth in the stereotype.