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I'm 61. My solution: keep up technically and choose a mainstream topic valued/needed by your company and stay near cutting edge in it (at least relative to the others working there). And develop other skills that are in short supply. Choose subject areas that leverage experience over inexperience: like regulatory compliance, subject matter domain knowledge, knowing what tactics are best with difficult clients or problematic target areas.

Some general skills that I've found help... Excel at speaking (be concise, organized, prioritized, relevant, insightful). Excel at writing and editing (tech-related communication seems notoriously poor at most companies). Excel at presenting (again, too often there's lots of vagaries and hand waving).

If you come across as sharp and tuned in, I've found that it's almost impossible for others to dismiss you. That is, unless they're idiots. So make sure you're not surrounded by idiots. That's rule #1.




Excel at Excel. :)

(OK, maybe not for software companies but certainly for engineering and manufacturing companies.)




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