Originally Posted by NVanHiker

I used to be a programmer/analyst and project leader (before programmers became the pretentiously-named 'software engineers'). No one cares. At a certain age, you need work - i.e. income. It's hard, but once you swallow your pride, 'adjust' your resume, and land that first low-wage job you open up a whole new world for yourself. No more knocking your head against a wall competing against youngsters for those six jobs available in your field in the entire country. Suddenly you enter a vast sunny playground with thousands of jobs and employers who just want someone who will show up on time, work hard, and not steal from the company. Actually, the jobs aren't necessarily low-wage, a lot of them are physical, and you can have a lot of fun applying all sorts of skills you've picked up over the years.