Enter the software world at 30 | Hacker News Reader

Enter the software world at 30

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Hi all, I'd like to ask a honest question to you industry-savvy guys. I recently came to the (late) realization that what I really like to do in life is developing things, and long story short, specifically software. I do think I have what it takes to succeed and give meaningful contribution to the field, yet I am now 26 with a 3-year degree in useless subjects and 3 years of working experience, mainly in business and totally unrelated to IT. The question is: how's the idea to try and shift my life toward CS? Should I give up everything and go for a second degree? I would graduate at 28-29 (30-31 adding an MSc). Or should I focus on side projects while holding fast to a 9-5 job and try to impress employers with that?

What do you think is the most realistic plan? I'm not the kind of guy that gives up easily an idea, but I must face the reality. If nobody's going to employ me anyway because age, maybe I'll devise a different solution...

A CS degree is not a pre-requisite to working in the tech industry or as a technologist. You should probably concentrate on learning enough programming to be dangerous. This is possible with about 5~10 weeks of dedicated work (apparently, based on the experience of people whom I find credible reporting their experience hiring graduates of coding bootcamps) or in about a year or so of self-study by someone bright and motivated (I know numerous examples of this). You'll gain a lot in your first few years of work in terms of seasoning, going into more depth on some of the many subfields in every tech segment, rounding out your technical skills, and learning soft skills and other value enhancers, but you can do all of that learning while getting paid professional wages as opposed to paying for additional credentialing.

The combination of business skills -- even skills which strike you as so basic that they barely deserve the word "skill" -- plus the ability to program is an extraordinarily powerful one, by the way. It is almost unseemly how many hundreds of thousands of dollars are sitting behind projects which could be banged out for roughly the same technical complexity as the "Build a blog in 15 minutes" Ruby on Rails demo.

I'm 62. Although I've dabbled in programming since 1977 when I took a CS course as an undergrad (FORTRAN on a main frame), my entire life was basically in other areas: 20+ years as a U.S. Naval officer, followed by 12 years as an IT project manager.

And yet at 62 I am jumping in feet first. Starting early last year I immersed myself in Python and online introductory statistics, and this year I actually have several real-world Python projects I'm doing (while concurrently I've upped the ante in statistics and started an MS program in Applied Statistics).

I fully expect that by the end of 2015 I'll be happily ensconced in a well paying, full time job doing some combination of programming and data analysis.

Although in many ways my situation differs from yours -- I probably have more financial resources to buffer the time off I took to shift gears, and I have a lifetime's worth of associates who are helping me in ways large and small -- the larger point is that it's never too late to learn something new and start applying it. Never.

As Henry David Thoreau said in Walden, "If a man advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to life the life he has imagined, he will meet a success unexpected in common hours."

That's another way of saying, "Go for it!"

Good luck.

It does really depend on your situation. If you're single with no commitments, going back to school might be easier.

Another option might be to talk to your current employer. See if there might be an opportunity to slowly transition to development work from your current position.

I'll give you an example from my past. Back in the early 90's, my first employer needed a tool to track time and inventory but wasn't willing to pay for an off the self solution. I was able to create an MS Access database application that solved the problem. After that, I was given more and more development opportunities. Eventually I went from repair technician to a software developer at the same company. When I was 32 I quit that job to try for a Software Engineering degree, but found I was happier working. It wasn't hard to find another job as a software developer.

Started doing tech support at 30. Discovered that there was data at point a in format b, that I needed at point c in format d. Taught myself assembler (didn't have a compiler or interpreter). Went back to school at 34, got a master's, paid for by my employer, most of the classes taken one per term.

Government contractors often can pay for classes you take that "maintain or improve current job skills", and the IRS will not inquire just what (say) computability has to do with system administration or tech support. The only hitch with my employer was that I would have had to repay any classes taken within a year of my leaving the company. I didn't leave for about two years, so I was OK.

1. 26 is not old. Many people are just now graduating at your age. You have some advantage from prior business experience as well.

2. It depends. Can you learn to program without getting a degree in C.S.? I took three classes and programmed for about 500 hours before I was hire-able, let alone useful. Are you willing/able to climb that steep slope?

3. I would suggest that you start out by working on learning to program, either at your current job or in your free time. Do this for -at least- 2 months/100 hours before making any life-altering decisions.

After all that...if you still want to go through with it, it's very, very difficult to learn an advanced subject exclusively in your free time after working 40 hours/week. There's good odds you'll need to either take a long chunk of time for dedicated study or get a degree.

No, it's not too late, but I wouldn't necessarily think that a degree will be some kind of magic bullet. Rather than spending lots of money on a degree, just try to get some experience. Experience is more valuable than a degree for many jobs.

What's your unrelated field? The software world exists to solve problems. You may be able to leverage your previous experience and make you more valuable than the average new-to-programming person.

For instance, a programmer with a background in tax prep would be more valuable to accounting software companies than a programmer without. There is software written to do anything. Target companies where your background will give you an advantage.

The unrelated field I'm in is pharma / drug development. I'm the business guy who brings new projects in.

Actually I do have programming experience, very very modest though. That's where my realization comes from. I developed a simple CRM for my department and, since I like languages as well, I'm working on a learning tool for translators and students alike. I needed that tool in the first place but couldn't find it anywhere, so I decided to put it together by myself.

Yet as people from my country say, this pretty much boils down to "singing and playing your own song". So thanks for your comments, they're really much much appreciated.

First of all, 26 is young, and it's great you've reached this realization now. Second: there was just a story in the NYT I think about how over 25% of coders in NY startups have no college degree. In the industry I come from (web startups) you just need to be awesome at what you do. No one cares about a college degree. On the contrary, people with other backgrounds are considered more well rounded and can contribute to the company in many ways. I say forget the CS, learn a coding language you love and go for it. You'll be happier! Good luck.

spending your life doing something you don't like is so sad. I think you stand a fair chance of getting employed.

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