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I'm 53, so I quite understand the issue. I learned early on that you have to keep refreshing your skillset to be a viable candidate. Some of my co-workers became too comfortable on contracts that were stable for 10 to 20 years. The contracts are nearing an end. They had no pressing need to update skillsets, but they certainly do now.

Unlike many of my co-workers, my assignments were 1 to 2 years. Solve a big problem, then move on. It has been necessary to get involved in business development, proposals, project management and dealing with customers on top of the normal requirements/design/implement/test/deploy/support cycle. I really like the .Net framework. I've written many applications using it. My bookshelf is full of references from the 1.0 release to the current 3.5. A few weeks ago, a local recruiter called with a need for a .Net engineer. I was ready with the skills, but fully booked doing the C++ port from Solaris.

Look at current job openings. Find something that interests you. Buy a few books and build the skills. Good luck!

I would add, find local User Groups, and volunteer to do a presentation on some topic that few know about, User Groups are always looking for presenters.

When I was looking for a job about 10 years ago, that’s what I did, and it definitely helped me to land jobs.