I'm 33. Starting my CS degree on Monday | Hacker News Reader

I'm 33. Starting my CS degree on Monday

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My knowledge is limited when it comes to USA school system, but is it very uncommon there?

"Here", you can study at weekends (4 or 8 days a month system) and it costs you like (ofc it's degree dependent, but we're talking about CS) like 10 minimal wages for 7 semesters and that's where people with jobs/kids/married go

Of course you can also choose that path when you're 20, so this way you can have 3.5 years of experience at the moment of graduation

If you don't mind my asking, where is 'here'?

In the US if you get a Bachelors at 30 you'll probably be paying for it until late 50's or 60's

Cal state school tuition is <8K yr. If it takes 25 years to pay off a 32K debt with a CS degree in California, you may have other challenges.

When you do it part time, it takes much more than 4 years. Interest accumulates over time too. I knew a guy with a CS degree that couldn't get a job 5 years after too. Even if you do get work with only CS it won't pay as much as even junior jobs at tech/finance/oil firms (which are picky and cheap) on top of that people in their 40s usually support a family so loan payments will usually be minimal. A decade at least even for the dilligent

I agree that the CS degree isn't without risk. I also agree that it wouldnt make financial sense to leave a career in tech/finance/oil to go back to school in CS.

That said, the median individual income in the US is about 35K [1] and the median entry level CS salary is about 80K [2]. For a lot of people, that is a great deal for the cost. My big concern is what happens to the people who don't make it through the program, but get stuck with debt they can't discharge.

[1] https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/MEPAINUSA672N [2] https://www.indeed.com/career/entry-level-software-engineer/...

A late 30s guy with a CS degree and no experience will get far less than the median entry level. I think having sufficient social services and interest free tuition assistance for working adults would help a lot.

Late-30s career changers with a fresh CS degree are rare enough that it's hard to talk in knee-jerk generalities.

Did you have stats for a population of people like this? Do you have friends or relatives in this situation? Have you hired a person like that for horrifically low pay? I'd very curious to hear about your experience!

Just vaguely remembered stories from people at a community college course I attended a few years ago, some were trying to do more after a CS degree.

For what it is worth, Pell grants offer up to $6,350/yr financial aid no strings attached. FAFSA offers ~$12,000/yr interest free loan while you are in school. Both programs are means tested though.

Pell grants are only available for students working on their first degree. The FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid) is the omnibus application form for a range of federal student aid (including Pell grants). Are you thinking of Stafford loans?

I’m not so familiar with all of the programs, but the William D. Ford Federal Direct Loan program is probably what I was looking at

Poland

Best of luck.

I'm 32 and just started my data science course. I'm so excited and terrified by what seems to be basic calculus and logic for others.

I'm a pentester/security guy with no formal background in anything. I was a waiter until I was 27, but always hacked and coded around a bit since I was a young kid. I've done well for myself professionally in the last 5 years, I'm good at the soft skills and speaking, but I always felt so inadequate compared to the serious engineers who did "serious" degrees. Hence why I want to get a serious degree to talk serious stuff with my ML engineer colleagues.

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