Not sure I agree with your statements that everyone wants programmers that are young and want to change the world. It may be a SF/Valley thing, I don't know. Definitelly not NYC. Companies are desperatelly looking for people who know what they're doing, that have been on many projects. That have shit in production. Those people are hard to find.

I'm in the same age group as you. I've never coded more or better in my life and I don't see that changing any time soon.