I’m 50. Just started a job last week with a major Minneapolis-based corporation. I put “over 20 years developing software” in bold at the top of my resume. It’s a little intimidating just how impressed they were with that.

After 10 years, I started asking myself once a year how much I’d learned in the past year. More interested in evergreen skills than particular languages. I definitely felt that I was plateauing until I started learning Scala. It let me master several techniques that didn’t go mainstream for another several years.

My model is Ruth Bader Ginsburg, whom you wouldn’t want to debate well into her latter 80s. It’s possible to be physically and mentally fit at any age.

I’m not in Silicon Valley, nor do I want to be. There are plenty of high-tech companies (not always technology companies) that value work/life balance. Part of Agile is not overworking. The companies which value diversity and work/life balance aren’t immune to ageism, but they are more likely to see it as a valuable form of diversity.