I'm terrified to follow the start-up route as well, because I'm 34 and I know that a) Silicon Valley is notorious for its implicit ageism b) Once I'm 40 and h

I'm terrified to follow the start-up route as well, because I'm 34 and I know that a) Silicon Valley is notorious for its implicit ageism b) Once I'm 40 and have 4 years of experience working in start-ups I'll be dismissed from either getting hired or getting funded because I'm old. The only thing that makes this topic worthy of upvoting is because people identify a company doing things an entire culture does. Sure you can bring a lawyer and pull a company to the court (good luck proving that they discriminated you based on age) but a culture? How do you even do that? You can't. This is why I find it hypocritical that people act appalled on the idea that a company is doing what everyone admits a culture does but for the company is punishable and "well deserved" to be punished for it. In fact, I imagine there will be some sort of standing ovation somewhere in the world when an ageism case is won against ANY Microsoft, whereas for the culture is just "how things are" and it's your job to avoid it. Funny, isn't it?