Ask HN: Is it too late to find a mentor after 30 for a software developer?

Thanks for taking the time to clarify your points. Although, I still disagree on a few views. Even if OP is 30 there isn't an inherent reason college is too late either at the undergraduate or graduate level. If OP had the funds or made specific life choices they could enroll back into a university and study. Some people aren't married/have kids at that age and can work side jobs or what have you to enroll back in school. Not everyone studied CS in their 20s and are satisfied with the careers they had up until that point. I know of individuals that made career changes in their mid-20s/30s. Most of them went back to school in one form or another. I think for those that did that actually set themselves up for a "career upgrade". I've seen students in class that look much older than everyone else taking undergraduate courses. I don't know their story but they aren't treated any differently by the university and I've even heard from professors they prefer older students over younger ones as their graduate students. Also, I've seen a CS PhD student that is 40+.

Age shouldn't be an issue. I'm in my 30s and I have a mentor. I mentor others. I've had both older mentors and younger mentors. I've mentored both older and younger people. To me, age isn't a factor.

As the mentee, it's about finding somebody who knows something you don't know and is willing to talk to you and answer your questions. As a software engineer, I find it valuable to meet with and talk to people who know more about various aspect of engineering -- the tech side of things (coding + architecture) and the business side of things (growing in leadership skills and knowledge of how to function within a business).

Even at a large company, depending on location, it can be difficult to find somebody to meet with. I mentor others both local and remote who work at the same company because sometimes they're not able to find anybody else with a similar role in their location. I'd recommend being willing to meet with remote mentors.

Checkout https://whosmentoring.com

No, just find a company that is into Software Craftsmanship and sign up for an apprenticeship. There are a lot out there although you might need to move to a major city if you're not in one yet (ie Chicago, New York, LA, London, etc). Just look for the meetups and the sponsoring companies and you can take it from there.

Difference from a bootcamp: you don't pay them, typically they pay you and provide benefits but it varies. Typically leads to a job offer if everything works out well. Discuss expectations going in and timeline.

I missed you were in Turkey -- a quick Google search with "turkey software craftsmanship" reveals some options there that may or may not be active.