> Isn't the same ageism -- true or perceived -- in all industries?
Hmmmm... in a handful of industries I might say yes, but in many others I would say no.
I see an abundance of discrimination against younger in many industries. Either they are looked at as lacking knowledge, experience, or both. Often times this perception is justified, but often it is not. Of course, there is no legal recourse since age discrimination in the US is mostly (always?) for people 40 and older.
That said, the ageism in technology in the Bay Area and a few other areas is peculiar and does not seem to be particularly widespread outside of these regions (at least in the US). This ageism seems to follow a few patterns:
1. People in the capital class working young people hard for low pay... because they can. Most older folks won't put up with it for justifiable reasons. These are often terrible places to work and are often terrible businesses as well.
2. Really smart and creative young people who want to work with similarly-minded people without having to manage a potential or real generation gap. This is probably closer to being justifiable when at a very small scale, but it's still potentially illegal, especially as scale increases. This is the sort of headline discrimination that is seen in the Bay Area -- a 20-something superstar typically doesn't have the "soft skills" necessary to manage someone a decade or two older. Few people at that age do, but this is especially true for folks who spent their younger years developing their non-managerial specialist knowledge.
3. "Culture fit". Some (many?) younger folks in the Bay Area seem to want to extend their college partying years. This means that older and potentially more conservative or parent-like figures are not particularly welcome. I think that this is not uncommon at any favored destination of recent high-achieving college graduates (as well as wannabe high achievers).
If someone in their 30s or 40s wants a job in tech, one easy way is just to get away from the areas that are flooded with high-achieving recent college grads. The areas that are flooded with these types have very real ageism problems. The areas that have few of these folks (most areas) largely don't have ageism problems -- if anything, younger applicants are more likely to be perceived negatively. Admittedly, the latter places are often less cool (i.e., not Bay Area, not NYC, not Austin, etc.), but these places have jobs.
I honestly don't know what the job market is in Atlanta.
That said, the US government and contractors thereof desperately need programmers and programmers who can do other stuff (e.g., manage a contract, project management, etc.). I would try to meet some people who do this type of work and have a coffee with them. Many of these folks live in the D.C. area.
It's not sexy at all, and you won't get rich via a startup, but there are very solid middle class jobs in that category.
Not really. The problem in general is that there are very few active "junior" level positions about, and a lot of people wanting to break in - see /r/cscareerquestions. For later learners especially self taught learners the problem really comes from finding the FIRST job, not the second when they have professional experience.
Coming out of college though is a different experience. If you're 33 and just finished a BS in CS you could probably make a run at most jobs. But self taught at 33 requires a lot more to get in the door than self taught at 25.
There may not be a lot of jobs out there for junior people but there are very few out there for people with 20+ years of experience, either. Everyone seems to be looking for that “4-6 year” sweet spot where they think they are getting the best of both worlds: someone senior enough to have made and learned from a few mistakes but not too senior that they have to offer more than peanuts and worthless equity as pay.
I think it depends on the technology stack actually, I've noticed it's been trending up in mine (.net) with many now wanting 8-9 years experience. It seems like the sweet spot is generally age of technology divided by 2.
Would you be feel comfortable starting med-school in your 30s? A PhD? Training to be a plumber or an architect?
If anything, because programming takes a shorter time to become productive (say 2 years), I would think it would attract older job switchers.
(edit: Before people give me counter-examples, note:I know these things do happen)