Did you face any age discrimination, e.g did you suspect that interviewers turned you down mostly because of age. Because I read a lot of stories like this.
Nothing provable in a court of law. However, the look of disappointment in some of the interviewers' faces when we finally met for the face-to-face interview told me everything I needed to know about their expectations even before they said hello.
This is what scared me off from career switches in general not just coding, and still gives me air of uncertainty. I've read too many stories like this for my own good or bad. Sending 800 applications is like full time, unpaid labor in itself.