[laumars]

From what I've seen, the middle-aged men like yourself tend to end up as managers rather than "code monkeys". The pay is often higher and the demands of keeping up to date with technology is less critical. But that just my personal anecdotal evidence from the companies I've worked in.

I think as long as you can code (you said you're not a natural, but I trust you're still at least average at it) and you have a desire to push yourself (which does come across), then there's no reason to stop coding. After all, who wants to conform to trends ;)

My main bit of advice (and something which I'm sure doesn't need to be said), is make sure you have a back up plan in case your passion doesn't translate into a profession