Congrats on the new gig! Being somewhat older myself and in a position of hiring (seeing a lot of young developers) I would have to say that you are just doing a few simple things that make your age a non-issue.
The negative thing about older developers to me is when I see that they simply haven't kept up. They don't have the interest anymore (or perhaps never did). Their resume reflects that as well as just, lack of an online presence.
You mention answering questions on stack exchange. You sent pull requests on github. You're re-appropriating the somewhat recent "full stack" title. These are simple things that current developers do without thinking much of it. But developers who kinda checked out 10 years ago and have been coasting - they are sometimes not even aware of this stuff going on. They don't have github profiles. They're not contributing. You, on the other hand, are out there doing things.
To me I'll hire a developer of any age that is out there doing things, learning, teaching and continuing to be curious.
The negative thing about older developers to me is when I see that they simply haven't kept up. They don't have the interest anymore (or perhaps never did). Their resume reflects that as well as just, lack of an online presence.
You mention answering questions on stack exchange. You sent pull requests on github. You're re-appropriating the somewhat recent "full stack" title. These are simple things that current developers do without thinking much of it. But developers who kinda checked out 10 years ago and have been coasting - they are sometimes not even aware of this stuff going on. They don't have github profiles. They're not contributing. You, on the other hand, are out there doing things.
To me I'll hire a developer of any age that is out there doing things, learning, teaching and continuing to be curious.