Am I Too Old for the Valley? | Hacker News Reader

Am I Too Old for the Valley?

3 pointsIamOld5 comments

Having never been there, I'm quite thrilled to actually have the opportunity or the chance to move there in a year but no more than two years from now. At this time, I am exactly 30 years of age. I worked in a high tech field outside of Information Technology(without going into details) for four years before returning back to school making the switch to Computer Science. Planning to graduate in a year, I have enough money to make the move and possibly get lined up with a job pretty quickly due to my current connections with my present place of employment - ie: they have offices in the Bay and Valley too, as well as other parts of Cali(this would be a worst case scenario where the best case would be working on something new and fun and full of potential). I've visited Cali before but not specifically the Valley... I've been planning this move for about three years now, but this week I picked up a book on the Valley and I'm loving it and it has really peaked my motivation, if it wasn't already peaked; but there seems to be one central theme - every character in the book is younger than me, by an average of 5-7 years of age.

I'd like to make the big time but I'm realistic, however at the same time, I'm optimistic and enthusiastic which is what I believe has led to my small success in my present location about 2000 miles away. I'm hard working and upbeat and I think I have a great attitude and I'm always willing to try something new... At this stage, when I make the move, I'd like to plan to be there for about five years tops and possibly move on to another area of the world. But I'd like to know if my aspirations are a pipe dream or not from those who actually know what it's like there.

Honest opinions and viewpoints, no matter how harsh or flattering are welcome.

It'll be slightly strange entering any field at 31 when many others are getting started at 21. Other people your age will have ten years of experience and you'll be still getting the hang of the ropes for the first time, but unless you have a problem with that, no one else should either. :) The reason people in the book are 5-7 years younger is that it paints a more romantic picture, not because there aren't older people there getting equally successful. To the extent that young people succeed where older people don't, it's because younger people tend to have fewer obligations and a work-life balance more stilted towards work.

If you're going out to work as an employee, even at a startup, it's unlikely that you're going to make it big time, but it's fairly likely that you can make it an interesting, positive and lucrative five to seven years. (If 10% of startups are successful and it takes 2-3 years to figure out if a startup has succeeded or failed, then you'd only get a 20-40% chance of being in a successful startup, and even then employees are unlikely to cash out in a big way in a short timeframe.)

In this case, with low risk comes medium reward. :)

Technically, I've been in the field for a little over two years, starting at age 27 through an internship at my school which has been this far ongoing, of which I'm extremely fortunate and appreciative of to have the chance to continuously take part in. But I understand fully the experience points you've made. I would've moved sooner because of the connections the company I work for has, but in order to make any sort of impact in this large corporation as well as make a comfortable living in the same company I need to complete my degree and that time is drawing near.

As I said previously, I could totally go out there and if the same company doesn't have what I want, I think I'll be in a better position to move to a different company with my brief experience.

I wanted to thank you for making a critical point: I'm realistic about the low chances of making it big... what I would find fulfilling is what you said, "you can make it an interesting, positive and lucrative five to seven years." and that is something I would be very satisfied with.

Harland Sanders started franchising Kentucky Fried Chickens when he was 65.

It's only a big deal if you let it be a big deal.

5-7 years is not a big deal -- it's more a question of what your attitude is, and what kind of lifestyle you expect to lead. There are tons of 30+ software engineers in the Valley.

you're only as old as you feel

put this nonsense out of your head and give em hell, boy

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