I'm having a difficult time believing that someone picked up coding and is proficient in doing so at 40 years old unless they had prior experience in something that was similar.
It takes years to become proficient in coding to the point where you don't utilize massive amounts of executive function (which we have a finite amount of in any given day). In addition the act of reading and writing code does a ton of damage to the Wernicke and Brocas area. Over time it can cause damage to the ventral what pathway to the point of complete speech impediment, memory loss and even Alzheimers.
Always be extremely skeptical of anyone learning to code in their 40s, they can do it for short stretches but it is probably not a good idea to pick up coding for the first time in your 40s since the probability of doing damage to your brain is going to be relatively high.