As someone in his 50s I agree that job search gets more difficult once you get older. But there are plenty of companies that have a lot of older developers once you start looking outside Silicon Valley startups. Maybe the jobs aren’t as glamorous but they are there. One good way is to work through a contracting agency that places you. There is way less age discrimination that way and a lot of contractors get converted to full time after a while. Happened to me and I know quite a few others.

The only painful thing to get over is the realization that you aren’t viewed anymore as the hotshot you thought you were in your twenties.