Let IT veterans plug skills gaps

Martin Veitch is to be applauded for defending unemployed IT programmers in their fifties (Getting to grips with the people problem, 9 May).
I am 54, a developer and similarly unemployed. My skills were good enough for clients like CitiCorp, Banker Trust, BT and the National Audit Office. But not any more.
I do apply for low-grade work, but I am so often told I am over-qualified. It is a total Catch-22 situation.
Skills? I developed mine mainly on the job. At the time, IT was seen as a way out of unemployment, but clearly it is now a way into unemployment. It seems the fastest way to become unemployed is to go for a career in IT.
Name withheld