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35 Over 35

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Re: 35 Over 35

#81

Post by ChuckNorris89 »

CalRobert wrote: post #70
tjbiddle wrote: post #58

I don't understand: Is 35 normally considered too old to make something of yourself by society? I'm turning 28 this month and I feel like I'm quite far ahead compared to my peers, yet feel like I'm absolutely still fumbling through life. And when speaking to friends older than me, the majority seem to still be fumbling through as well. Every rotation around the sun my opinion is solidified that we're all just wingin'…

I don't think it's the age, it's the other life obligations. In my early 20's I was in college. Graduated in 2008 in to the recession and was lucky to have _any_ job. Spent all of my nights learning coding. In my mid-late 20's, starting in 2011, I finally got a crappy job with a pay cut in tech (sort of) doing ad operations. I worked hard and spent the evenings getting better at Java so I could use the Dart For Publi…

Did you move to Germany/Austria/Switzerland by any chance?

The colleague you described who has no life except work rings very familiarly with my time there.

In my experience, wherever I went, there was always a no-lifer on the team(no kids/wife/girlfriend, no sports/hobbies) who used to answer emails after midnight and push to git on a Sunday hoping to get that pat on the back from the managers. Career advancements were difficult as at your performance review he would be used as the benchmark.

Re: 35 Over 35

#82

Post by jlevers »

renjimen wrote: post #65
josephdviviano wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I didn't do any of this intentionally. I studied psychology in undergrad and graduated the year of the great financial crisis. Also had a bad GPA, 3.0. I had lots of ideas but there was always a big skills gap between what I wanted to do and what I knew how to do (and what my degree said I could do). I am obsessed with fixing problems in medical decision making (back then it was specific to diagnosis, now I'm more ge…

Great story! Thanks for sharing. The older I get (33 now) the more I realise that keeping yourself moving forward, learning, experiencing new things, comes down to chance encounters with people and opportunities. We just have to get out there with a positive mindset and an interest in new things. Getting good and comfortable in a career early on can make that challenging.

"Luck favors the prepared" is one of my favorite expressions, and I feel like it applies to this. Chance encounters do create tons of opportunities , but you have to be prepared to take advantage of those opportunities.

Re: 35 Over 35

#83

Post by efa »

josephdviviano wrote: post #12
hydrox24 wrote: post #8

What a good list. Most Australians would tell you if you asked them that you can achieve something extraordinary, or begin something new after the age of 35. But I think people are just trying to say the right thing. They know it's true in their heads, but I am not sure that their hearts know. I am under the age of 25, so well under 35, and I am hoping to live out this advice, and spend my early years learning to lea…

I didn't do any of this intentionally. I studied psychology in undergrad and graduated the year of the great financial crisis. Also had a bad GPA, 3.0. I had lots of ideas but there was always a big skills gap between what I wanted to do and what I knew how to do (and what my degree said I could do). I am obsessed with fixing problems in medical decision making (back then it was specific to diagnosis, now I'm more ge…

This is a great story. It's interesting how someone can have no interest or aptitude in a subject, but then later in life revisit that subject and thrive in it. In college I struggled with my programming classes (did not enjoy them) and decided to go into finance with my Math degree. Later I fell into a programming role and loved it. 25 years later and I still enjoy being a software developer.

Re: 35 Over 35

#84

Post by ckris »

CalRobert wrote: post #70
tjbiddle wrote: post #58

I don't understand: Is 35 normally considered too old to make something of yourself by society? I'm turning 28 this month and I feel like I'm quite far ahead compared to my peers, yet feel like I'm absolutely still fumbling through life. And when speaking to friends older than me, the majority seem to still be fumbling through as well. Every rotation around the sun my opinion is solidified that we're all just wingin'…

I don't think it's the age, it's the other life obligations. In my early 20's I was in college. Graduated in 2008 in to the recession and was lucky to have _any_ job. Spent all of my nights learning coding. In my mid-late 20's, starting in 2011, I finally got a crappy job with a pay cut in tech (sort of) doing ad operations. I worked hard and spent the evenings getting better at Java so I could use the Dart For Publi…

Unfortunately I don't think it matters that much. Maybe at one point you could live an alternative life in the seedy part of town if you didn't have kids. But there aren't many alternatives any more.

Re: 35 Over 35

#85

Post by hackernews7899 »

If anyone is reading this in dread, there is a recent book that addresses this:

https://www.latebloomer.com

I have no connections to the book. Just recently came across it and it addresses many of the topics in this thread.

"We live in a society where kids and parents are obsessed with early achievement, from getting perfect scores on SATs to getting into Ivy League colleges to landing an amazing job at Google or Facebook–or even better, creating a startup with the potential to be the next Google or Facebook or Uber. We see software coders becoming millionaires or even billionaires before age 30 and feel we are failing if we are not one of them.

But there is good news. A lot of us–most of us–do not explode out of the gates in life. That was true for author Rich Karlgaard, who had a mediocre academic career at Stanford (which he got into by a fluke), and after graduating, worked as a dishwasher, night watchman, and typing temp before finally finding the inner motivation and drive that ultimately led him to start up a high-tech magazine in Silicon Valley, and eventually to become the publisher of Forbes magazine. There is a scientific explanation for why so many of us bloom later in life. The executive function of our brains don’t mature until age 25–and later for some. In fact, our brain’s capabilities peak at different ages. We actually enjoy multiple periods of blooming in our lives.

Based on several years of research, personal experience, and interviews with neuroscientists and psychologists, and countless people at different stages of their careers, Late Bloomers reveals how and when we achieve full potential–and why an algorithmic acuity in math is such an anomaly in terms of career success."

Re: 35 Over 35

#86

Post by ikeyany »

copperx wrote: post #5

A famous writer once said that no one should write a book before 40. So it's not a totally crazy idea.

Another famous writer said writers should write as much as they can, so the idea is crazy once more.

Re: 35 Over 35

#87

Post by josephdviviano »

efa wrote: post #83
josephdviviano wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I didn't do any of this intentionally. I studied psychology in undergrad and graduated the year of the great financial crisis. Also had a bad GPA, 3.0. I had lots of ideas but there was always a big skills gap between what I wanted to do and what I knew how to do (and what my degree said I could do). I am obsessed with fixing problems in medical decision making (back then it was specific to diagnosis, now I'm more ge…

This is a great story. It's interesting how someone can have no interest or aptitude in a subject, but then later in life revisit that subject and thrive in it. In college I struggled with my programming classes (did not enjoy them) and decided to go into finance with my Math degree. Later I fell into a programming role and loved it. 25 years later and I still enjoy being a software developer.

I think often you can be fooled into thinking you aren't interested in something because it isn't presented to you in the right way. I still feel this way about math... I am not a "math person" and I find the way mathematicians talk to each other very confusing. Hopefully the move towards digital pedagogy will also be a move to teach the same subjects multiple ways, depending on the individual learner's biases.

Re: 35 Over 35

#88

Post by josephdviviano »

craigzucchini wrote: post #61
josephdviviano wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I didn't do any of this intentionally. I studied psychology in undergrad and graduated the year of the great financial crisis. Also had a bad GPA, 3.0. I had lots of ideas but there was always a big skills gap between what I wanted to do and what I knew how to do (and what my degree said I could do). I am obsessed with fixing problems in medical decision making (back then it was specific to diagnosis, now I'm more ge…

Out of curiosity, had you done an undergraduate research project / thesis before getting into an MSc program? Also, what do you mean by a professional Masters? I'm still learning the jargon of academia. I'm sort of following a similar path, through dipping in and out of an undergrad CS degree now that I've sort of become disenchant with web dev. 27 now, but hoping to worm my way into deep learning in the Geospatial f…

Like the rest of my story I got super lucky and I don't think it's a repeatable path. I had done a small "research project" for course credit with a professor, but I don't think it counts for much and it didn't go anywhere. The way I got into the MSc was by emailing every single psychology / neuro professor at a university looking for a summer volunteer position! I was taking non-degree coursework at one after being unemployed for a while in order to upgrade my CV enough to get into a program. Back then I think I was aiming to get into something clinical. A new prof. at the time asked to meet with me for the position and then suggested at the meeting that I do a MSc with him. I think he was having trouble recruiting because the rank of the school was not very high. Luckily, he was also super smart and taught me a tonne. That was a research MSc. The professional MSc I am in now is quite new has more emphasis on coursework and not on machine learning research. It's a way for the school to teach a lot more students about deep learning without professors needing to dedicate too many resources to individual student supervision. There is no expectation to publish or anything like that, although there are always ways to publish if you are interested.

If you want to get involved in research projects (which I do think helps you land more creative jobs) I would suggest working your hard-core software dev background when you pitch potential collaborators. You would be very surprised to see the quality of code coming out of some researchers because there is little incentive to be a good software engineer in academia. The normal way to participate in research is to be in a PhD program but there are many other ways so long as you can work closely with people who come from a more traditional research trajectory.

Are companies in geospatial or government aerospace groups hiring people with your skills? Might be a first step?

Re: 35 Over 35

#89

Post by crazygringo »

tjbiddle wrote: post #58

I don't understand: Is 35 normally considered too old to make something of yourself by society? I'm turning 28 this month and I feel like I'm quite far ahead compared to my peers, yet feel like I'm absolutely still fumbling through life. And when speaking to friends older than me, the majority seem to still be fumbling through as well. Every rotation around the sun my opinion is solidified that we're all just wingin'…

Yes, I think most people would consider 35 too late to stop one career (where you might already be making something of yourself, but aren't satisfied) and start another (that you might actually love).

With reasons ranging from too risky in terms of expected cost/benefit, to you can't learn as quickly, to family obligations won't give you the time or energy required.

I personally think the learning speed one is bunk -- even if your brain slows down a little (debatable), it seems more than made up for by experience in how you learn most efficiently, on top of general life experience.

So lists like this help remind you that you still can, if you're so inclined. For more inspiration in the creative direction (e.g. writing like in this list), see particularly the well-known book The Artist's Way by Julia Cameron. [1]

[1] https://www.amazon.com/Artists-Way-25th-Anniversary/dp/01431...

Re: 35 Over 35

#90

Post by greedo »

hydrox24 wrote: post #8

What a good list. Most Australians would tell you if you asked them that you can achieve something extraordinary, or begin something new after the age of 35. But I think people are just trying to say the right thing. They know it's true in their heads, but I am not sure that their hearts know. I am under the age of 25, so well under 35, and I am hoping to live out this advice, and spend my early years learning to lea…

I changed careers at 34 after working in food service and starting my own restaurant. I decided this "Internet" thing had legs and started teaching myself. Got a job where my boss realized how little I knew, and paired me up with someone who has become my best friend and mentor.

Before the switch, I was used to working insane hours, and I had little money (due the failed restaurant). So I was hungry, no family to support, and in a perfect situation to go for broke.

Today? I could never make the same changes. Supporting a family, and a wife with a career of her own. A mortgage, and retirement in a decade. All these things limit the amount of change you can (or are willing to) take. So I put my curiosity into hobbies etc.

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