I had my 40th on Sunday. I had an interview on the Friday and I had the distinct impression that I did match the interviewers picture of the team member he wanted. This was as Security Engineer working on a relatively large Security team within a large company that hosts a lot of domains. Point of this comment is that this is the first time I walked away thinking 'does he think I'm too old for that role'. Maybe I shouldn't be saying how much I want to work around people who know things I don't.. how much I want to learn. Perhaps I'm expected to be a manager now :(
As a forty something manager - I want to work around people who know things I don't - I want to learn from them. And I do every day :) But ageism is real and you most likely felt it. You might want to focus on team leadership, but certainly never lose your enthusiasm.
