Agreed. Here, too - 55 3/4, 21 years in IT, so many IT and vendor certs you could wallpaper an office, and lost my job last fall. Health has gotten in the way of even thinking about looking for another position, so I’ve got a lawyer working on my SSA disability. Nobody is going to look at a rusty human shipwreck like me and pay the money I’d want compensatory for my experience.They’ll pay some kid half my asking price and not have to worry about me croaking at my desk.
I'll be reaching 63 in August. Still putting in 55 to 70 hour weeks on a regular basis. I write software and manage a development group. The people with a PMP cert get to call the shots and manage the money. Most of them are not literate in software and systems design. It takes a lot of time and money to stay on the leading edge of tech. I'll do it for a few more years, then happily hang my hat. The most frustrating thing is most of my engagements are bailing out projects that made poor decisions at the proposal stage. You have to live with the poor choices and try to make a silk purse of out of a sow's ear.