I'm 29 and casually dated a 40 year old coworker. The age difference wasn't really an issue for me. I have a sister who's 10 years older than me so because of her I was exposed to a lot of the same 80s pop culture that he's familiar with. There was never one of those moments where he referenced something/someone that I didn't get, and he never found himself bemoaning how old I made him feel or anything like that. We actually have a lot in common as far as hobbies and interests go.

We both look younger than we are, people regularly guess 5 to 10 years younger. It was pretty funny when in the course of a conversation people would find out his age, look disgusted/judgmental, then think to ask how old I am, immediately looking relieved to hear 29. After our actual ages were established no one thought anything of the gap. I think it's pretty generally agreed upon that once someone is 30+ (29 being close enough, haha) they're an adult adult and if they want to be in a relationship with someone older then that's their business.

He turned out to be pretty unrealistic and immature for his age, and unlike you he did have a somewhat creepy penchant for younger women. He admitted upfront that he finds women his own age and up unattractive. It slowly dawned on me that he may have been attracted to me because I look younger than 29. He slept with me before he knew my age... But I digress, lol.

The basically coworkers thing can be pretty tricky. In my case we agreed that no matter what happened between us that we'd remain professional at work. We're both career driven so it was a believable promise and it panned out. The last thing either of us would want is for our personal life to get dragged into work and blow up into something embarrassing and potentially career damaging. When I ended things it was uneventful and drama-free. He never tried to contact me again. We keep our distance at work since us interacting isn't necessary at all (different departments) but if we ever do need to interact for work related reasons I have no doubt in my mind that it'll be a non-issue.

In short, I'd say go for it. I don't regret the experience I had with my 40 year old coworker. It may have worked out if one or both of us had been slightly different people, haha, but the age difference and coworkers status actually had no bearing!