I'm 55. We just had a design meeting on the sequel to one of our games. I was 36 before I even touched a computer (a half hour at a friend's house), but got that first job at Sierra Online because I had a strong 2D portfolio and good imagination for fantasy. They loaned me a computer and their proprietary software and said "come back in two weeks". Being able to teach yourself is a plus if you want to freelance. Even employees usually don't get training on the job. Many companies in the games industry are only hiring for the team or the project and there is no job security. Ad agencies and such are probably more permanent. Duelling mouthwashes and dancing raisins aren't as glamourous as imaginary worlds, but consumers must keep buying or the economy will implode and ads aren't going away any time soon. Carolly