I think there is a need here to talk about ageism and how universities pump out relatively inexpensive talent with cutting edge skills, internship opportunities, and projects every year. There are other factors. I’d be glad to go into more detail. Companies would rather hire new talent from college than provide opportunities to older developers.

I’m not a lazy complainer: I’m teaching myself and attending seminars 3 of 5 work nights often. What I see is almost nobody my age still programming.

Blaming me is wrong. Firms I’ve worked with would rather hire a new employee than provide me working opportunities to use the skills I know. And “self-taught” just doesn’t have the ring to it I’d like for it to have when applying to jobs where I don’t have career experience for, thanks to jobs which pigeonhole developers.