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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?

#21

Post by wernercd »

I started as a programmer at 30.

I got a 2 year degree at a local college and took the first programming job I could get ($21/k year). 10 years in and I make 6 figures working for a major bank.

How to get started? Pick up some classes? Pluralsight, udemy, etc? College classes?

Do you have wife? kids? car/house payments? or can you afford a low paying job? Are you stuck where you are or can you move to a tech spot? Take risks accordingly.

Leverage your experience - programmers make stuff for... businesses. You have experience. Connect the two.

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

#23

Post by droptablemain »

jnbiche wrote: post #12
hnuser987654321 wrote: post #5

I don't think you are too old. Many of my coworkers had erratic, non-technical careers (construction, military, fireman, etc) until their 30s. Just prove you can solve business problems using code. If I were to get into software again, I would completely ignore the hype and choose a robust set of technologies and exclusively master them. Namely, Java (Spring Boot), MySql, Jquery. These are some of the most mature and…

> Jquery As a frontend developer (who's also old), I'm going to argue strongly against jQuery. I like jQuery. It's had its place. But it's on the way out. Your time would be much better spent learning vanilla JS (preferably ES5+ES6 but even just ES5 would be much better use of time than jQuery). You can easily do anything with modern vanilla JS (and modern browser APIs like `document.querySelector` and `fetch` than y…

100% agree about jQuery. Even ES5 can easily replace jQuery these days and do so in a much more performant way.

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

#25

Post by cwyers »

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 for and see what they're asking for on the requirements side and focus on that. You want to do some projects that can showcase what you can do. You need to tailor your resume to the jobs you want -- spend as little time as possible talking about your experience as a lab tech (enough to show where you've been the past ~10 years and showcase any soft skills you know), and as much time as possible talking about courses and projects that give you experience in the stuff the job ad wants. And you absolutely need to write a good cover letter and you need to avoid boneheaded mistakes like not changing the name of the employer you're submitting to. Your cover letter needs to sell how you can create value for the position you're applying for -- what have you done in the past that prepares you for this. Don't sell yourself as motivated, a quick learner, any of that... there are 30 other resumes in the pile that say that. Sell yourself on "I have done X, Y and Z as projects to develop my skills as a software developer, giving me these skills that I can use to create value for you."

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

#26

Post by sodafountan »

hnuser987654321 wrote: post #5

I don't think you are too old. Many of my coworkers had erratic, non-technical careers (construction, military, fireman, etc) until their 30s. Just prove you can solve business problems using code. If I were to get into software again, I would completely ignore the hype and choose a robust set of technologies and exclusively master them. Namely, Java (Spring Boot), MySql, Jquery. These are some of the most mature and…

As others have mentioned I wouldn't even bother with jQuery at this point. Knowing a little bit of jQuery and why it was important for its time is good, but I'd replace that in-depth jQuery knowledge with React.

React will teach you modern javascript that developers are using today, position you to be an immediate impact person on most React teams and as you dig into the internals of how it all works will make you a pretty good javascript developer in time.

Java is fine, but I'd also argue that C# might be a bit better, it seems like at least in my immediate area C# is more popular than Java at this point and the core concepts are obviously transferable between languages. I think C# has the edge with its tooling too, you'll bang your head against the keyboard a lot more trying to configure Java IDE's and servers than you will with Visual Studio and maybe Azure for instance.

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

#27

Post by techvellacom »

you're not too old.

You also have one thing that might work to your advantage, which is all your design experience. There are a lot of smaller jobs that require a little, but not a lot, of each skill. Basically, anyone needing an inexpensive, relatively simple web site or application would be a good candidate. I, for example, would be more than capable of creating one for just about anyone, but not by myself. I have absolutely no design skills.

You could start pretty quickly by researching which languages/platforms most fall into the small project category, and choose one on which to focus your studies. If you want to start with web site, you should probably look at PHP + WordPress, or an e-Commerce platform like Shopify + Ruby on Rails, or maybe something with Python. If apps are more interesting to you, IMHO it's a steeper learning curve, but you could get by with Java for Android, or Swift for iOS, or maybe try to learn an all-in-one platform like Titanium, etc.

Good luck!

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

#30

Post by antibland »

I want to share a little story with you. I recently attended a GraphQL meetup. The host presented the app he is building and was very knowledgeable, answering 90% of the questions thrown at him without any hesitation. So far, nothing about the meetup was remarkable. That is, until later that night, when I spoke with the host in greater depth.

In his early 30s, he decided to leave the public school space and pursue software development. He found specific things in the field that interested him and aggressively consumed information about those things. He read about and tinkered with code on his lengthy bus ride to work each day. He began presenting little things he was building at local meetups.

One night, after presenting at a meetup, a developer approached him and asked if he might be interested in interviewing for a new position which hadn't even been publicly posted. He agreed to interview and was hired shortly thereafter. All of this happened within a year's time.

You're definitely not too old to start! I would recommend you follow your curiousness and not simply follow where the money is at some given point in the industry cycle. Curious people go far and are less likely to quit. People into the idea of software development typically become overwhelmed and try something else because they lack a sturdy base.

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