As you get older, it gets harder to get jobs - not impossible, just harder. It takes longer.
Why does it take longer? We're outside the knowledge of most hiring managers. They're thinking of "junior" as 0-2 years experience, and "senior" as 5-7. Where does 35 years fit on their spectrum? They don't even have a category for it. (You may be looking for jobs with the title "Principal software engineer" rather than "senior software engineer"). Those jobs are ones where your experience gets recognized as worth more money.
But most jobs see you as just an older, more expensive senior engineer. And if they can get a senior engineer for half your money, why would they want you? (Yes, I know. You're worth more. You can deliver actual results faster than those people. You can avoid mistakes those people will make. I know that. Your average hiring manager who's looking for a senior software engineer doesn't know that.)
As you get older, it gets harder to get jobs - not impossible, just harder. It takes longer.
Why does it take longer? We're outside the knowledge of most hiring managers. They're thinking of "junior" as 0-2 years experience, and "senior" as 5-7. Where does 35 years fit on their spectrum? They don't even have a category for it. (You may be looking for jobs with the title "Principal software engineer" rather than "senior software engineer"). Those jobs are ones where your experience gets recognized as worth more money.
But most jobs see you as just an older, more expensive senior engineer. And if they can get a senior engineer for half your money, why would they want you? (Yes, I know. You're worth more. You can deliver actual results faster than those people. You can avoid mistakes those people will make. I know that. Your average hiring manager who's looking for a senior software engineer doesn't know that.)
For the record, I'm 56.