Got you beat by a long shot. I have over 35-years experience starting with BASIC as an actual business programming language. Also started online with PERL, CGI scripting languages,et al. Javascript and the whole OOP concept threw me for a loop initially. I *could* do some debugging, but not basic coding without frustratingly near-endless errors and bombs. I still don't call it a language I can program in. However, by cussedly returning to the subject and trying new approaches and projects, I finally had the "Ah-hah!" moment and the concept clicked... just in time for the next concept in coding. :-) Oddly enough, I've found doing a bunch of personal Wordpress development extremely useful for keeping up with the new approaches and concepts in code development, both because of what's integrated in the updates and what's not but discussed integrating or integrated by individuals in their modules. You may find something else easier for you to grok. The key is to accept that you're going to have to drop your old habits and mindsets. It helped enormously when I was able to stop looking at the programming as an entirety and instead considered it in modules or "Lego blocks" of functions that interacted. So instead of thinking in terms of having to do it all myself — write the code to collect the data, store the data, retrieve the data, parse the data, manipulate the data, and respond based upon the data — I was able to start saying "Hmmm, pretty much everyone's going to need to do X, so there's probably a function already included for that, so I just need to read the codex and find what it is and see how I can manipulate the results."

FYI, I've got a friend a little older than me who spent the last 15 years of her tech work life helping small clients maintain old sites. In retirement she's getting around to the concept of responsive web design — but I still can't get her to grasp CMS and database-driven sites. We all have our blind spots.

Best of luck and keep working. The best part of tech is that there's always something new to learn so we don't end up one of the "walking dead" retirees just waiting to die and grumbling about the "good ol' days."

I have to disagree. I''ve maintained my Slashdot notice since nearly the beginning (well over a decade at least) to catch links to insightful articles about issues of science, technology, and socio-political observations affecting science and technology.

The hateful trolling and petty squabbling in the comments are usually ignored. On rare occasions where there seems to be a significant percentage of actual thoughtful discussion of the original post, I'll skim past the trolls to catch the key points of any expansion or debate of the main topic. I was under the impression Reddit and usenet were the location of insufferably rude "communities." When Slashdot is nothing but bickering discussion threads, I'll be canceling my membership.

I find it odd to be reading this conversation in the 2nd decade of the 21st Century. First, no, Grace Hopper couldn't get a job in a tech company today, largely due to her age at her prime combined with being an assertive woman. Men over a certain age can't get anything except contract work in most tech companies these days, and my female tech friends over a certain age can rarely get an interview, let alone even a contract gig.

What is odd is that when I took my first programming class, the teacher was a real male chauvinist who railed on the first day of class when he discovered that over half the class were female, and he railed even more after the first test assignment when the top 10 grades went to young women. He told the young men to "find their balls" and that they should be embarrassed to be "beaten by girls." I thought those days were long gone... until I saw the vitriol posted on Reddit against women in general and women in tech in particular. It seems the backlash against feminism and the increased opportunities for women, resulting in increased competition for men, has created a hyper-rmasculine, testosterone-fueled culture, particularly in tech, and the young women are driven away. Talking with high school girls about their career plans and interests (I teach tech at a local community college), I find even the ones who are coding on their own aren't interested in battling the constant emotional, psychological, verbal, and occasionally physical abuse they get when they attempt to compete against nerd guys. So they go hang with female nerds and geeks. Or as one young woman put it, "No one likes a smart woman, so I can either be smart or I can have a social life and a job." It was very discouraging to hear that not only had things not equalized in 30 years, but had actually regressed.

Frankly guys, I've never understood why any smart young men would discourage smart young women from joining their "club." It greatly increases the chances of genetic improvements to the species.

Uhm, the reason you have more in bank right now than most 50+ year olds is that you haven't started getting the hits life throws you with time. I wish I was going to be around to hear you when you reach 50 and find yourself with your investments either gone or a percentage of what they were for various reasons from unexpected family expenses; lay offs; health care emergencies and so forth.

As for working for free to get a job, actually older workers do from time to time, but even more to the point, the reason they are unemployed is because employers can go to 20-somethings and ask them to do the job for free because they've laid off the older workers.

I have a similar problem traveling between the U.S. & Canada. I prefer using a pre-paid for my calls and an iPod Touch (soon to be replaced with an iPad) or other wifi-enabled device for portable net access. I can usually find free wifi throughout the U.S. & Canada and I limit my calls and texting. This allows me to spend roughly $100-200/year on phone calls and texting.

Be aware that many companies such as AT&T require you pay an additional fee per month just for foreign access. T-Mobile doesn't charge me an additional monthly fee, however, you will be charged a higher rate depending upon which country is "foreign." If most of your time is spent in Canada, then I would recommend making Canada your home country for now.

And since I live near a retirement community, I can tell you that the senior citizens on limited budgets LOVE using cellphones and the net to keep up with family & friends. They are big fans of Skype and various v.o.ip solutions. The Windows-limited (retired corporate-types) tend to go for Verizon for their smartphone solutions; the low-tech & the upper-techs tend to go with iPhones. All of them kill their landlines; dump their ISPs & more and more our killing their cable/satellite dish providers.

The trick becomes what are you willing to give up for the phone service. I haven't had TV reception since 2000, but I've had DSL+. I hope this helps.

Joseph Pine did an excellent TED presentation on the progression of economic value. There's a version embedded at the top of http://carolynecooper.com/

It explains about goods becoming commodities so that the next way to add economic value is service and when that becomes a commodity, the next economic value is experience. The problem when things become commodities is that the most important issue for commodities is price, price and price.

Change.gov worked and the new site seems to be a logical and excellent extension. This administration is actually encouraging and allowing us to get involved, take action and communicate with our leaders. I've had an amazing amount of communication with and through the change.gov site and it raised millions via small, private donations and fundraisers towards covering the cost of the inauguration (something most pundits ignored).

It's not about getting everything we want nor should we always get what we want. Since the Baby Boomers made throwing temper tantrums and self-absorption into "political action" the standard response now is "Hey, I'm not getting exactly what I want so I want it ruined for everyone else." Throughout our history the majority wanted things like slavery, child labor, sweat shops, Japanese internment camps, segregation, the war in Vietnam and more that upon reflection were wrong. Usually, the majority is opposed to new technology and R & D. Wise up, guys! Corporations will not do what's in the best interest of the nation's citizens -- or even what's in the best long-term interest of the corporation!

But good leaders communicate with the majority and persuade enough of the right action to make a positive (we hope) change in the world. The Obama administration knows that and are trying to provide the communication. They also understand the technology and are trying to build the tools for communication.

After *cough cough* years of presidents, including one who approached the military heads about supporting a coup to take over the government, another who was suffering dementia and another who committed treason and ignored the constitution, I'm full of gratitude for a president who at least makes an effort to give some voice to the citizens.