Ageism is as real as any other prejudice. And unfortunately it's just a difficult to prove. I've seen the faces of the room full of "kids" (yea, that's reverse ageism I suppose) when doing remote interviews and watched them drop as soon as I appear on the screen.

Then it's just a matter of speeding me through the interview until they can find the candidate with the "right team dynamic" or "culture fit" etc. The excuses I've heard are quite amusing, but transparent.

I would simply ask upfront if they’re open to hiring over 40 and/or hiring with a disability (and then mention I’m not litigious and simply don’t want waste their time if they aren’t looking for that, no hard feelings). I actually had a few places admit they are not going to hire over 40 + a disability after I made it clear I have no intentions to sue.

That's pretty stupid on their part, considering you're not permitted to break the law because the aggrieved party is "ok with it". This is typically a civil rights issue handled by government enforcement

I was let go from a large multi-national in my mid-40's. Went contracting and worked every day I wanted to until I retired.

How did you find work? Something like contract-to-hire gigs from Dice or something? Did you create your own LLC or similar?

i've never discriminated. I don't wanna know your name I don't wanna see your face. Pass the test pass the interview. we can use chat if you want to I don't care. Well maybe now I care because of ChatGPT. you also have to pass all the criteria from HR, but that could have anything to do with your right to work or criminal record. That's not my concern either. On my last job the first person I hired was 67 years old and I didn't even know it. They did the work of eight people easily. The only surprise was that I didn't learn anything from them. (Pro tip: if someone like this tries to teach you something someone told them to tell you. this guy is not gonna say anything he's getting paid €300 an hour) What was not surprising, was that every project was completed with extremely high-quality and completed early. what I learned from him was always keep a pocketbook handy for the times you get bored. He was bored very often.

This is how it’s done.