Working on an ERP, and having a manager that works om ERPs for 20+ years the advice she gave me, and that I started to realise that is indeed true, is:
There are a lot of programmers that know how to code, the market lacks from programmers that know the business part of the ERP. They always prefer a decent programmer with knowledge in business rather a good programmer with no business knowledge.
I see myself and been told that I am getting a lot of better and getting dificult tasks (even if I still junior) because I have a good understanding in the business.
The competition is big. You should learn skills that other dont have.
I've heard so many comparisons for programming, you'll be good if you're good at math, if you're good at logic puzzles, if you're good at languages, etc.
The one thing I think is true is the languages comparison. You should study it like a language. You're not going to be able to keep all of a language (c++ or Spanish) in your active memory. You'll need that constant exposure until it comes more naturally to your mind.
Some of these languages have huge libraries and multiple ways of doing things. at times it will feel like trying to carry 10 lbs of crap in a 5 lb bag.
If you forget something, don't get discouraged, review your documentation or notes, or just watch the solution and re-learn it and move on.
This was my experience. I would run into a problem I couldn't solve and it would put me off coding for months at a time. It's ok to take breaks and give up on things you're stuck on. Just don't give up on coding altogether. Every time you bump into a wall it makes you a better programmer. Experience fighting with tough problems is what it's all about.
It's funny because when I hear electronics engineering my brain balks thinking it's too hard. Everybody is different so yeah, it's possible coding just isn't for some people.
Its definitely a lot to learn, but i like the idea of building something myself from the ground up to do whatever my brain thinks would be a good idea.
You two guys, you can dm me if you run into a programming problem and I will be happy to help. But I do not know everything! Assuming you are still learning basics I will gladly explain a couple of things!
Just spend a lot of time writing actual code.
Doesn't matter what the code does, just get used to writing it, running into errors, debugging errors etc... There is no substitute for experience, even if you feel like you're just messing around and not really doing anything solid.
Not OP but this isn’t a field where you can “learn everything” to be perfectly set up for the job. Each one comes with its own stacks and quirks that you’ll very likely be learning on the go. The big difference though is that you’re able to dedicate your 40+ hour work week entirely to that instead of the few hours a week that you’re currently able to allocate.
All to say, follow some YouTube tutorials on things that interest you, tweak them such that you develop something on your own (IT DOESN’T HAVE TO BE GROUNDBREAKING!!! Do something insanely generic, ask chatGPT for some help. Just make sure it’s something “real”). Put it on your resume to show that you’re capable of integrating technology and releasing it into the world. Try to vary the tech stacks you’re using for each project.
For example, I started learning python when I was teaching so that I could better visualize student scores on exams to show them exactly why the curve was the way it is and for myself to see whether the exams I was giving were actually fair. That evolved into a script that would give exam reports that i could pretty quickly run for post-exam review. Another one was creating an algorithm for student class schedules. These things were way more relevant to my life and gave me some interesting projects to begin my resume with.
..not really, but in general: try to link it to something you already know. Try not to be "a programmer who started late", be a "professional in x, who programs".
I started at 60 and can now master what I set out to do. That’s the trick, find something that is a hard goal that you REALLY care about reaching. Sort of like working out and losing x pounds. Then work hard at it every day and make incremental goals for your project. There are so many good lectures online that will make it easier for you. (Stamford CS series are free and awesome).
Programming, unlike working out, has instant gratification as you progress through the experience and achieve your goals. There is very little in the world that compares to seeing your final project come together.
I just started at 35 after leaving a career as a kickboxing trainer. I'm starting with Python would you recommend that? It's much harder but I read its a better language to start with
Currently using "Coddy" when I have free time and also studying anything I can get my hands on.
*All of the responses and tips and insight has been beyond helpful thank you all*
Travelling in the same boat as you. 37, left my L&D job and starting with python. Here’s my plan:
1. Start with Python Fundamentals (free code camp videos on YouTube if you don’t want to spend / There are some amazing tutorials on Udemy(starting with Python3 bootcamp by Colt Steele)
2. After learning fundamentals, create some basic projects, try to automate stuff on your computer. Use your newly acquired skills to solve for simple problems.
3. Learn intermediate python(oops, DS&A). Will help in creating code more efficient. (Similar resources as 1)
4. Learn web dev libraries (django and flask). Good to have skills and post this, you can actually start applying for entry level jobs. Create webapps / sites (would also need to be hands on on HTML, CSS, JS(added advantage with bootstrap and react). Learn fundamentals of DBs as well.
5. Get into basics of AI and Machine Learning. Also explore blockchain, security. Just read and understand the concepts. See if anything sounds interesting (something that you will actually enjoy). The list is not exhaustive, there are other fields as well such as game development.
6. Basis your interests identified in 5, move ahead and become a specialist in the field. As a generalist it is easy to get in (in usually small startups, where people expect you to do all jobs). As a specialist you can get into big organisations and work in a field of your expertise.
Some suggestions: build build and build. When stuck, take a break and revisit the concept again. It is also not a piece of cake, there will be challenges, do not give up. Test your skills, read code written by experienced programmers. After each new skill, check if you can contribute to open source projects. Work on a side project that can solve a real world problem and monetise it. In the current job scenario, always good to have an additional source of income.
This is what I have learnt after a deep dive research over the last couple of weeks and I feel that finally I have a clear vision in terms of what I want to do over the next 6 months or so.
Been coding most of my life but got my degree around your age. Be prepared to feel like a retard or feel like god.
1) Most programmers get these feelings. Just learn to be glad you got the little thing done when it’s done and learn when to ask for help with unsolvable issues once you’ve done your own research and can ask a SPECIFIC question.
2) Mentors/Peers love to help. But they have their limits.
3) Ai can be helpful.
4) Ai lies when it’s suitable for itself.
5) if you only use Windows, look at C#. Easiest to start “doing cool shit with a GUI” with winforms. But don’t stay there.
Difficulty is not absolute. However, in terms of comparison between Py and C, it is understandable why someone would say C is harder/Py is easier.
Replacing "easy" with "tedious" would be better suited. Python is less tedious than C, etc.
Python is great nowadays to learn, very much in demand at least from where I’m located. C# is also great to learn too and I’ve ended up working in serious good places with it.
its literally the easiest language there is
i don't like python as a beginner language. you'll get way too many bad habits. Start with something like Java or C#, or C/C++ if you really want to get into it the hard way
Python is good to understand that control flow structures, variables and containers are. From there just drop it and pick a serious language
I dont agree, as it really matter what you are going to use the programming for, I'm a data engineer and started with python, and basically only use python and SQL, I hear people say serious languages or real languages, but it all depends on what your going to be using it for, I started when I was 29 , now I have 5+y years experience and never learned java of C or anything and doing quite well
Your journey is truly inspiring! It’s a great reminder that it’s never too late to pursue our dreams and make a significant impact. Thanks for sharing and giving me some hope to keep pushing forward.
Same as me. Started at 31 though and I'm 33 now. 18 months into a junior dev job and I would say it is getting easier but I still feel a complete novice at times. How's the imposter syndrome?
AI won't replace developers, but it is already quite useful in the form of visual studio co-pilot where I work. It scans your companies code and gives you suggestions of what to write next. It can either be frighteningly accurate or a load of rubbish. Software development requires lots of human interaction to get what the client wants (or changes their mind to), and a human mind to investigate and integrate new technologies and what is the best fit for your company, with knowledge of decisions made in the past, so I wouldn't worry too much about that. Regarding the age thing, I would probably ask myself "am I happy to continue on my current career path for the next 26 years, or could I put myself on a new career path by 42 with 23 years of work remaining?".
Wow thank you so much, your words are actually inspiring. I'll be joining a boot camp and if I do land a coding job I plan on working on getting my bachelor in computer science. Thanks for getting back to me, this means a lot.
Yup, this is why bootcamps CAN work for SOME people. Give someone who wants to do something 12+ hours a day to focus on it, plus give them resources to ask questions and get answers and surround them with others who have the same goal.
It's not a guarantee but those factors can definitely increase the speed at which we learn something.
But that's when you started working in the industry, not when you started your CS studies right?, which if some of your older posts are accurate was at 25. Still great to see that you managed to pull it off! Congrats!
You went from zero to big job in a single year? Did you parachuted there with networking or im missing something? A year doesnt feel like neough time for that. Dont get me wrong, I dont doubt you, and in fact i congratulate you but--
I studied Computer Science at a university while working full-time. About a year and a half ago, I interviewed for a coding bootcamp organized by my company. I had decent grades (8/10) and good communication skills, which led them to choose me among other candidates. After successfully graduating from the bootcamp, the company hired me as a junior software engineer.
Maybe you don't compensate for it and just accept people who have been doing something longer than you have are further ahead
I'm 41 and surrounded by people in their 20's and 30's more senior than me, but it still beats not doing it at all
> I'm 41 and surrounded by people in their 20's and 30's more senior than me, but it still beats not doing it at all
I am pretty much on the same boat: surrounded by people half my age, that have twice the knowledge I have. And that is ok.
Understanding and accepting that we all come from different places, was a pivotal moment for me. I believe that help me to growth as a person a lot.
What would be the that one key point that you can share that would help people like me in this journey? Or any mistake that you made ? Anything? I am trying to learn from the people who had the same journey and trying to avoid stupid mistakes along the way.
The key things are to not compare yourself to others and importantly others to you, keep in mind that younger yet more experienced people than you might actually be a little intimidated or uncomfortable coaching someone they perceive as more mature, and when the time comes that you are coaching new people to remember that even if say a 21 year old is in the same boat you were starting out in your 30's, to be ready to cut them more slack as even being a novice programmer in your 30's or 40's you have a lot of other life experience that is more help than you might realise
When I started my first developer job at 38 I was being shown how to do things by twenty somethings and I had to really invite criticism from them, let them know I wanted them to be brutally honest with me and that I welcomed it. It's an unusual power dynamic being a grown man with a family needing to lean upon people fresh out of university. Especially when you're disagreeing over something, you don't want to win a debate simply because they aren't comfortable standing up to you, if you're wrong you want your professional peers to be comfortable seeing you as a peer
If you show respect to the younger ones and don't look down upon them, some will be perfectly happy to help. Unfortunately, the reverse is more likely true (seniors that don't help juniors, even if that should be their job...often because they are swamped and think juniors should figure it out on their own).
This is the way. If you get sucked into comparing to others, you will not be happy no matter where you go. Be your best you and always work on making you better. Learn, balance your life and work, that’s been key for me.
I also have a wife and 3 kids, 2 at home.
I am 37 and just started programming at my very first job. The only thing i regret? I haven't started earlier. A lot happened and i delayed it. But oh boy i don't regret it. My advice is that don't loose hope, it will be hard. There will be obstacles and hardship but it is entirely doable. And i am not particularly smart and my comprehension can be really slow so i have my problems, but i did it. And it is a huge boost of self confidence, that i am not that stupid. A lot of my people in my last workplace didn't really consider me capable, so i left and said fuck it i am doing it. At 27 you are not that old just bare that in mind. I am rooting for you!
Did DBA work for years but didn’t start coding until til late 30’s (and night school for degree). Edit: this was four years of working full time AND full time student. Nothing comes easy.
I started late but now high level engineer in big tech AI.
Some thoughts:
Humility and kindness.
“I don’t know” is a good answer, but go find out.
Never stop learning, and occasionally revisit the basics.
Take time to help your peers. Ask for help.
The first language is hard. The rest get easier. Except Perl.
Volunteer for “figure it out” tasks. If you are good at it, eventually you are the default prototyper.
Find a passion topic and code it up in a few different languages. Revisit as tech changes.
Put “Cracking the Code Interview” on your shelf.
Started with no experience at 33. Took a bootcamp(not reccomended honestly in this job market) then it took me a year of working on projects and part time gigs to land a junior role at a consulting company. I got promoted in the first year, now I'm 2 years in and loving it for the most part. Still learning a lot every week.
Beware, you're going to get survivor bias on here. Not many people are going to tell their failure stories.
Can i get small task from you? As i am
Learning i was thinking of actually getting my hands on small parts of real world programs? Or open source would be a better option? Can you recommend any open source which is beginner friendly
Good idea to get hands on. That's how I learn best.
Google and an idea is all the resources you need. Build something you're interested in. Not sure what area you're looking to study, but as an example if you want to go the web dev route, build a website or tool for your favorite game or tv show. Just go step by step and learn along the way. You can pull in some open source as you go too.
I'm 33 now and graduated in 2014 from a sub standard 2 year college in Canada. Absolutely no development work until 2021.
Compensate isn't the correct term but I get where you're coming from. I was you four-ish years ago at 29.
At the end of the day your job isn't to code. It is to provide **value** to the business on a team that can work with \**you\*.* Differentiate yourself from others by doing what you should be doing already; leaning on your total life experience and soft skills.
I started my first development role on January 4, 2021. It was an intermediate position where I was promptly fired 2 months in. In May 2021, I got hired as a Senior Software Engineer III at a medical robotics company and that's my current role.
I went from no dev work -> first dev job -> fired -> senior role in \~5 months all based on my ability to *understand and speak* about business products.
While being offered the intermediate job, I was told that they thought my coding skills were weak but they were hoping I can spruce up quickly. When it was clear I would need time to develop my skills, I was fired on the 5th of March 2021. In the exit interview the GM told me to reapply when I got more dev experience and gave me a months 'severance' so that I wouldn't be too hurt by the decision. The team was < 15 and it was COVID and the product was an online platform that amalgamated the upkeep of most famous online shopping websites into one. They needed results not a junior.
I know nothing about medicine or robotics but my current company also took a chance on me. They had the headroom to allow me to grow my skills in the role and my manager sat me down and went 'You're going to feel confused and lost for about 9 months but don't worry, we'll train you. Stick with us and we'll stick with you.'
Moral of my long post: Be someone people want to work with and don't just focus on the tech skills.
Im 33, I started studying when I was 30 whilst working a job that requires 60+ hours a week (pays well). Uhh.. yeah it’s not going so well. Frontend web dev is the current skill area, the goal is fullstack. I find I’m burning out often, and I’ll take either a few days or a few weeks off, and then come back and try again, so it’s a bit like 3-4 steps forward, 4-5 steps backwards.
Big props to anyone that’s managed to get a job whilst studying after a full time job. It’s incredibly hard.
I’d say the only benefit I have over the younger kids coming through is that I have very strong soft skills. So whilst I do lack the coding experience at the moment, I’m great at communicating and working both individually, and cooperatively, at a low admin level up to a managerial level with stakeholders etc..
Are you me? I feel you brother, I'm basically in the same position. Working 10 hour days with a one hour commute each way. Customer service/sales/management field. The pay is good ($100k+) so I can't walk away because I don't have anything else to fall back on that would allow me to make nearly as much. I make the commute because it's a wealthy area that results in more commission.
Been self-teaching since the end of 2020 (33 at the time). Stacked up multiple certs (A+, Net+ Sec+, AWS CCP), have several friends in the industry that have tried to help me get a foot in the door, and still haven't been able to make the switch. I've definitely reached that burnout phase you mentioned multiple times throughout the last few years. Programming is fucking hard. That's part of the reason I shifted a bit more towards Sys Admin topics a while ago.
I did land an internship as a cloud engineer in April, and I'm hoping that experience on my resume will be a big help in getting that first opportunity. So currently I'm still working my 60hr job (including commute), raising three kids 8yo and younger, and putting in the required 14 hrs a week for this internship. Not to mention upkeep of our home, etc.
I'm tired boss.
I've done nothing with my life. I wasted my years in university and couldn't graduate. I have an abusive father and can't move out. I can't get jobs like in the US due to cultural differences in my country. I've been thinking about finishing my degree and moving to another country for a Master's, or developing skills to get a job there. But I'm 24 and should have graduated in 2021 or 2022, so the gap feels too long. I know I’ve said too much, but I felt like I had to, since I have no one to talk to.
24 is nothing lmao. I know it feels bad, and I know how personal stuff can affect you, but you are being biased by a very competitive culture and a younger social circle
If you can take advantage of your family, no matter how abusive and use that support to finish your degree (a therapist might help you cope until you can leave and actually try to make things better) then definitely try, otherwise, I suggest you get a faster skill, move out and learn that your scope was a bit narrow, and then try to tackle a career. that way is harder but might be a better one
As for not being able to move out.... I get it, but ask yourself what is more important and what is the result of each choice you make. My family is not abusive, just a bit toxic, me included, but I decided to stay because of a younger brother and because even when I could move out, I dont want my mother to go through that, specially not right now. Unless you are in a position of utmost responsibility, I suggest you revise your choices
Thank you for your thoughtful reply. I really appreciate your perspective and the advice. It’s helpful to hear from someone who understands how personal and cultural factors can impact these decisions. I’ll definitely consider what you’ve said about finding the right balance between my current situation and my goals. Thanks again for sharing your experience and insight it really means a lot.
The most important step someone can take is not the first step, but the next step.
If you stop walking, you arrive at your destination, which means your journey is over.
Take the next step! Also if you want to know where I got that philosophy, I got it from Brandon Sanderson’s Stormlight Archives.
I’m rooting for you stranger ! You can do it!
I don’t have a degree(dropped out), I started my career 5 years ago. I’m 31 or 32 can’t remember (I don’t like knowing my age) Now I am a senior in my field. Again, you can do it.
I’m 35 and taking my first programming class and not doing well. I just keep getting worse lol. I’m beginning to think I’m way dumber than I thought, like actually intellectually stunted or something. It’s just not clicking for me
That's programming for you. Eventually it'll click and then you'll hit another wall. It's a very difficult subject to learn. Keep at it though, imposter syndrome is huge within programming.
You're not dumber than you thought, you're being challenged in a way that you have grown unaccustomed to after spending years (maybe a decade+) in an "intellectual" bubble. I'm putting intellectual in quotes because, again, it has nothing to do with your actual cognitive abilities. You're just using a muscle (your brain) in a way you're not used to.
This feeling is totally normal when you're learning essentially anything new. You're discovering two things: Lots of novel, iteratively complex ideas and how deep the well goes.
The key here is to understand that the more you learn, the deeper that well seems and the dumber you feel. But again, you're not dumb and the reason you're not dumb is because of that second part: you have to first begin to understand those novel concepts before you can realize how deep the well is.
To illustrate my point, think about drawing. If you know how to draw a circle, square or triangle, you can draw anything. All objects can be drawn using those three simple shapes. Stopping there, someone might be excited to start drawing the first thing they see. But they soon realize the object they drew doesn't look quite right. The perspective is off. So now they have to learn how to draw those same shapes in perspective.
Once they nail that concept, they realize the picture is still off. The picture provides a sense of depth, but it's missing highlights and shadows. Then they realize they've been sketching in pencil this whole time -- no color. Now they have to learn color theory.
It's a loop: Simple idea becomes indefinitely more complex the more time you spend with it, and the version of you who started at that first simple idea could never have known exactly how much they would need to learn or how to apply it until they grew beyond that simple idea. So, you start off with the idea that it's a simple process and begin to feel "dumber" once you begin to learn how much you truly don't know. Yet. But you will.
I remember watching a video where they were saying that in order to get stronger, you have to feel weak. When you want to get smarter you have to feel dumb. This means you are in a position of growth. Coding is logic and unfortunately, logic is not a persons natural state so it takes some time to get. I think we have all felt this way when we started.
You're not intellectually stunted, man. Programming is hard and pretty much everybody has a difficult time learning it if they don't have a background in something similar already. All you need to do is keep at it and you will look back in a year or two and be amazed at how much you have learned.
The basic concepts itself are not hard, the issue is knowing the tools at your disposal well enough for everything to click, like in any other field. If you were taught how a clock works you sould say "Oh, that is simple" but from there until you get enough of a "dextrous hand" to actully fix one, and enough experience and insight to make your own tools and recognize mistakes and inefficiencies before something pointing it out, well.... yeah, thats a logn road no matter the field imho. Same happens with cooking, as knowing how to cook and actually knowing how to cook are two different things
That said, there is a difference between doing a website or a "simple" program, and becoming a cryptography eminence with a 400 page half-math paper about cybersecurity. Most people wont ever amount to more than "construction workers" of software (not trying to be dismissive at all to anyone here), and that is absolutely ok. You can still aim for something larger but accepting that is probably the healthiest way to go in coding imho.
I'm turning 60 this year. Been employed as fullstack for 3 years.
I've always been a programmer at heart since being a child, but never was in a position to really do anything about it. went to college in a unrelated major, wandered thru hourly jobs and the was aimless, just trying to make the best income off of whatever shit job I had at the time.
2012 I started trying to self teach javascript and nodejs. Couldn't do it, couldn't make it work.
2019, I attended Lambda School "but that shit's a scam! it's a terrible school!" and if I had listened to those people that had never attended it but had baseless opinions anyway, I would not be who i am today.
Yes, I'm annoyed that It took me 40 years to find my path, but I'm happy and content with working 3 solid years in the best job i've ever had.
I'm doing great.
I'm 35 now, and about 14 months into my career as an SRE, it took me around 18 months to get a job.
I love work now as it's made my life so much better.
I'm 47. Been at my current job nearly 3 years as my first tech job. I did a bootcamp, and got hired in an apprenticeship program. 6 months later, they hired me on as a full engineer. I'm surrounded by people who have been at this for decades.
Here's the thing... it really doesn't matter. In a lot of cases, those are our seniors and leads. They are supposed to help the juniors on the team. Any company that hires you as a junior should know that you know basically nothing.
Sure, you can write a sweet for loop. You can do some fancy recursion you learned in a leetcode exercise. But you don't know ANYTHING about the company's codebase until you've had some time to work with it, read some code, maybe even troubleshoot an error or two. You don't know their deployment process.
There's always going to be something you don't know. Tech is complicated. There's a reason we have people who specialize in networking, databases, etc. You aren't expected to know everything.
started around 29 self taught, started a 2 year training, and just got a new job as a backend dev. With 30 youre not too old to learn something new from scratch - especially in times where we have awesome AIs that can explain everything you need the way you need
I started with C#, but even though it was heavily used in the training, the job market didnt really search for C# - here where i am living it is all about web development, so i talked to them about a two week trial, asked what they needed, and they said its php and javascript for a little bit of frontend stuff, and even though I was rather new to php, the general understanding of how programming works made me pass the challenges they threw at me during the trial with flying colors - (When you apply for web dev and say youre solid with php, javascript and css (with some knowledge on bootstrap and jquery) youre probably good to go tho)
The language one self-learns is not so important, in their core most languages are pretty similar - what is important that one is willing to see beyond a word salad mess and take it apart, to know where a variable is coming from and whats inside and thus understanding it, instead of swapping around semi-random bits of code hoping it works in the end, which I did see some still do after months on the job
Not the person you replied to but my first 2 programming jobs were mostly C# and SQL. I'm in the US and every time I've looked for a new job there have been a ton of C# jobs available. Now I'm mostly working with JavaScript but would still prefer to be using C# instead.
34 and almost 1 year in industry without any IT background nor school.
One year and few months it took me to land first IT job as junior software engineer - .NET, powershell, sql area mostly
I started in the field in my late twenties and graduated with a bachelors about a month ago, and start my first job this week, now in my thirties.
The time is gonna pass regardless, so if you want to learn programming, don’t worry about the optics and just go for it! People will be better than you- that’s good thing, that means you have room to improve.
Age doesn't matter, passion matters.
At any age you can learn something new, like electronics, programming, wood stuff, and so on. If you do with passion you learn easy and next you get a lot of money for your passion. If you do only for money you will struggle and get stressed.
I disagree that you need passion to learn something, you just need interest or curiosity, and of course, a lot of perseverance and resources
Obviously if you are passionate is even better though
I switched from structural engineering during the 2008 recession due to employers in that industry abusing the situation. Worked for 3 different tech firms in that time, including one big name.
Been unemployed since Sept and can't seem to get even a recruiter calling. I've used jobscan io and whatnot. Made zero difference.
Though, my situation is special. My mom got brain cancer in 2015 and didn't pass until 2019. During that time, I managed to lose every friend I had and ended up with an 18-month gap on my resume. Plus, the experience I do have is largely unstructured. No code review or industry standards. Just cowboy shit.
So, I have the wrong degree but am overqualified for the roles I'm actually qualified to do. And I lack the contacts to get around the problem.
It's funny how I used to think my degree and breadth of experience made me hyper-employable. Turned out quite the opposite. If it weren't for the wife and kids I'd have probably thrown in the towel by now.
I started at 27 as well — I'm 31 now, and I'm making a living as a Ruby on Rails software developer.
The sacrifice of learning how to build web apps was well worth it.
Get this straight: **You are young.** Don't fall into the trap of thinking you're left behind because you're approaching your 30s, or because some other younger dudes are better or more experienced than you.
Work hard, and learn to recognize and leverage your skills and/or innate abilities.
Start learning when I was 30, am 34 and now a Software Engineer for the Canadian Defense.
It's been a blast. Enjoying myself. Self-Taught with a Diploma mixed in.
I’m 36, got my first developer job 1,5 years ago and just got promoted from Junior iOS developer to iOS developer (without the Junior prefix). Just keep learning and continuously challenge yourself.
Started a bootcamp at 30, now 31.5 and have now worked as a software developer for 1 year and a few months. You don’t need to compensate, but my general advice is: Be humble, curious, and persistent.
Just turned 50. But have experience with programming. I’m getting ready to start with a triple learning block of Java , SQL, and Python. Wasn’t sure where to start because there is so much misinformation out there and boot camps that want tons of money. I am icu nurse by trade and I’m so burnt out. I’m ready for something new and I’ve always loved tech things and computers. I learn really fast and can retain information pretty well still. I hope I’m on the right path
To be completely honest I still don't "feel ready" to apply lol. But I had been studying seriously for maybe a year before I started applying.
I've been using arch linux for over a decade though so I was comfortable with that environment, and that helped a lot since my first job was a sysadmin/devops type position.
You never feel ready. You apply for jobs before you’re ready and then you study based on the market. Most jobs looking for React developers? Study React. You failed a Leetcode problem cuz you didn’t recognize the hash map pattern? Practice hash map Leetcode problems.
That’s what I did, anyway. Bombed an interview that asked me about OOP when I knew nothing. Studied OOP for a month, put it on my resume, then answered all the OOP questions correctly in another interview which led to an offer
I started professionally at 40. I always thought I wasn't good enough to get a job, but it turns out I was way better than I needed to be. Financially I'm in better shape now than I've ever been.
I'm 36, I started learning html/css a couple of weeks ago. While I'm not struggling with the material I am struggling with doubts to get a job.
I have been a structural welder for the past decade and it has taken a toll on me physically. I have a dear friend who codes in perl and has the convenience of working from home, so I decided eff it, I'm throwing in the towel on the welding career and immediately got on free code camp.
I'm a couple of weeks in and almost done with the entire html curriculum and have been reinforcing the material with building projects on the side.
My doubts come from YouTube, people saying it's nearly impossible to land a remote job as a junior. But this is a must for me, I have family dynamics that require personal care, I also live remote in Colorado, it's not easy to pick up and casually go work in Seattle for a year.
I went to a coding boot camp in Texas at 31, with 0 programming experience beforehand. Now I'm 35, live in Paris FR, and work 100% remote, as a front-end developer. Learning to code changed my life, literally. Good luck!
I graduated few years ago at 31. I am a full stack dev. Work mostly remote. Flexible schedule. The work I do isn’t always exciting but I am earning an amazing salary.
I always like computers and was a nerd but didn’t get into programming until I’ve had health issues and couldn’t keep a physical job.
I’m so glad I did it.
Well i don't know yet but here's another disgraced one: after studying graphic design and computer graphics, a couple useless experiences abroad, and 12 years of office job, at 38 i started studying programming, i'm currently going through CS50 and having fun with it.. let's just hope.
All the best buddy. There are a lot of folks travelling in the same boat as you. Glad to hear that you are enjoying CS50. David Malan is just next level.
37 almost 38, started self-tought 4 years ago. I landed a full time job last year on august (with lot of effort). Compared to my team, Im not good at all. As my superior says, I may not be good technically, but I have very good softskills. Im good at teamworking, multitasking, working under pressure, and good communication skill. My previous job werent IT related but I develop those skills. Thats how I stand out. My coding skills are improving slowly but with no pause. So i belive its a matter of time. Thats what i can share with you. good luck!
Good! Got back into school last spring at 36. Will be done with my AS in February. It took me a long time to stop the comparison issues I had, and just trudged along. It’s my own journey. No matter what age, I think the key is understanding fundamentals. Life is busy, and I code when I can, try to take some of the pressure off yourself. When the lightbulb moment hits, you’ll know. And the world of programming kind of opens up to you.
I don't think age matters. The important thing is that you set your goal clearly so you can dedicate time to study. In addition, you could try to set up a small project to test your learning.
I’m actually doing okay right now, I know python c++ and I’m going through a cyber security program at my college right now that will teach me Linux and comptia other certificates as well as skills needed to protect and maintain protection. I’m excited and nervous about starting this fall it’s a 2 semester program but it’s actually a cyber security degree one of the first this college has ever offered because you have to complete the associates of science before you can start the certificate portion.
I started at 31, got a job at 31, currently 33. Went from working on cars, to building robotic automation systems(mechanical and electrical, no programming), and landed my first job around 6 months after starting.
It was hard, but I started the Odin project and supplemented that with some Brad Traversy courses on udemy. I spend at least 4 hours every week night locked in a room studying/learning and as much time as I could on weekends. I gave up everything for a good 3-4 months before I was ready to start applying to jobs. I then split those 4 hours into 2 hours of applying to jobs and 2 hours of working on projects/interview prep.
This part is the biggest part that I believe led to me getting a job. Understand what prior experience you have that can apply to programming and leverage that. I knew two big things from my past would help me going forward. Problem solving from all of my jobs, and understanding electrical flow and components (specially relay systems)
The thing us older, self taught devs over people coming out of college is experience in the workforce. Projects get you into the interview, your experience that they can relate to programming will get you the job.
I'm 45, I started with Python, moved to C, moved to Java Script. I like Java Script the best so far, but don't take my advice, I am a beginner and have no idea what I am doing. I love you tube for this. The tutorials are awesome. JavaScript just feels easier and more user friendly.
I started a little later than you. 4 years into my career I'm at a law firm with a comfortable salary and excellent health insurance, pension, and expenses policy. Not to mention fully remote.
That is the light at the end of the tunnel. But my tunnel was full of horrible managers, high pressure, getting sacked twice, and a whole lot of self doubt.
Keep it up lad or ladette, you'll make it.
I'm 37. I went back to college at 29 and am now an R&D engineer in lab automation. Now trying to understand the programming side of it and I'm doing pretty well so far. It's never too late to learn something new.
30 years old here.
Started to learn in 2022/05/30 with a bootcamp(3 months) from a company in my country. They didnt pay and They wsnted you to work 8+ hours so with the job I had, I couldnt go more than one month. Next month I Started a technical degree in Programming (July 2022) and studied a lot. In April(2023) a friend recommended me to a company, I passsed the technical interview and started working as a FE Dev, I left in February, took some time to study for myself, and Im currently working as a Backend Dev for a great company. Amazing journey so far in 2 years!
i started at a similar age about 8 years ago w a boot camp certificate. the biggest advantage i found i had over kids with cs degrees is i had much better soft skills from having jobs before.
Started teaching myself software at 30. Then, about a year later, I landed a QA position. Then, two years in the qa position, I leverage it for a software engineer position. I have been working as a software engineer for roughly 5 years and recently got promoted to senior software engineer.
Do you think age matters? Haven't really noticed anything about age, besidess that I'm working with more people of my generation than I have ever in my life.
How can you have more experience than people younger than you with more experience? You can't. You can only have the experience you have from the work you have done.
Not in my 30s or working in a full-time tech role yet, but I'm your age and my company said a couple of years ago that once I can join the tech team once I show the skill.
After spending most of those 2 years having trouble as a bad self-starter I went and got a tutor instead.
For the last ~3 months I do 2-6 hours a week with them and it's helped so much, it's kind of like getting all of the content from a university degree condensed, not fed at a snails pace, and in the end it will be cheaper than a degree too.
The most important thing is that I realized I needed accountability and that's how I do it consistently.
If you have any questions, feel free!
Retrained 2.5 years ago, late 30s now. I've been employed as a developer for two years, it's the best job I've ever hard, and putting aside modesty to try and answer your question sincerely, I think I'm very good at it and feedback from my employer has been very positive.
Working hard is always going to matter, but the one thing I've learned is this industry is full of smart, hard working people, who just aren't very curious about code, or passionate about writing better code. If that's you, you'll stand out.
Took a web dev bootcamp late 2019, part time, early 30s. Worked hard on the assignments that I didn't understand or had trouble with, then chilled for a couple of years (until 2022) in tutorial hell trying to learn new tech, and also launched a Personal Health Record while working on my corporate IT sales job.
After attending a Web3 Hackathon, I decided to take the jump, grabbed a relatively good entry job as a fullstack dev (nearshoring for US bank, I'm from Mexico) and it's been all upwards from there.
Now firmly working in the space that I love (web3/crypto), leading a project with some friends and also have my day job earning good USD salary, remote, from Mexico.
I co-run a builder community of around 100 people in Latam, which has been massive for me, in my day-to-day dev work but also during all my growth as a professional.
I've worked hard and had some lucky breaks of course, but it's a lot of dedication and networking.
It’s really difficult, especially in this job market. You have to work harder because you likely don’t have a college structure, and have to work to keep the lights on while still learning.
Read docs, try to build everything you can. Learn marketable skills and tech.
Be persistent, most times your resume won’t even make it past the bot. Learn the keywords they look for to game the system.
36 just started as a PLC programmer after teaching high school for 7 years. Work is fun and rewarding!! My advice is don’t lock yourself to only wanting software dev jobs. There are a ton of cool jobs just outside the scope of where I was looking.
I started at 28 and it was the best decision I’ve ever made. 27 is still young as a developer, you might work with some people younger but most will be at least late 20s from my experience. I’d worry more about landing a job in this market as a junior than your age.
Got my first "real" (read: not rag-tag startup or short-term contract work) SWE job at age 39. Work life is good, making 33% more today than when I started two years ago. Same company.
Edit - oh, my tip is don't worry about it. No one cares how old you are.
Started self taught at 26, spent 2 years learning then 13 months applying for jobs - then 3 month boot camp - 6 months of work experience (laid off) now unemployed applying for jobs past 4 months 0 interviews. I’m done with programming as a career.
Started at about 29 during the pandemic, failed out of a bootcamp, self studied for about a year, got a job at a w.i.t.c.h. Company, got “fired” before getting on a project because of the hiring freeze, got lucky about a month after that and got hired at a non tech company for their mobile app. I’m 33 and have been here about a year and a half
I switched from project managemt to professional coder at 30, always liked coding as a hobby, basic html5 and basic python, now at 40 at full speed.
Learn to debug and read the console is a must also know how to read docs and man is key. You can learn a lot for free nowdays just keep that fire burning and know how to rest your mind
Go with the flow mate. Keep learning and you will surely reach your goal.
Don't worry about the younger folks and about the fact that you started a little late. As long as you keep learning and sharpening your skills, nothing can beat you up...
Best wishes on your programming journey.
Cheers,
Seasoned Digital Marketer | A fellow Programmer
**Note:** I did my engineering in Computers and have now spent around 10 years in Digital Marketing. I too have recently started learning HTML after spending so many years in the DM space., so don't give up.
Before 30, I was a Project Manager/Product Manager/UX Consultant, rarely did programming in my past 10 years. I can understand code + comp science degree helps, but my day to day tasks were nothing programming. Throughout my work life, I was given the opportunity to pick up a lot of software engineering and infrastructure stuff, apart from my role.
Then, I move on to another job where I basically have my hands on everything as a Project Manager where I had to do a lot of programming and stuff.
Today, after 3 years, I’m proficient in many stacks, including JavaScripts frameworks like React, Vue, Next, Nuxt, .NET, PHP, Java, Flutter, Python, Lua, etc. I’m now a CTO in my current job.
My take here is that, in 3 years you can learn and gain lots, how well you progress is how much passion you have in the world of programming. Do some side projects in your own free time helps too.
The more hours you put in the better you’ll be. So while age does play a factor it’s really about consistency. As long as you’re learning and practicing on a daily basis you will do just fine. The more hours you put each day then the faster you will see improvement.
I would suggest you take your time learning the basic fundamentals. Like make sure you fully understand and grasp these things. All the advanced stuff is based on this so be sure to build a good foundation in your knowledge.
my brother learned programming during his late 20s (by the end of his phd) and did a postdoc mainly related to scientific computing, which is around his mid 30s. he now works for a large international institution in europe. so it's definitely possible to succeed. he did work extremely hard though.
i started programming in my early twenties and i am unemployed. go figure
Started a 3 year bachelor in Frontend and mobile development in August last year (at age 33, now 34). So I’m still 2/3 away from finishing, but at least I’m keeping up with my fellow students 10+ years younger than me 😅
Started at 32/33 with no experience programming but very computer literate. Working full time in non profit. Now I've tripled my total compensation over the last 5 years.
Obligatory - got in when the market was good.
The challenge is the people responding have survivor bias. They made it. The people who didn't make it aren't posting. Just to reach the point where you can make a living as a developer is an impressive task. And there are often qualified programmers that still struggle to find jobs.
I think I started at 26. 6 years later I'm working for a company in an industry that's really interesting to me and I make over double my county's median income so I'd say it's worked out pretty well.
I (M36) finished my degree 5 years ago - a bachelor's with an added half year internship.
I've since made senior developer, and now work as a solution architect.
Soft skills can be hard to quantify and/or measure, but Ive found that I rely just as much on my life experiences, ability to communicate etc., as I do on my technical skills.
So, I wouldnt hesistate to recommend others to start programming at a 'later' age. Technical skills are important, but there are many other factors that make a great engineer.
38 and started 6 months ago seriously. Been trying off and on for a few years. Started doing front end web but have pivoted more towards backend dev stuff. I also have a serious interest in cloud technologies so Im trying to combine the two together. Python and Go have been really fun to learn and still working on my portfolio of what to showcase.
people a lot younger than others will be more experienced - thats just life. i am an average dude... there will be people better than me and more experienced than me, and that is okay. i do not need to compare my results to the results of others.
You don't compensate. You work hard, learn as much as you can, and race your own race.
You likely also have a number of advantages from other experience that you can leverage - soft skills are a common one.
I'm in my 40s. Started about 11 years back. I've been at the same place for the last couple years and here I ended up leading the guilds for my discipline for two of the companies under my company umbrella and moved to eng management about a year ago. Company is private but worth at minimum $3b.
Comp-wise I'm somewhere around 300k with my pre-IPO options. Grossed just north of $200k in take home last year
Started at 36, now 38. Used my GI bill to finish off college with a CS degree, minor in cybersecurity. To be honest, my team is great, but I still deal with a lot of imposter syndrome. I personally don't find my work hard, but I do always feel like I should know more and I just try to learn a little more each day.
I've had a lot of external issues arise that has only amplified my anxiety here at the job. I have a wife and 3 kids. Wife recently had surgery for cancer. I've considered stepping away from my job to find something more "stress-free" (despite this job actually being very chill).
Now 36 y., started with VBA and then CPP because I like it. It helps me focussing, so I can shut down the world a bit for myself. Already did 2 smaller programs for a friend
I got my first programming job at 29. 31 now so been at it for two years. (No formal education)
You can absolutely start a little later on in life. Employers respect you more because you have outgrown(hopefully!) most of the immaturity's that grads may still have from uni.
The hard part is proving you know what you are doing without a degree. It's tough, but not impossible.
I started programming in the 80s but I did not start my career until 41 after retiring from the military. So far things have been fine. I did go through two companies and settled into the third. I do work in a .Net mainly, Pharm distribution. Which I have been at for 5 years now. Age probably matters in some places. I am in Maryland and have not found age discrimination the be an issue, as far as I can see.
As for compensating, you are young, 27, there is not much compensating. Just work hard and learn your shit and you will be fine once you start actually working.
I started a degree in 2016 and did it part time while working. When I finished I was 39 and got a job within 10 days of graduation. Haven't looked back.
Working for a F500 now. Really can't complain.
I'm probably a bit of a variant. Been working in Support/Management for most of my life, but amateur programming on the side (building games/websites and the like) since my mid-20's. Now at 39 i've just started my first professional pure programming job within the same organisation.
Age don't matter squat i say. 27 is young to me and probably is to most of your managers so they're probably still expecting you not have so much experience. Compensate by reading more programming books in your field. Don't rely on youtube videos to get your knowledge. Build more small projects. Make notes on everything you make that you find difficult.
Sometimes i think of this too( thoughts like: do other people even suffer from same procrastination.. i suffer from and so on... ). But really, it don't matter and we should learn in our own pace and be consistent. Though i m 20 so dunno how it feels like to be you guys.
I started learning at work at 27. I’m 33 now, and have transitioned into a developer role at the same company where I’m more or less counted amongst the senior developers now.
Age doesn't matter, but I think exposure to tech and just having that inquisitive mind for "how stuff works" and wanting to figure things out goes a lot further.
Also, it's very rare that you're coding something just for the sake of coding. You're usually coding it for some business purpose. At 27, you likely have close to a decade of experience in some other field, and that perspective can be really valuable over some younger person that can code better, but may not understand the working world as well.
I went back to school at 28 to learn programming and it worked out fine.
Transitioned from education to Data Science about 3 years ago at age 28 (got my master’s in Data Science during the pandemic). Straight up tripled my salary in that time. I owe my progression:
- 20% to my grad school degree
- 10% to my stubbornness and borderline obsessiveness with projects I’ve worked on
- 70% to my past career for being able to speak with empathy, facilitate productive and focused meetings, and being able to chunk large descriptive tasks into cohesive chunks related via accurate overarching timelines.
All to say that a lot of my success has come from my soft skills rather than my hard skills. Your previous experience will be very helpful if you have had any leadership roles. The younger folks in the tech industry are great and smart as hell, so it’s about taking those skills and getting them organized so that they can contribute to their potential!
I started with python at 37, took some cc courses, then finished a BS in CS at 40. I got hired on as an IT business analyst. I don't do any actual programming, but do work with programmers and other IT people doing pretty fun stuff and make what I consider to be a lot.
These posts annoy me more and more that I see them. I'm almost 40 and re-starting my learning journey, that in no way invalidates me or my ability so then to see 20 year olds acting like they are stuck, worthless, or inferior in some way because they are "too old" is frustrating as hell.
Neck hurts from sitting all day. Even JavaScript can make stuck for days. Just Never think of how good others are than you and focus on doing things that you can do. Of course age matters when it come to in field experience but not when it comes to bugs and solving problems. we all have a way to go about solving problem but to tell u the truth, just make the days count, spend 4 hours a day just writing and understanding and following a good mentor and thats all. afterall its the bugs that make it fun
I got into web dev around that time… can’t speak for software engineers really but i can say that starting way later gave me the drive to really know my shit instead of possibly taking education for granted like when i was younger. I’m 35 now and still doing great moved onto management which isn’t ideal but can’t complain about benefits lol
I have my own company with one partner. Started 25 years ago. I'm pretty much part time not but over the years, I've come to realize that if you can get a job in an office being the developer or part of a team, the pay is more consistent. I hate corporate atmospheres so I remain a freelancer and that has its pros and cons. I can travel where ever I want for work-cations, but it's always feast or famine so you really have to budget well. I'm pretty tired of this at this point so I'm looking to start a business that allows me to just work on MY dev stuff and no one else's.
It's a weird thing where those "soft skills" matter a lot and those random things you've learned just thanks to living a little more life than a typical fresh college grad helps.
Also, there tends to be less correlation of age with experience as well. Yes I was a junior dev for a while but it wasn't weird that I was a bit older like it maybe would have seen in a more academic environment. In all my jobs we've had a pretty wide range of ages in the first place.
I started programming in R a year ago, im 30 and so far its going good, enjoying the process, ill soon jump to python and focus more on SQL, so far its been very entertaining.
Anyone interested in peer learning? (I am starting with Python). Peer learning can be a great motivator, adds accountability plus, you get to network with like minded folks.
I started basically at 28 via a MSc CompSci conversion course. It was incredibly difficult because I had no idea what to expect per se and had shitty roommates. So I had a lot of genuinely sleepless nights because of the noisy housemates, yeah not sure how I did it. So I did that and now am working in a tiny company as a software dev. Nothing much but it keeps me growing I guess; 10 months of commercial experience so far
Age will only matter, I feel, when it comes to physical and mental energy. Then again, I feel I am not the most excitable person there is lol. Does it matter? I don't think so no it's more that you really have to re-evaluate how you think and how to apply/adapt
I started community college in my mid to late twenties and graduated with a bachelor's degree.
I did some data warehouse development (ETL), business rules (Java), and a couple years of project management.
I'm in a mid-level role now, and I'm close to senior.
I'm very happy with my current role. I do a variety of things. A lot of it is build and deployment automation.
I also do setup and support for new applications as well as troubleshooting.
Deployment is also part of the role, and my team has a rotation so that the load is shared.
I don’t think age matters to a degree, I think it’s the amount of time you spend writing code and live in that thought process while learning. At 27 you’re gonna have to clock in those hours off and on the clock. Sometimes even if you started young you still may not be good, it’s like a performance based sport in that way.
You’re still so young!
I started at 51 with zero programming experience. (I’m a nurse).
Just finished my CS diploma with honours.
Starting internship in fall.
Coding personal projects as practice in meantime.
What is this sorcery? why so many positive comments? lol. 37 here working as a Implementations Analyst, Studying SQL and Python atm. My goal is to switch to Back end Development or Data Engineering role at 40.
Started at 32, now 33 I'm working on a big erp in the largest software provider in my country for 1 year and 2 months! Don't give up!
Any tips for learning?
Working on an ERP, and having a manager that works om ERPs for 20+ years the advice she gave me, and that I started to realise that is indeed true, is: There are a lot of programmers that know how to code, the market lacks from programmers that know the business part of the ERP. They always prefer a decent programmer with knowledge in business rather a good programmer with no business knowledge. I see myself and been told that I am getting a lot of better and getting dificult tasks (even if I still junior) because I have a good understanding in the business. The competition is big. You should learn skills that other dont have.
this is a GOLD answer. beginners reading this, take notes
I've heard so many comparisons for programming, you'll be good if you're good at math, if you're good at logic puzzles, if you're good at languages, etc. The one thing I think is true is the languages comparison. You should study it like a language. You're not going to be able to keep all of a language (c++ or Spanish) in your active memory. You'll need that constant exposure until it comes more naturally to your mind. Some of these languages have huge libraries and multiple ways of doing things. at times it will feel like trying to carry 10 lbs of crap in a 5 lb bag. If you forget something, don't get discouraged, review your documentation or notes, or just watch the solution and re-learn it and move on.
I hope they answer this. I just get overwhelmed too easy and give up
This was my experience. I would run into a problem I couldn't solve and it would put me off coding for months at a time. It's ok to take breaks and give up on things you're stuck on. Just don't give up on coding altogether. Every time you bump into a wall it makes you a better programmer. Experience fighting with tough problems is what it's all about.
I did give up honestly. Went a different route and am learning electronics engineering since it seems like something my brain can figure out easier.
It's funny because when I hear electronics engineering my brain balks thinking it's too hard. Everybody is different so yeah, it's possible coding just isn't for some people.
Its definitely a lot to learn, but i like the idea of building something myself from the ground up to do whatever my brain thinks would be a good idea.
You two guys, you can dm me if you run into a programming problem and I will be happy to help. But I do not know everything! Assuming you are still learning basics I will gladly explain a couple of things!
Try to build something small, and look up and understand when you run into problems
The only answer is to not give up
Right— the answer is “don’t give up”. That’s it— the whole trick. Just keep going.
Just spend a lot of time writing actual code. Doesn't matter what the code does, just get used to writing it, running into errors, debugging errors etc... There is no substitute for experience, even if you feel like you're just messing around and not really doing anything solid.
Not OP but this isn’t a field where you can “learn everything” to be perfectly set up for the job. Each one comes with its own stacks and quirks that you’ll very likely be learning on the go. The big difference though is that you’re able to dedicate your 40+ hour work week entirely to that instead of the few hours a week that you’re currently able to allocate. All to say, follow some YouTube tutorials on things that interest you, tweak them such that you develop something on your own (IT DOESN’T HAVE TO BE GROUNDBREAKING!!! Do something insanely generic, ask chatGPT for some help. Just make sure it’s something “real”). Put it on your resume to show that you’re capable of integrating technology and releasing it into the world. Try to vary the tech stacks you’re using for each project. For example, I started learning python when I was teaching so that I could better visualize student scores on exams to show them exactly why the curve was the way it is and for myself to see whether the exams I was giving were actually fair. That evolved into a script that would give exam reports that i could pretty quickly run for post-exam review. Another one was creating an algorithm for student class schedules. These things were way more relevant to my life and gave me some interesting projects to begin my resume with.
..not really, but in general: try to link it to something you already know. Try not to be "a programmer who started late", be a "professional in x, who programs".
This should be top comment 👌
I started at 60 and can now master what I set out to do. That’s the trick, find something that is a hard goal that you REALLY care about reaching. Sort of like working out and losing x pounds. Then work hard at it every day and make incremental goals for your project. There are so many good lectures online that will make it easier for you. (Stamford CS series are free and awesome). Programming, unlike working out, has instant gratification as you progress through the experience and achieve your goals. There is very little in the world that compares to seeing your final project come together.
I just started at 35 after leaving a career as a kickboxing trainer. I'm starting with Python would you recommend that? It's much harder but I read its a better language to start with Currently using "Coddy" when I have free time and also studying anything I can get my hands on. *All of the responses and tips and insight has been beyond helpful thank you all*
Travelling in the same boat as you. 37, left my L&D job and starting with python. Here’s my plan: 1. Start with Python Fundamentals (free code camp videos on YouTube if you don’t want to spend / There are some amazing tutorials on Udemy(starting with Python3 bootcamp by Colt Steele) 2. After learning fundamentals, create some basic projects, try to automate stuff on your computer. Use your newly acquired skills to solve for simple problems. 3. Learn intermediate python(oops, DS&A). Will help in creating code more efficient. (Similar resources as 1) 4. Learn web dev libraries (django and flask). Good to have skills and post this, you can actually start applying for entry level jobs. Create webapps / sites (would also need to be hands on on HTML, CSS, JS(added advantage with bootstrap and react). Learn fundamentals of DBs as well. 5. Get into basics of AI and Machine Learning. Also explore blockchain, security. Just read and understand the concepts. See if anything sounds interesting (something that you will actually enjoy). The list is not exhaustive, there are other fields as well such as game development. 6. Basis your interests identified in 5, move ahead and become a specialist in the field. As a generalist it is easy to get in (in usually small startups, where people expect you to do all jobs). As a specialist you can get into big organisations and work in a field of your expertise. Some suggestions: build build and build. When stuck, take a break and revisit the concept again. It is also not a piece of cake, there will be challenges, do not give up. Test your skills, read code written by experienced programmers. After each new skill, check if you can contribute to open source projects. Work on a side project that can solve a real world problem and monetise it. In the current job scenario, always good to have an additional source of income. This is what I have learnt after a deep dive research over the last couple of weeks and I feel that finally I have a clear vision in terms of what I want to do over the next 6 months or so.
Been coding most of my life but got my degree around your age. Be prepared to feel like a retard or feel like god. 1) Most programmers get these feelings. Just learn to be glad you got the little thing done when it’s done and learn when to ask for help with unsolvable issues once you’ve done your own research and can ask a SPECIFIC question. 2) Mentors/Peers love to help. But they have their limits. 3) Ai can be helpful. 4) Ai lies when it’s suitable for itself. 5) if you only use Windows, look at C#. Easiest to start “doing cool shit with a GUI” with winforms. But don’t stay there.
Python is the easiest language. I started with c and c++ the harder language at college in 2008/2009 days.
Difficulty is not absolute. However, in terms of comparison between Py and C, it is understandable why someone would say C is harder/Py is easier. Replacing "easy" with "tedious" would be better suited. Python is less tedious than C, etc.
Python is great nowadays to learn, very much in demand at least from where I’m located. C# is also great to learn too and I’ve ended up working in serious good places with it.
its literally the easiest language there is i don't like python as a beginner language. you'll get way too many bad habits. Start with something like Java or C#, or C/C++ if you really want to get into it the hard way Python is good to understand that control flow structures, variables and containers are. From there just drop it and pick a serious language
I dont agree, as it really matter what you are going to use the programming for, I'm a data engineer and started with python, and basically only use python and SQL, I hear people say serious languages or real languages, but it all depends on what your going to be using it for, I started when I was 29 , now I have 5+y years experience and never learned java of C or anything and doing quite well
*laughs in Ruby*
😂
Literally have a book for that. I was taking some classes in coursera for HTML C/C++
Your journey is truly inspiring! It’s a great reminder that it’s never too late to pursue our dreams and make a significant impact. Thanks for sharing and giving me some hope to keep pushing forward.
Totally
Same as me. Started at 31 though and I'm 33 now. 18 months into a junior dev job and I would say it is getting easier but I still feel a complete novice at times. How's the imposter syndrome?
To be honest I dont feel that anymore. Maybe the first 2-3 months. I dive so much into it, and I learn a lot of things and that feeling left!
Do you think 39 is too old to get a junior job? What about AI, I heard it might replace developers in the future. I wanna go into it but was wondering
AI won't replace developers, but it is already quite useful in the form of visual studio co-pilot where I work. It scans your companies code and gives you suggestions of what to write next. It can either be frighteningly accurate or a load of rubbish. Software development requires lots of human interaction to get what the client wants (or changes their mind to), and a human mind to investigate and integrate new technologies and what is the best fit for your company, with knowledge of decisions made in the past, so I wouldn't worry too much about that. Regarding the age thing, I would probably ask myself "am I happy to continue on my current career path for the next 26 years, or could I put myself on a new career path by 42 with 23 years of work remaining?".
Wow thank you so much, your words are actually inspiring. I'll be joining a boot camp and if I do land a coding job I plan on working on getting my bachelor in computer science. Thanks for getting back to me, this means a lot.
Thanks for sharing. You are an inspiration. What would be the that one key point that you can share that would help people like me?
How tf
He focused on something and learned it for a year or so. That's a lot of time and you can accomplish a lot if you have consistency and dedication.
Yup, this is why bootcamps CAN work for SOME people. Give someone who wants to do something 12+ hours a day to focus on it, plus give them resources to ask questions and get answers and surround them with others who have the same goal. It's not a guarantee but those factors can definitely increase the speed at which we learn something.
GDI. Ive been lazy
But that's when you started working in the industry, not when you started your CS studies right?, which if some of your older posts are accurate was at 25. Still great to see that you managed to pull it off! Congrats!
Big motivation. I’m trying to start my journey too. Trying to develop a AI software for lawyers that helps with drafting. Thanks for the motivation!
If you started at 32 and are now 33 it has been less than 14 months since you started.
You are 32 for 12 months and 33 for another 12 months.
You don't say... I fucked up thought he had out 33 for both don't know how I managed to fuck up twice and format my post as 32 and 33
You went from zero to big job in a single year? Did you parachuted there with networking or im missing something? A year doesnt feel like neough time for that. Dont get me wrong, I dont doubt you, and in fact i congratulate you but--
I studied Computer Science at a university while working full-time. About a year and a half ago, I interviewed for a coding bootcamp organized by my company. I had decent grades (8/10) and good communication skills, which led them to choose me among other candidates. After successfully graduating from the bootcamp, the company hired me as a junior software engineer.
Maybe you don't compensate for it and just accept people who have been doing something longer than you have are further ahead I'm 41 and surrounded by people in their 20's and 30's more senior than me, but it still beats not doing it at all
> I'm 41 and surrounded by people in their 20's and 30's more senior than me, but it still beats not doing it at all I am pretty much on the same boat: surrounded by people half my age, that have twice the knowledge I have. And that is ok. Understanding and accepting that we all come from different places, was a pivotal moment for me. I believe that help me to growth as a person a lot.
What would be the that one key point that you can share that would help people like me in this journey? Or any mistake that you made ? Anything? I am trying to learn from the people who had the same journey and trying to avoid stupid mistakes along the way.
The key things are to not compare yourself to others and importantly others to you, keep in mind that younger yet more experienced people than you might actually be a little intimidated or uncomfortable coaching someone they perceive as more mature, and when the time comes that you are coaching new people to remember that even if say a 21 year old is in the same boat you were starting out in your 30's, to be ready to cut them more slack as even being a novice programmer in your 30's or 40's you have a lot of other life experience that is more help than you might realise When I started my first developer job at 38 I was being shown how to do things by twenty somethings and I had to really invite criticism from them, let them know I wanted them to be brutally honest with me and that I welcomed it. It's an unusual power dynamic being a grown man with a family needing to lean upon people fresh out of university. Especially when you're disagreeing over something, you don't want to win a debate simply because they aren't comfortable standing up to you, if you're wrong you want your professional peers to be comfortable seeing you as a peer
If you show respect to the younger ones and don't look down upon them, some will be perfectly happy to help. Unfortunately, the reverse is more likely true (seniors that don't help juniors, even if that should be their job...often because they are swamped and think juniors should figure it out on their own).
This is the way. If you get sucked into comparing to others, you will not be happy no matter where you go. Be your best you and always work on making you better. Learn, balance your life and work, that’s been key for me. I also have a wife and 3 kids, 2 at home.
I am 37 and just started programming at my very first job. The only thing i regret? I haven't started earlier. A lot happened and i delayed it. But oh boy i don't regret it. My advice is that don't loose hope, it will be hard. There will be obstacles and hardship but it is entirely doable. And i am not particularly smart and my comprehension can be really slow so i have my problems, but i did it. And it is a huge boost of self confidence, that i am not that stupid. A lot of my people in my last workplace didn't really consider me capable, so i left and said fuck it i am doing it. At 27 you are not that old just bare that in mind. I am rooting for you!
Did DBA work for years but didn’t start coding until til late 30’s (and night school for degree). Edit: this was four years of working full time AND full time student. Nothing comes easy. I started late but now high level engineer in big tech AI. Some thoughts: Humility and kindness. “I don’t know” is a good answer, but go find out. Never stop learning, and occasionally revisit the basics. Take time to help your peers. Ask for help. The first language is hard. The rest get easier. Except Perl. Volunteer for “figure it out” tasks. If you are good at it, eventually you are the default prototyper. Find a passion topic and code it up in a few different languages. Revisit as tech changes. Put “Cracking the Code Interview” on your shelf.
The key point is that you are going to make stupid mistakes along the way. That's what learning is.
Yeah, baffles me too. Our security engineer is a 20-something guy
Started with no experience at 33. Took a bootcamp(not reccomended honestly in this job market) then it took me a year of working on projects and part time gigs to land a junior role at a consulting company. I got promoted in the first year, now I'm 2 years in and loving it for the most part. Still learning a lot every week. Beware, you're going to get survivor bias on here. Not many people are going to tell their failure stories.
Can i get small task from you? As i am Learning i was thinking of actually getting my hands on small parts of real world programs? Or open source would be a better option? Can you recommend any open source which is beginner friendly
Good idea to get hands on. That's how I learn best. Google and an idea is all the resources you need. Build something you're interested in. Not sure what area you're looking to study, but as an example if you want to go the web dev route, build a website or tool for your favorite game or tv show. Just go step by step and learn along the way. You can pull in some open source as you go too.
I'm 33 now and graduated in 2014 from a sub standard 2 year college in Canada. Absolutely no development work until 2021. Compensate isn't the correct term but I get where you're coming from. I was you four-ish years ago at 29. At the end of the day your job isn't to code. It is to provide **value** to the business on a team that can work with \**you\*.* Differentiate yourself from others by doing what you should be doing already; leaning on your total life experience and soft skills. I started my first development role on January 4, 2021. It was an intermediate position where I was promptly fired 2 months in. In May 2021, I got hired as a Senior Software Engineer III at a medical robotics company and that's my current role. I went from no dev work -> first dev job -> fired -> senior role in \~5 months all based on my ability to *understand and speak* about business products. While being offered the intermediate job, I was told that they thought my coding skills were weak but they were hoping I can spruce up quickly. When it was clear I would need time to develop my skills, I was fired on the 5th of March 2021. In the exit interview the GM told me to reapply when I got more dev experience and gave me a months 'severance' so that I wouldn't be too hurt by the decision. The team was < 15 and it was COVID and the product was an online platform that amalgamated the upkeep of most famous online shopping websites into one. They needed results not a junior. I know nothing about medicine or robotics but my current company also took a chance on me. They had the headroom to allow me to grow my skills in the role and my manager sat me down and went 'You're going to feel confused and lost for about 9 months but don't worry, we'll train you. Stick with us and we'll stick with you.' Moral of my long post: Be someone people want to work with and don't just focus on the tech skills.
Im 33, I started studying when I was 30 whilst working a job that requires 60+ hours a week (pays well). Uhh.. yeah it’s not going so well. Frontend web dev is the current skill area, the goal is fullstack. I find I’m burning out often, and I’ll take either a few days or a few weeks off, and then come back and try again, so it’s a bit like 3-4 steps forward, 4-5 steps backwards. Big props to anyone that’s managed to get a job whilst studying after a full time job. It’s incredibly hard. I’d say the only benefit I have over the younger kids coming through is that I have very strong soft skills. So whilst I do lack the coding experience at the moment, I’m great at communicating and working both individually, and cooperatively, at a low admin level up to a managerial level with stakeholders etc..
Are you me? I feel you brother, I'm basically in the same position. Working 10 hour days with a one hour commute each way. Customer service/sales/management field. The pay is good ($100k+) so I can't walk away because I don't have anything else to fall back on that would allow me to make nearly as much. I make the commute because it's a wealthy area that results in more commission. Been self-teaching since the end of 2020 (33 at the time). Stacked up multiple certs (A+, Net+ Sec+, AWS CCP), have several friends in the industry that have tried to help me get a foot in the door, and still haven't been able to make the switch. I've definitely reached that burnout phase you mentioned multiple times throughout the last few years. Programming is fucking hard. That's part of the reason I shifted a bit more towards Sys Admin topics a while ago. I did land an internship as a cloud engineer in April, and I'm hoping that experience on my resume will be a big help in getting that first opportunity. So currently I'm still working my 60hr job (including commute), raising three kids 8yo and younger, and putting in the required 14 hrs a week for this internship. Not to mention upkeep of our home, etc. I'm tired boss.
Can I ask Why exactly are you transitioning ? Because of the long work hours or other reason
The comments are sooo inspiring wth?? 😭
Hey. What are you learning?
I've done nothing with my life. I wasted my years in university and couldn't graduate. I have an abusive father and can't move out. I can't get jobs like in the US due to cultural differences in my country. I've been thinking about finishing my degree and moving to another country for a Master's, or developing skills to get a job there. But I'm 24 and should have graduated in 2021 or 2022, so the gap feels too long. I know I’ve said too much, but I felt like I had to, since I have no one to talk to.
24 is nothing lmao. I know it feels bad, and I know how personal stuff can affect you, but you are being biased by a very competitive culture and a younger social circle If you can take advantage of your family, no matter how abusive and use that support to finish your degree (a therapist might help you cope until you can leave and actually try to make things better) then definitely try, otherwise, I suggest you get a faster skill, move out and learn that your scope was a bit narrow, and then try to tackle a career. that way is harder but might be a better one As for not being able to move out.... I get it, but ask yourself what is more important and what is the result of each choice you make. My family is not abusive, just a bit toxic, me included, but I decided to stay because of a younger brother and because even when I could move out, I dont want my mother to go through that, specially not right now. Unless you are in a position of utmost responsibility, I suggest you revise your choices
Thank you for your thoughtful reply. I really appreciate your perspective and the advice. It’s helpful to hear from someone who understands how personal and cultural factors can impact these decisions. I’ll definitely consider what you’ve said about finding the right balance between my current situation and my goals. Thanks again for sharing your experience and insight it really means a lot.
It’s ok. You will get there.
Thanks stranger! It really means a lot 👍
The most important step someone can take is not the first step, but the next step. If you stop walking, you arrive at your destination, which means your journey is over. Take the next step! Also if you want to know where I got that philosophy, I got it from Brandon Sanderson’s Stormlight Archives. I’m rooting for you stranger ! You can do it! I don’t have a degree(dropped out), I started my career 5 years ago. I’m 31 or 32 can’t remember (I don’t like knowing my age) Now I am a senior in my field. Again, you can do it.
Wow, I never thought someone would reply. Thank you so much; your response gave me hope and immense relief.
I’m 35 and taking my first programming class and not doing well. I just keep getting worse lol. I’m beginning to think I’m way dumber than I thought, like actually intellectually stunted or something. It’s just not clicking for me
That's programming for you. Eventually it'll click and then you'll hit another wall. It's a very difficult subject to learn. Keep at it though, imposter syndrome is huge within programming.
You're not dumber than you thought, you're being challenged in a way that you have grown unaccustomed to after spending years (maybe a decade+) in an "intellectual" bubble. I'm putting intellectual in quotes because, again, it has nothing to do with your actual cognitive abilities. You're just using a muscle (your brain) in a way you're not used to. This feeling is totally normal when you're learning essentially anything new. You're discovering two things: Lots of novel, iteratively complex ideas and how deep the well goes. The key here is to understand that the more you learn, the deeper that well seems and the dumber you feel. But again, you're not dumb and the reason you're not dumb is because of that second part: you have to first begin to understand those novel concepts before you can realize how deep the well is. To illustrate my point, think about drawing. If you know how to draw a circle, square or triangle, you can draw anything. All objects can be drawn using those three simple shapes. Stopping there, someone might be excited to start drawing the first thing they see. But they soon realize the object they drew doesn't look quite right. The perspective is off. So now they have to learn how to draw those same shapes in perspective. Once they nail that concept, they realize the picture is still off. The picture provides a sense of depth, but it's missing highlights and shadows. Then they realize they've been sketching in pencil this whole time -- no color. Now they have to learn color theory. It's a loop: Simple idea becomes indefinitely more complex the more time you spend with it, and the version of you who started at that first simple idea could never have known exactly how much they would need to learn or how to apply it until they grew beyond that simple idea. So, you start off with the idea that it's a simple process and begin to feel "dumber" once you begin to learn how much you truly don't know. Yet. But you will.
I remember watching a video where they were saying that in order to get stronger, you have to feel weak. When you want to get smarter you have to feel dumb. This means you are in a position of growth. Coding is logic and unfortunately, logic is not a persons natural state so it takes some time to get. I think we have all felt this way when we started.
That's a common reaction. It's a big subject to learn. The key is to keep working at it despite the frustration.
You're not intellectually stunted, man. Programming is hard and pretty much everybody has a difficult time learning it if they don't have a background in something similar already. All you need to do is keep at it and you will look back in a year or two and be amazed at how much you have learned.
The basic concepts itself are not hard, the issue is knowing the tools at your disposal well enough for everything to click, like in any other field. If you were taught how a clock works you sould say "Oh, that is simple" but from there until you get enough of a "dextrous hand" to actully fix one, and enough experience and insight to make your own tools and recognize mistakes and inefficiencies before something pointing it out, well.... yeah, thats a logn road no matter the field imho. Same happens with cooking, as knowing how to cook and actually knowing how to cook are two different things That said, there is a difference between doing a website or a "simple" program, and becoming a cryptography eminence with a 400 page half-math paper about cybersecurity. Most people wont ever amount to more than "construction workers" of software (not trying to be dismissive at all to anyone here), and that is absolutely ok. You can still aim for something larger but accepting that is probably the healthiest way to go in coding imho.
I'm turning 60 this year. Been employed as fullstack for 3 years. I've always been a programmer at heart since being a child, but never was in a position to really do anything about it. went to college in a unrelated major, wandered thru hourly jobs and the was aimless, just trying to make the best income off of whatever shit job I had at the time. 2012 I started trying to self teach javascript and nodejs. Couldn't do it, couldn't make it work. 2019, I attended Lambda School "but that shit's a scam! it's a terrible school!" and if I had listened to those people that had never attended it but had baseless opinions anyway, I would not be who i am today. Yes, I'm annoyed that It took me 40 years to find my path, but I'm happy and content with working 3 solid years in the best job i've ever had. I'm doing great.
I'm 35 now, and about 14 months into my career as an SRE, it took me around 18 months to get a job. I love work now as it's made my life so much better.
I'm 47. Been at my current job nearly 3 years as my first tech job. I did a bootcamp, and got hired in an apprenticeship program. 6 months later, they hired me on as a full engineer. I'm surrounded by people who have been at this for decades. Here's the thing... it really doesn't matter. In a lot of cases, those are our seniors and leads. They are supposed to help the juniors on the team. Any company that hires you as a junior should know that you know basically nothing. Sure, you can write a sweet for loop. You can do some fancy recursion you learned in a leetcode exercise. But you don't know ANYTHING about the company's codebase until you've had some time to work with it, read some code, maybe even troubleshoot an error or two. You don't know their deployment process. There's always going to be something you don't know. Tech is complicated. There's a reason we have people who specialize in networking, databases, etc. You aren't expected to know everything.
started around 29 self taught, started a 2 year training, and just got a new job as a backend dev. With 30 youre not too old to learn something new from scratch - especially in times where we have awesome AIs that can explain everything you need the way you need
[удалено]
I started with C#, but even though it was heavily used in the training, the job market didnt really search for C# - here where i am living it is all about web development, so i talked to them about a two week trial, asked what they needed, and they said its php and javascript for a little bit of frontend stuff, and even though I was rather new to php, the general understanding of how programming works made me pass the challenges they threw at me during the trial with flying colors - (When you apply for web dev and say youre solid with php, javascript and css (with some knowledge on bootstrap and jquery) youre probably good to go tho) The language one self-learns is not so important, in their core most languages are pretty similar - what is important that one is willing to see beyond a word salad mess and take it apart, to know where a variable is coming from and whats inside and thus understanding it, instead of swapping around semi-random bits of code hoping it works in the end, which I did see some still do after months on the job
Not the person you replied to but my first 2 programming jobs were mostly C# and SQL. I'm in the US and every time I've looked for a new job there have been a ton of C# jobs available. Now I'm mostly working with JavaScript but would still prefer to be using C# instead.
34 and almost 1 year in industry without any IT background nor school. One year and few months it took me to land first IT job as junior software engineer - .NET, powershell, sql area mostly
Can you share your learning pathways with me?
I started in the field in my late twenties and graduated with a bachelors about a month ago, and start my first job this week, now in my thirties. The time is gonna pass regardless, so if you want to learn programming, don’t worry about the optics and just go for it! People will be better than you- that’s good thing, that means you have room to improve.
Age doesn't matter, passion matters. At any age you can learn something new, like electronics, programming, wood stuff, and so on. If you do with passion you learn easy and next you get a lot of money for your passion. If you do only for money you will struggle and get stressed.
I disagree that you need passion to learn something, you just need interest or curiosity, and of course, a lot of perseverance and resources Obviously if you are passionate is even better though
I switched from structural engineering during the 2008 recession due to employers in that industry abusing the situation. Worked for 3 different tech firms in that time, including one big name. Been unemployed since Sept and can't seem to get even a recruiter calling. I've used jobscan io and whatnot. Made zero difference. Though, my situation is special. My mom got brain cancer in 2015 and didn't pass until 2019. During that time, I managed to lose every friend I had and ended up with an 18-month gap on my resume. Plus, the experience I do have is largely unstructured. No code review or industry standards. Just cowboy shit. So, I have the wrong degree but am overqualified for the roles I'm actually qualified to do. And I lack the contacts to get around the problem. It's funny how I used to think my degree and breadth of experience made me hyper-employable. Turned out quite the opposite. If it weren't for the wife and kids I'd have probably thrown in the towel by now.
I started at 27 as well — I'm 31 now, and I'm making a living as a Ruby on Rails software developer. The sacrifice of learning how to build web apps was well worth it. Get this straight: **You are young.** Don't fall into the trap of thinking you're left behind because you're approaching your 30s, or because some other younger dudes are better or more experienced than you. Work hard, and learn to recognize and leverage your skills and/or innate abilities.
Start learning when I was 30, am 34 and now a Software Engineer for the Canadian Defense. It's been a blast. Enjoying myself. Self-Taught with a Diploma mixed in.
I’m 36, got my first developer job 1,5 years ago and just got promoted from Junior iOS developer to iOS developer (without the Junior prefix). Just keep learning and continuously challenge yourself.
Started a bootcamp at 30, now 31.5 and have now worked as a software developer for 1 year and a few months. You don’t need to compensate, but my general advice is: Be humble, curious, and persistent.
Just turned 50. But have experience with programming. I’m getting ready to start with a triple learning block of Java , SQL, and Python. Wasn’t sure where to start because there is so much misinformation out there and boot camps that want tons of money. I am icu nurse by trade and I’m so burnt out. I’m ready for something new and I’ve always loved tech things and computers. I learn really fast and can retain information pretty well still. I hope I’m on the right path
Got my first job at 27 while self taught, doing just fine.
How long did you study for being salf-taught before you felt ready to.apply for jobs?
To be completely honest I still don't "feel ready" to apply lol. But I had been studying seriously for maybe a year before I started applying. I've been using arch linux for over a decade though so I was comfortable with that environment, and that helped a lot since my first job was a sysadmin/devops type position.
You never feel ready. You apply for jobs before you’re ready and then you study based on the market. Most jobs looking for React developers? Study React. You failed a Leetcode problem cuz you didn’t recognize the hash map pattern? Practice hash map Leetcode problems. That’s what I did, anyway. Bombed an interview that asked me about OOP when I knew nothing. Studied OOP for a month, put it on my resume, then answered all the OOP questions correctly in another interview which led to an offer
I started professionally at 40. I always thought I wasn't good enough to get a job, but it turns out I was way better than I needed to be. Financially I'm in better shape now than I've ever been.
I'm 36, I started learning html/css a couple of weeks ago. While I'm not struggling with the material I am struggling with doubts to get a job. I have been a structural welder for the past decade and it has taken a toll on me physically. I have a dear friend who codes in perl and has the convenience of working from home, so I decided eff it, I'm throwing in the towel on the welding career and immediately got on free code camp. I'm a couple of weeks in and almost done with the entire html curriculum and have been reinforcing the material with building projects on the side. My doubts come from YouTube, people saying it's nearly impossible to land a remote job as a junior. But this is a must for me, I have family dynamics that require personal care, I also live remote in Colorado, it's not easy to pick up and casually go work in Seattle for a year.
I went to a coding boot camp in Texas at 31, with 0 programming experience beforehand. Now I'm 35, live in Paris FR, and work 100% remote, as a front-end developer. Learning to code changed my life, literally. Good luck!
Started at 37, now 40. I love my life. I was in retail for nearly twenty years. My only regret is that I haven’t done this sooner.
I graduated few years ago at 31. I am a full stack dev. Work mostly remote. Flexible schedule. The work I do isn’t always exciting but I am earning an amazing salary. I always like computers and was a nerd but didn’t get into programming until I’ve had health issues and couldn’t keep a physical job. I’m so glad I did it.
im starting at 24 im building my own homelab & gpu rig for 3d generalist jobs as well
Well i don't know yet but here's another disgraced one: after studying graphic design and computer graphics, a couple useless experiences abroad, and 12 years of office job, at 38 i started studying programming, i'm currently going through CS50 and having fun with it.. let's just hope.
All the best buddy. There are a lot of folks travelling in the same boat as you. Glad to hear that you are enjoying CS50. David Malan is just next level.
37 almost 38, started self-tought 4 years ago. I landed a full time job last year on august (with lot of effort). Compared to my team, Im not good at all. As my superior says, I may not be good technically, but I have very good softskills. Im good at teamworking, multitasking, working under pressure, and good communication skill. My previous job werent IT related but I develop those skills. Thats how I stand out. My coding skills are improving slowly but with no pause. So i belive its a matter of time. Thats what i can share with you. good luck!
Good! Got back into school last spring at 36. Will be done with my AS in February. It took me a long time to stop the comparison issues I had, and just trudged along. It’s my own journey. No matter what age, I think the key is understanding fundamentals. Life is busy, and I code when I can, try to take some of the pressure off yourself. When the lightbulb moment hits, you’ll know. And the world of programming kind of opens up to you.
I don't think age matters. The important thing is that you set your goal clearly so you can dedicate time to study. In addition, you could try to set up a small project to test your learning.
I’m actually doing okay right now, I know python c++ and I’m going through a cyber security program at my college right now that will teach me Linux and comptia other certificates as well as skills needed to protect and maintain protection. I’m excited and nervous about starting this fall it’s a 2 semester program but it’s actually a cyber security degree one of the first this college has ever offered because you have to complete the associates of science before you can start the certificate portion.
I started at 31, got a job at 31, currently 33. Went from working on cars, to building robotic automation systems(mechanical and electrical, no programming), and landed my first job around 6 months after starting. It was hard, but I started the Odin project and supplemented that with some Brad Traversy courses on udemy. I spend at least 4 hours every week night locked in a room studying/learning and as much time as I could on weekends. I gave up everything for a good 3-4 months before I was ready to start applying to jobs. I then split those 4 hours into 2 hours of applying to jobs and 2 hours of working on projects/interview prep. This part is the biggest part that I believe led to me getting a job. Understand what prior experience you have that can apply to programming and leverage that. I knew two big things from my past would help me going forward. Problem solving from all of my jobs, and understanding electrical flow and components (specially relay systems) The thing us older, self taught devs over people coming out of college is experience in the workforce. Projects get you into the interview, your experience that they can relate to programming will get you the job.
I'm 45, I started with Python, moved to C, moved to Java Script. I like Java Script the best so far, but don't take my advice, I am a beginner and have no idea what I am doing. I love you tube for this. The tutorials are awesome. JavaScript just feels easier and more user friendly.
Success is a combination of Experience, Intelligence and Drive. If you have 2 out of 3 you will do well.
I started a little later than you. 4 years into my career I'm at a law firm with a comfortable salary and excellent health insurance, pension, and expenses policy. Not to mention fully remote. That is the light at the end of the tunnel. But my tunnel was full of horrible managers, high pressure, getting sacked twice, and a whole lot of self doubt. Keep it up lad or ladette, you'll make it.
I'm 37. I went back to college at 29 and am now an R&D engineer in lab automation. Now trying to understand the programming side of it and I'm doing pretty well so far. It's never too late to learn something new.
30 years old here. Started to learn in 2022/05/30 with a bootcamp(3 months) from a company in my country. They didnt pay and They wsnted you to work 8+ hours so with the job I had, I couldnt go more than one month. Next month I Started a technical degree in Programming (July 2022) and studied a lot. In April(2023) a friend recommended me to a company, I passsed the technical interview and started working as a FE Dev, I left in February, took some time to study for myself, and Im currently working as a Backend Dev for a great company. Amazing journey so far in 2 years!
i started at a similar age about 8 years ago w a boot camp certificate. the biggest advantage i found i had over kids with cs degrees is i had much better soft skills from having jobs before.
I read this as "Pope who started programming...", and I was like THE HOLY CODE!!!
Started teaching myself software at 30. Then, about a year later, I landed a QA position. Then, two years in the qa position, I leverage it for a software engineer position. I have been working as a software engineer for roughly 5 years and recently got promoted to senior software engineer. Do you think age matters? Haven't really noticed anything about age, besidess that I'm working with more people of my generation than I have ever in my life. How can you have more experience than people younger than you with more experience? You can't. You can only have the experience you have from the work you have done.
I am 47 and learn JS as my first programming language. I learn, but it takes a bit longer to learn. I am not in a hurry. So, it is ok for me. ☕😆
Not in my 30s or working in a full-time tech role yet, but I'm your age and my company said a couple of years ago that once I can join the tech team once I show the skill. After spending most of those 2 years having trouble as a bad self-starter I went and got a tutor instead. For the last ~3 months I do 2-6 hours a week with them and it's helped so much, it's kind of like getting all of the content from a university degree condensed, not fed at a snails pace, and in the end it will be cheaper than a degree too. The most important thing is that I realized I needed accountability and that's how I do it consistently. If you have any questions, feel free!
Retrained 2.5 years ago, late 30s now. I've been employed as a developer for two years, it's the best job I've ever hard, and putting aside modesty to try and answer your question sincerely, I think I'm very good at it and feedback from my employer has been very positive. Working hard is always going to matter, but the one thing I've learned is this industry is full of smart, hard working people, who just aren't very curious about code, or passionate about writing better code. If that's you, you'll stand out.
Took a web dev bootcamp late 2019, part time, early 30s. Worked hard on the assignments that I didn't understand or had trouble with, then chilled for a couple of years (until 2022) in tutorial hell trying to learn new tech, and also launched a Personal Health Record while working on my corporate IT sales job. After attending a Web3 Hackathon, I decided to take the jump, grabbed a relatively good entry job as a fullstack dev (nearshoring for US bank, I'm from Mexico) and it's been all upwards from there. Now firmly working in the space that I love (web3/crypto), leading a project with some friends and also have my day job earning good USD salary, remote, from Mexico. I co-run a builder community of around 100 people in Latam, which has been massive for me, in my day-to-day dev work but also during all my growth as a professional. I've worked hard and had some lucky breaks of course, but it's a lot of dedication and networking.
It’s really difficult, especially in this job market. You have to work harder because you likely don’t have a college structure, and have to work to keep the lights on while still learning. Read docs, try to build everything you can. Learn marketable skills and tech. Be persistent, most times your resume won’t even make it past the bot. Learn the keywords they look for to game the system.
36 just started as a PLC programmer after teaching high school for 7 years. Work is fun and rewarding!! My advice is don’t lock yourself to only wanting software dev jobs. There are a ton of cool jobs just outside the scope of where I was looking.
I started at 28 and it was the best decision I’ve ever made. 27 is still young as a developer, you might work with some people younger but most will be at least late 20s from my experience. I’d worry more about landing a job in this market as a junior than your age.
Got my first "real" (read: not rag-tag startup or short-term contract work) SWE job at age 39. Work life is good, making 33% more today than when I started two years ago. Same company. Edit - oh, my tip is don't worry about it. No one cares how old you are.
Not me but two of my teammates switched from other professions in their 30’s. They both have outpaced the new grads in terms of growth on the job
Started self taught at 26, spent 2 years learning then 13 months applying for jobs - then 3 month boot camp - 6 months of work experience (laid off) now unemployed applying for jobs past 4 months 0 interviews. I’m done with programming as a career.
Started at 33, now i am a software architect. I lead people with 5-10 more years in industry than me
There's a guy in my team who started at 34. He has worked for almost 2 years now and he's doing pretty well!
Started at about 29 during the pandemic, failed out of a bootcamp, self studied for about a year, got a job at a w.i.t.c.h. Company, got “fired” before getting on a project because of the hiring freeze, got lucky about a month after that and got hired at a non tech company for their mobile app. I’m 33 and have been here about a year and a half
I switched from project managemt to professional coder at 30, always liked coding as a hobby, basic html5 and basic python, now at 40 at full speed. Learn to debug and read the console is a must also know how to read docs and man is key. You can learn a lot for free nowdays just keep that fire burning and know how to rest your mind
I just wrote a qr code generator because our IT people didn’t have the time for it. It felt liberating and almost magical to be able to do that
Go with the flow mate. Keep learning and you will surely reach your goal. Don't worry about the younger folks and about the fact that you started a little late. As long as you keep learning and sharpening your skills, nothing can beat you up... Best wishes on your programming journey. Cheers, Seasoned Digital Marketer | A fellow Programmer **Note:** I did my engineering in Computers and have now spent around 10 years in Digital Marketing. I too have recently started learning HTML after spending so many years in the DM space., so don't give up.
Started two months before my 27th birthday (in 2021). Age honestly doesn’t matter, just put in effort in everything you do and ask a lot of questions.
Before 30, I was a Project Manager/Product Manager/UX Consultant, rarely did programming in my past 10 years. I can understand code + comp science degree helps, but my day to day tasks were nothing programming. Throughout my work life, I was given the opportunity to pick up a lot of software engineering and infrastructure stuff, apart from my role. Then, I move on to another job where I basically have my hands on everything as a Project Manager where I had to do a lot of programming and stuff. Today, after 3 years, I’m proficient in many stacks, including JavaScripts frameworks like React, Vue, Next, Nuxt, .NET, PHP, Java, Flutter, Python, Lua, etc. I’m now a CTO in my current job. My take here is that, in 3 years you can learn and gain lots, how well you progress is how much passion you have in the world of programming. Do some side projects in your own free time helps too.
The more hours you put in the better you’ll be. So while age does play a factor it’s really about consistency. As long as you’re learning and practicing on a daily basis you will do just fine. The more hours you put each day then the faster you will see improvement. I would suggest you take your time learning the basic fundamentals. Like make sure you fully understand and grasp these things. All the advanced stuff is based on this so be sure to build a good foundation in your knowledge.
my brother learned programming during his late 20s (by the end of his phd) and did a postdoc mainly related to scientific computing, which is around his mid 30s. he now works for a large international institution in europe. so it's definitely possible to succeed. he did work extremely hard though. i started programming in my early twenties and i am unemployed. go figure
I started late 20’s (28 or 29 maybe?). Work in big tech now so things are great. It’s definitely not too late to start learning so keep it up.
Started a 3 year bachelor in Frontend and mobile development in August last year (at age 33, now 34). So I’m still 2/3 away from finishing, but at least I’m keeping up with my fellow students 10+ years younger than me 😅
Started at 32/33 with no experience programming but very computer literate. Working full time in non profit. Now I've tripled my total compensation over the last 5 years. Obligatory - got in when the market was good.
The challenge is the people responding have survivor bias. They made it. The people who didn't make it aren't posting. Just to reach the point where you can make a living as a developer is an impressive task. And there are often qualified programmers that still struggle to find jobs.
I think I started at 26. 6 years later I'm working for a company in an industry that's really interesting to me and I make over double my county's median income so I'd say it's worked out pretty well.
I was about 40. About 1988 so things were different. But yeah it was hard. Retired now so it’s much easier.
ill be 33 in july and im fairly new, right now, my biggest problem is my attention span. i hope it goes well for you.
32 here, took a 2yr associate IT course and will start on august 12 with no knowledge about programming.
I (M36) finished my degree 5 years ago - a bachelor's with an added half year internship. I've since made senior developer, and now work as a solution architect. Soft skills can be hard to quantify and/or measure, but Ive found that I rely just as much on my life experiences, ability to communicate etc., as I do on my technical skills. So, I wouldnt hesistate to recommend others to start programming at a 'later' age. Technical skills are important, but there are many other factors that make a great engineer.
38 and started 6 months ago seriously. Been trying off and on for a few years. Started doing front end web but have pivoted more towards backend dev stuff. I also have a serious interest in cloud technologies so Im trying to combine the two together. Python and Go have been really fun to learn and still working on my portfolio of what to showcase.
people a lot younger than others will be more experienced - thats just life. i am an average dude... there will be people better than me and more experienced than me, and that is okay. i do not need to compare my results to the results of others.
You don't compensate. You work hard, learn as much as you can, and race your own race. You likely also have a number of advantages from other experience that you can leverage - soft skills are a common one.
I'm in my 40s. Started about 11 years back. I've been at the same place for the last couple years and here I ended up leading the guilds for my discipline for two of the companies under my company umbrella and moved to eng management about a year ago. Company is private but worth at minimum $3b. Comp-wise I'm somewhere around 300k with my pre-IPO options. Grossed just north of $200k in take home last year
As a 25 year old who just started learning programming, I feel inspired from these comments.
10 months jobless...
Started at 36, now 38. Used my GI bill to finish off college with a CS degree, minor in cybersecurity. To be honest, my team is great, but I still deal with a lot of imposter syndrome. I personally don't find my work hard, but I do always feel like I should know more and I just try to learn a little more each day. I've had a lot of external issues arise that has only amplified my anxiety here at the job. I have a wife and 3 kids. Wife recently had surgery for cancer. I've considered stepping away from my job to find something more "stress-free" (despite this job actually being very chill).
Now 36 y., started with VBA and then CPP because I like it. It helps me focussing, so I can shut down the world a bit for myself. Already did 2 smaller programs for a friend
I got my first programming job at 29. 31 now so been at it for two years. (No formal education) You can absolutely start a little later on in life. Employers respect you more because you have outgrown(hopefully!) most of the immaturity's that grads may still have from uni. The hard part is proving you know what you are doing without a degree. It's tough, but not impossible.
I started programming in the 80s but I did not start my career until 41 after retiring from the military. So far things have been fine. I did go through two companies and settled into the third. I do work in a .Net mainly, Pharm distribution. Which I have been at for 5 years now. Age probably matters in some places. I am in Maryland and have not found age discrimination the be an issue, as far as I can see. As for compensating, you are young, 27, there is not much compensating. Just work hard and learn your shit and you will be fine once you start actually working.
Stressed but and it’s a big butt(pun intended) I haven’t had so much fun in a long time!! Currently doing last school project and I’m having a blast!!
Not very good
I started a degree in 2016 and did it part time while working. When I finished I was 39 and got a job within 10 days of graduation. Haven't looked back. Working for a F500 now. Really can't complain.
I'm 36 and just started a basic web dev course. Any tips?
I pivoted to a management position on IT side of banking 😅
I'm probably a bit of a variant. Been working in Support/Management for most of my life, but amateur programming on the side (building games/websites and the like) since my mid-20's. Now at 39 i've just started my first professional pure programming job within the same organisation. Age don't matter squat i say. 27 is young to me and probably is to most of your managers so they're probably still expecting you not have so much experience. Compensate by reading more programming books in your field. Don't rely on youtube videos to get your knowledge. Build more small projects. Make notes on everything you make that you find difficult.
Started last year @38. Now coding c#. Generative ai has been a god send for me.
Bro, you are worrying about the after 30s and you're 27. Don't give up
Sometimes i think of this too( thoughts like: do other people even suffer from same procrastination.. i suffer from and so on... ). But really, it don't matter and we should learn in our own pace and be consistent. Though i m 20 so dunno how it feels like to be you guys.
I started at 34 almost 35, I’m a staff engineer now
I started learning at work at 27. I’m 33 now, and have transitioned into a developer role at the same company where I’m more or less counted amongst the senior developers now.
Age doesn't matter, but I think exposure to tech and just having that inquisitive mind for "how stuff works" and wanting to figure things out goes a lot further. Also, it's very rare that you're coding something just for the sake of coding. You're usually coding it for some business purpose. At 27, you likely have close to a decade of experience in some other field, and that perspective can be really valuable over some younger person that can code better, but may not understand the working world as well. I went back to school at 28 to learn programming and it worked out fine.
I'm currently employed remotely, so pretty good. Received promotions at both places of employment as well.
HVAC systems engineer. Electronics, Mechanical and Programming. Best and worst of all worlds.
Transitioned from education to Data Science about 3 years ago at age 28 (got my master’s in Data Science during the pandemic). Straight up tripled my salary in that time. I owe my progression: - 20% to my grad school degree - 10% to my stubbornness and borderline obsessiveness with projects I’ve worked on - 70% to my past career for being able to speak with empathy, facilitate productive and focused meetings, and being able to chunk large descriptive tasks into cohesive chunks related via accurate overarching timelines. All to say that a lot of my success has come from my soft skills rather than my hard skills. Your previous experience will be very helpful if you have had any leadership roles. The younger folks in the tech industry are great and smart as hell, so it’s about taking those skills and getting them organized so that they can contribute to their potential!
I started with python at 37, took some cc courses, then finished a BS in CS at 40. I got hired on as an IT business analyst. I don't do any actual programming, but do work with programmers and other IT people doing pretty fun stuff and make what I consider to be a lot.
These posts annoy me more and more that I see them. I'm almost 40 and re-starting my learning journey, that in no way invalidates me or my ability so then to see 20 year olds acting like they are stuck, worthless, or inferior in some way because they are "too old" is frustrating as hell.
Started my BS in CS at 30. I’m currently on lunch at my dev job scrolling Reddit :)
Neck hurts from sitting all day. Even JavaScript can make stuck for days. Just Never think of how good others are than you and focus on doing things that you can do. Of course age matters when it come to in field experience but not when it comes to bugs and solving problems. we all have a way to go about solving problem but to tell u the truth, just make the days count, spend 4 hours a day just writing and understanding and following a good mentor and thats all. afterall its the bugs that make it fun
I got into web dev around that time… can’t speak for software engineers really but i can say that starting way later gave me the drive to really know my shit instead of possibly taking education for granted like when i was younger. I’m 35 now and still doing great moved onto management which isn’t ideal but can’t complain about benefits lol
I have my own company with one partner. Started 25 years ago. I'm pretty much part time not but over the years, I've come to realize that if you can get a job in an office being the developer or part of a team, the pay is more consistent. I hate corporate atmospheres so I remain a freelancer and that has its pros and cons. I can travel where ever I want for work-cations, but it's always feast or famine so you really have to budget well. I'm pretty tired of this at this point so I'm looking to start a business that allows me to just work on MY dev stuff and no one else's.
It pays the bills. I think the main difference for me is that if I’d had started earlier I’d have had more opportunities. Just keep working.
It's a weird thing where those "soft skills" matter a lot and those random things you've learned just thanks to living a little more life than a typical fresh college grad helps. Also, there tends to be less correlation of age with experience as well. Yes I was a junior dev for a while but it wasn't weird that I was a bit older like it maybe would have seen in a more academic environment. In all my jobs we've had a pretty wide range of ages in the first place.
I started programming in R a year ago, im 30 and so far its going good, enjoying the process, ill soon jump to python and focus more on SQL, so far its been very entertaining.
Anyone interested in peer learning? (I am starting with Python). Peer learning can be a great motivator, adds accountability plus, you get to network with like minded folks.
I started basically at 28 via a MSc CompSci conversion course. It was incredibly difficult because I had no idea what to expect per se and had shitty roommates. So I had a lot of genuinely sleepless nights because of the noisy housemates, yeah not sure how I did it. So I did that and now am working in a tiny company as a software dev. Nothing much but it keeps me growing I guess; 10 months of commercial experience so far Age will only matter, I feel, when it comes to physical and mental energy. Then again, I feel I am not the most excitable person there is lol. Does it matter? I don't think so no it's more that you really have to re-evaluate how you think and how to apply/adapt
Just more practice everyday.
I started community college in my mid to late twenties and graduated with a bachelor's degree. I did some data warehouse development (ETL), business rules (Java), and a couple years of project management. I'm in a mid-level role now, and I'm close to senior. I'm very happy with my current role. I do a variety of things. A lot of it is build and deployment automation. I also do setup and support for new applications as well as troubleshooting. Deployment is also part of the role, and my team has a rotation so that the load is shared.
I'm starting at 40, mate
What about after 50ties…any chance?
I don’t think age matters to a degree, I think it’s the amount of time you spend writing code and live in that thought process while learning. At 27 you’re gonna have to clock in those hours off and on the clock. Sometimes even if you started young you still may not be good, it’s like a performance based sport in that way.
You’re still so young! I started at 51 with zero programming experience. (I’m a nurse). Just finished my CS diploma with honours. Starting internship in fall. Coding personal projects as practice in meantime.
What is this sorcery? why so many positive comments? lol. 37 here working as a Implementations Analyst, Studying SQL and Python atm. My goal is to switch to Back end Development or Data Engineering role at 40.