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Ask HN: Where should I start as a 34-year-old switching to software as a career?

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Re: Ask HN: Where should I start as a 34-year-old switching to software as a career?

#101

Post by todd3834 »

Software engineering is a career that still doesn’t have a workforce large enough to keep up with demand. I don’t see 34 as very old at all. There are several routes you can take and I believe they will depend on what you are interested in.

If you don’t have a requirement for a high salary I suggest taking a look at the YC companies that are hiring by clicking “jobs” at the top of this page. See what specific engineering skills are in demand and then start to play around with them. Find what seems the most interesting to you.

It wouldn’t be a bad idea to work for a company that hires software engineers in a field where microbiology would be a big time bonus.

Re: Ask HN: Where should I start as a 34-year-old switching to software as a career?

#102

Post by jcroll »

thruflo22 wrote: post #60

Rebrand as a data scientist. Data science is eating the world. Everyone wants data scientists. You’re a microbiologist. It’s hugely credible that you’ve done some crazy data crunching for your science work. Spin that into an increasing interest in the pure data science. Voila, you’re writing python for a living at the top of the market with a hugely valued differentiated skill set.

My brother did this, it works

Re: Ask HN: Where should I start as a 34-year-old switching to software as a career?

#104

Post by drewmassey »

I was 34 when I switched from historical musicology to professional services. It can be done! All the advice in here is great. Software skews towards being merit and results driven (at least to getting hired)... the first step is way less difficult than a lot of other careers.

Re: Ask HN: Where should I start as a 34-year-old switching to software as a career?

#106

Post by semitext »

As someone that tried making the switch to software development at your age two years ago, and haven't had any luck, I would treat the majority of advice you get here and anywhere else with a grain of salt. You will hear a lot of stuff about how you are not too old, and that it's okay to not have a CS degree. It's not that those things are wrong, but I think they are less true today than they were when many people here entered the field, at least in the Bay Area. If you are like me, you will find there are almost no jobs for jr/green developers, and you will find that when you do come across those jobs you won't fit the mental image most employers have of someone that would be appropriate fit for that position.

So my advice is keep learning (because that is the one thing about this field that is fun and exciting), but figure out how to do so in a way that is sustainable and makes you happy, and take care of your mental health.

Re: Ask HN: Where should I start as a 34-year-old switching to software as a career?

#107

Post by candeira »

I second "develop any software for your domain", with one addendum.

Do you use excel for anything at all? Whatever it is, you could start by building that.

- Do you put data into a spreadsheet and then email it to someone else? Make a web app where you put in the data using your account, and the someone else can view the data using your account.

- Do you have different spreadsheets with separate data than then gets aggregated/summarised manually into a single spreadsheet? That's a job for a computer program, not a person, and you can add that as a feature for your web application.

- Once you've done that, you have a website that can work with the new data, but some people will want it on spreadsheets, not on the website, so write a spreadsheet export/download feature.

- All your new data is in the website, but the old one is still in excel spreadsheets on your hard drive. Write an importer to read the spreadsheet data into your application.

- Is some of the data for your lab in a format that's also machine readable (barcode format?). Add to your app support for reading barcodes, either via phone cameras or laptop webcams: https://github.com/serratus/quaggaJS

I could go on, but I guess you know your next step better than I would.

A recommendation is also that you do all your development at home, not on company time, and not using any company resources. A lot of profitable business are website implementations of existing spreadsheet workflows. In the past three years, I've worked on two such applications, three if you count a physical device UI where the prototype UI was developed on Excel + Visual Basic.

Re: Ask HN: Where should I start as a 34-year-old switching to software as a career?

#108

Post by altairiumblue »

thruflo22 wrote: post #60

Rebrand as a data scientist. Data science is eating the world. Everyone wants data scientists. You’re a microbiologist. It’s hugely credible that you’ve done some crazy data crunching for your science work. Spin that into an increasing interest in the pure data science. Voila, you’re writing python for a living at the top of the market with a hugely valued differentiated skill set.

Rebranding according to what's in demand is all fine, but if you choose data science please make sure that you actually have a solid understanding of statistics and software development. Because ultimately that's what data science is.

"Hugely credible" and actual experience in data analysis/statistics are completely different things. And if you don't have the statistics/math background, you'll find out that now instead of just programming, you need to learn programming and statistics. Which might be too much for someone who doesn't know where to start.

Re: Ask HN: Where should I start as a 34-year-old switching to software as a career?

#109

Post by sh87 »

fromthestart wrote: post #76
sh87 wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> If it's just because you think you can make a lot of money, that's a poor reason to switch careers. I strongly disagree with that. More money is a perfectly sound reason to choose a career.

Is a life spent working on uninteresting material a life worth living? It can be soul sucking. Don't make the mistake of chasing money, at least not twice. It's not for everybody.

Most modern day jobs are purely material, soul sucking and ungrateful. I look at things the way they are and have learnt to not expect anything but money and respect from work. Anything beyond that, seek outside of work.

Re: Ask HN: Where should I start as a 34-year-old switching to software as a career?

#110

Post by cwyers »

stingrae wrote: post #32
cwyers wrote: post #25

So, you need some sort of credential. A bootcamp would do well, some sort of certificate of a course of study from Coursera or edX, a non-degree certificate from a university. Pick a tech stack that's both modern and enterprisey -- Java, .NET, Ruby, Node.js are all fine, but if you go with them, get current. On the front end, you want to find something trendy. Try looking for some jobs you think you'd want to apply f…

I totally disagree. I don't think a credential will help at all. I think you need projects that you can point to and explain. I also feel like it will be easier for you to get a role at a company that also would utilize your past experience. This way it is easier for them to justify someone more technically junior at on the software engineering side.

At many employers you need to pass several screens before you can get into a position where someone is able to review your project that actually knows anything about how to evaluate it. Some places have systems that scrape text out of resumes and do keyword searches as filters. Your resume is often read for a first step by someone who doesn't understand the job at all. A clear credential of _any_ sort can often get you past these hurdles to a point where you can get to dealing with someone who can look at your project and determine if it has merit. But the best project in the world cannot help you if you don't even get to that point.
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