At 51 I'm still in the game but thats only because I've already changed careers once in my early 30s to I.T. I understand some of the comments here where people feel that they are just fixing the same problems with different technology. I ended up in management in a former career which is why I left it and went in software and have resisted the move to management ever since. Definitely getting harder to keep up with the new technology because a) I'm not as adaptable as I used to be and b) I'm not as driven but seriously frustrated with the younger guys desire to label everything old as useless and irrelevant and then I watch them make the same mistakes I did 20 years ago. There seems to be that dire philosophy of 'throwing the baby out with the bathwater' but that was probably the same 20 years ago when us Java guys were labeling the COBOL guys as useless. I'll probably retire as a coder because it's still lucrative but I tell you what... that farm is looking mighty attractive!!!

Couldn't agree more...

Me neither. I wrote this realy awesome VB app that said 'Hello World!!' What do you have to do to get a gig...

Sweeping generalisations. Anyone over 40 is past it and any under 25 is dumb as dog s...t. Neither are true. There is talent, creativity, experience and knowlege. You need them all. I'd say from your response that you are well under 40. I could give you examples of projects where the youth factor was over represented and we came away with the experience that without some experience and pragmatism, you end up 'hearding cats' and watching generation 'Y' egos fight it out as to which is 'coolest' or 'most awesome' solution whilst the customer is still waiting for what they asked for.

Isn't it the quality of the code not the quantity. Surely 20 years of hard won experience as a coder learning how to do it properly trumps a brain with maybe half the age but none of the wisdom.