Perhaps the problem is that you're competing against 20-somethings. Playing someone else's game is a sure way to lose. Capitalize on your assets, wisdom of age and hard-won experience.
The economy does make it more difficult, but there are more choices than programmer or manager.
I'm also in my mid fifties, and still love programming. But wouldn't necessarily want to be a full-time code-pounder. Being a software architect allows me to learn and explore. I get my coding fix prototyping and defining base classes, then hand it off to the full-time coders to implement.
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Perhaps the problem is that you're competing against 20-somethings. Playing someone else's game is a sure way to lose. Capitalize on your assets, wisdom of age and hard-won experience. The economy does make it more difficult, but there are more choices than programmer or manager. I'm also in my mid fifties, and still love programming. But wouldn't necessarily want to be a full-time code-pounder. Being a software architect allows me to learn and explore. I get my coding fix prototyping and defining base classes, then hand it off to the full-time coders to implement.