I don't buy much into the vision that it's harder for the elder generation to find a job in general. To me it seems that when you're 25, you may be to some degree judged by your perceived potential. When you are 50, you're not, it's only your past achievements that matter. So there must be a much more polarized job market, clear winners and losers.
A lot of people hire people like themselves or - to paraphrase previous posts and threads - people they would like to hang out with. And hiring managers are typically younger than 50 and don't want to hang out with someone in their 50's and/or don't want to hire their "parent".
Many people see 50-year-olds as "old dogs who can't/don't want to learn new tricks", regardless of past achievements/tricks.
And many mid-size to large employers still harbor the illusion that they can hire someone who will stay with the comapny for life, or close to it. Thus, they don't want to "waste time" on someone who will "retire" soon anyway. They want someone to "invest in" and for them, that translates into a younger person.
Finally, some people simply don't want to hire someone who knows more/is more experienced than they. Sometimes it's because they fear that person will have an attitude; sometimes it's because they have a need to always be - or perceive themselves to be - the smartest kid on the block.
I am 34 and 2 of my coders are 42 and 41. They are slow learners and lack initiative, but this is exactly what i want: they do their job well, responsible because they have families to care for, and won't leave any time soon because they are somewhat inflexible/unable to learn fast/avoid changes in general. What else could i wish? I am really happy with them.
I want to also add that older guys can do a better job managing people, because they are normally less emotional and better communicators (something at which i really suck). So if any of these guys manage to grow out of coders' pants i will find him a suitable use, too.
