Probably half the programmers I know threw in the techno-towel when they approached 60. They didn’t want to keep up anymore. In the corporate world, that gets you laid off.
But I still get inquiries about COBOL jobs so they are out there.
The day of the super-genius programmer who solved all the problems of a project are gone.
Today, a programmer likely to use a use-case, and a related set of requirements that script exactly what must be written.
Back in the day, it was a much more creative endeavor, and a programmer had much more freedom to solve a problem. The best of them knew all about computer memory structures and algorithmic tricks and approaches. Today, most of the creative work is done in requirements development.
In my own work in the past, I would mostly write algorithms completely independent of a programming environment, and then compare outputs.
I can code, but I try not to - my strength is the math and the algorithm development to model a technical problem.
The best coders that I have ever worked with (and probably because I mostly deal with technical applications) have an intimate knowledge of trigonometry, algebra, geometry, and rudimentary calculus.
Business process coding is (usually) not as challenging.
DSP programming is all about the math.
The more math a programmer understands and applies - the more money they will make, in general.
My opinions only.