I spent a summer regularly exercising with a group of friends who were all in the 50-80 age range (and they kicked my butt). One day there was a conversation like this:
"You know who I saw the other day? Nancy!"
"How's she doing?"
"Well, she's OLD"
"Yeah, that happens"
"How does that happen anyway? One day they're your friend, the next they're old and only complain about their health"
"It's because they stop hanging out with young people".
I think people were let go because they weren't good at their jobs, not because they were old. People who have been fired because they weren't good enough are going to have a harder time finding a new job.
Our education system is teaching more advanced topics at younger and younger ages. Hence younger people may be more "up to date".
An older person will experience ageism, but they can combat this by always learning new things throughout their life. I'll take a 50 year old javascript developer who's proactive about testing and CI over a less experienced younger developer.
But I'm going to choose an inexperienced javascript developer over an 50 year old experienced COBOL deverloper if I'm building websites.
I had an interview that involved two tryout days. I got paid $500 in amazon prime credit. Worked for me and the company, we got to really see what it would be like working together. I got to see the codebase, they got to see my code.
"You know who I saw the other day? Nancy!"
"How's she doing?"
"Well, she's OLD"
"Yeah, that happens"
"How does that happen anyway? One day they're your friend, the next they're old and only complain about their health"
"It's because they stop hanging out with young people".