At age 31 I was was working as a part-time university lecturer in a non-stem field plus constantly struggling to find any additional freelance work, couldn't really see a realistic path forward in that career. Had also just become a father, so being broke felt even worse than before. I spent about 18 months learning web dev (just free resources online), and successfully made the career change. Required a lot of sacrifices in that time period though as well as a bit of luck, and I don't think my path is representative of the average person who tries this.
Ask HN: Has anyone successfully started their career over in their 30s?
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Re: Ask HN: Has anyone successfully started their career over in their 30s?
#72I moved from tech recruiting to swe at ~29 so pretty close to 30. Wife transitioned to a new career around the same age. I know a ton of people who have done it between 25-40.
> No confidence. No motivation.
This is your biggest issue. You need to do some research and figure out what you are interested in doing/learning about.
Re: Ask HN: Has anyone successfully started their career over in their 30s?
#73You totally can. I've taken multiple right-turns over my 'career' (I'm now 51). I think it's a myth to believe that you're stuck in one path, and TBH I think most people now won't have the same job for a long period (when I was at school, I knew plenty of people who thought they'd have a job for life in a particular trade or profession).
However, I've been self-employed since 1/1/2000. There's NO WAY I would be employed by a company full time now unless they were well off the beaten track. So I don't have job security, but that has allowed me to be multiple different things over the last 20 years, and I'm enjoying the freedom and interest of what I do (and I'm better at programming (Python) and music production than I ever have been). I've bought and sold cars in the meantime, and also written a couple of books and taught guitar.
I think the main thing is to play to your strengths, not the strengths you think you should do, or that other people will want.
And there is no such thing as wasted experience. If the chaotic startup was as bad as you say, there will be plenty of stuff you'll have learned from it - even if it is "never do this, EVER!".
Re: Ask HN: Has anyone successfully started their career over in their 30s?
#74If you look at this moment 10 years from now, you'd be surprised how early it is for you. Eric Yuan founded Zoom at the age of 41. David Baszucki was 41 years old when he created Roblox with cofounder Erik Cassel, who was 36 at the time. Stan Lee created his first hit comic, "The Fantastic Four," just shy of his 39th birthday, in 1961. Samuel L. Jackson has been a Hollywood staple for years now, but he'd had only bit…
I always like the example of Ray Kroc, who founded McDonalds at the age of 64.
Well I guess technically he licenced the idea from the McDonald brothers single restaurant but he founded what we think of as McDonalds.
Whatever you think of their "food" it's still a great example of an older founder.
Re: Ask HN: Has anyone successfully started their career over in their 30s?
#75I was stuck in a dead end job in my late 20s, did the 2 years in a community college and 2 years in a "real" college thing, and began a career as a computer programmer when I was 34. It's actually easier to do in your 30s because you're more mature.
A good friend of mine left his career as an auto mechanic and became a CPA in his mid 40s. He had no trouble finding work.
You can get federal student loans as a second degree student, and some programs are exclusively offered to students with an existing degree (Accelerated Nursing for example).
You are younger than you think.
Re: Ask HN: Has anyone successfully started their career over in their 30s?
#76I got out of the military and started my career in IT at 30. I went from fixing fighter jets to being a sys/net admin. It helps I always had a passion for networking and technology.
Re: Ask HN: Has anyone successfully started their career over in their 30s?
#77I kinda do. I was a 3D artist for about 7 years, the architectural firm I worked for went out of business out of the blue, they let me go without a dime of compensation. I went back to college and took a second graduation as a SE. I consider myself successful cause I got to land a pretty good job in a pretty good company. Also I'm pretty proud of my new set of skills (being able to create software out of a blank text file)
Re: Ask HN: Has anyone successfully started their career over in their 30s?
#78Warsaw, Poland, EU
Graduated top university, did internships, landed demanding corporate jobs. Career stalled somehow.
I have a career in "boring" part of finance: financial planning and analysis (where I make big but simple models in Excel - without any statistics or programming involved, just very detailed) and do a lot of various user side related work (key user, acceptance tests, blueprinting, explaining to consultants what broke this time). Is there any way to swich to something else that pays decently?
I wouldnt like to be a tester, since those should know how to automate tests. I know some SQL and some VBA, but it is primitive stackoverflow driven development - good enough to impress some junior bookkeepers, but a joke when a real programmer looks at the code.
Scrum master perhaps? But how to start. I went to some agile meetups, read the manifesto, read some blogs (that mostly sound like self promotion...) not sure if I should start applying. Especially Im getting old so Im more of a "suit" now.
Consulting is a garbage job it means jumping from client to client + constant travel/overtime (I actually worked in consulting a small bit).
Will local companies or startups pay for someome without experience? Since I speak English some option is working remote, preferably to an european start up so the hours are sane - constant overtime is a big problem in finance.
I wonder if it is possible to switch to a product owner, or key user or similar position. But how.
I saw that some startups want someone who can fill out those EU-subsidy forms, but I never did that. Yet?
If someone needs a guy with tons of comments about your product (warning those can be negative) I could be that guy. But I have this feeling that everyone wants to be the idea guy and obiously those who can build stuff are much more preferred.
Re: Ask HN: Has anyone successfully started their career over in their 30s?
#79Yes. My girlfriend became a Trauma Nurse at 40. She's incredibly successful.
Re: Ask HN: Has anyone successfully started their career over in their 30s?
#80Yes.
Always knew I was a good developer since I started with a C=64, but school was an issue. Graduated HS but didn't go to college because I was so bored at school, like severely bored. Worked non tech jobs through my twenties. Finally sucked it up and started going to college PT in my late 20s. PT so I could pay for it as I went. Graduated mid 30s and have been a dev ever since.
Moral: Sometimes you have to slog through what you don't want to do to get to what you want to do. I do not recommend this, however.