On finally learning to program at the age of 40

Started my professional career as a teenager. I was in board rooms advising CEO’s before turning 18. I started in infrastructure. First building gaming computers for clients then shifting to a new model servicing business clients by setting up servers, implementing computer and phone networks, setting up a PBX or VoIP system. Then transitioned from that to designing data centers and call centers for larger clients. Got deep into the architecture of ip transit layers. Fell into resale of existing tech and security for servers/networks/endpoints.

Cloud started eating the market for private data center facilities so I started a VoIP company. We did novel stuff with open platforms to create high density usage without performance impacts on 10 year old hardware (back when hardware was still expensive because cloud couldn’t do telephony well). Had bad a business partner and got out of that.

Throughout all of this I somehow never needed to learn to code more than HTML/CSS.

I decided to learn when I turned 30 and my careers future was unclear.

About three months in, I realized that I needed practice building real world tech not just codeacademy. I hired a tutor to help me learn to program as I only had about 2 hours a week to spend on it.

After three years of being tutored I’ve written a data aggregator sifting through various order data and building custom reports, I’ve used machine learning to filter important content based on content, I’ve built integration with payment gateways and a basic ledger system to track payments, I’ve done all this to work on a startup. I’ve pivoted over time but the concept is still motivating me.

I still consult as a tech leader. I’m a much more capable leader having learned to code with my other skills coupled together.

My recommendation to any professional looking to learn these skills is to hire a tutor. I could spend 100 hours of trial and error that a person with 20 years of experience can figure out in 5 minutes. If you are based in the USA you can find someone for $50/hour or so overseas to help you. That’s $400/month but still less expensive than many paid courses/schools and you get to set the criteria/agenda for your own needs.

Turbo Pascal was always technically excellent in many ways, and also relatively affordable. (The Microsoft development tools were prohibitively expensive for most non-businesses.)

IIRC, the IDE started with Turbo Pascal version 4.0.

In earlier versions of Turbo Pascal (at least 3.0 and 2.0), there was no IDE. IRC, TP before 4.0 had some kind of simple text screen for switching between the compiler and a text editor.

I started with a copy of Turbo Pascal 2.0 for generic MS-DOS (generic, in that it didn't use IBM PC BIOS features), which a computer shop owner kindly transferred from 8-inch floppy to the 5.25" oddball format that my not-very-PC-compatible used. The cover of manual was monochrome blue, rather than the more familiar multicolored one. http://www.emsps.com/oldtools/borpasv.htm#tp2

I heard that Philipe Kahn named the company "Borland" because it sounded like an American astronaut name, so I suppose that could be the reason for the outer space theme (other than a lot of computer things having sci-fi space themes around then).

After BASIC and LOGO, Turbo Pascal was the first language I became fluent in, during my pre-teens. If I recall correctly, I learned everything from the editor/IDE, help screens, examples, and existing code.

What really accelerated my learning was being given a large codebase (a bulletin-board system) to work on, and seeing how it all fit together to make a running application.

Next was C in my teens, I learned enough to create a little language that controls hardware via serial port, RS232. I remember starting to learn C++ and object-oriented programming.

For some reason, I drifted away from computers after that. Like the author, I found myself in various countries and occupations, always feeling that I had untapped potential and talent, but never able to make the transition.

Fortunately, in my late 30's I rediscovered the joy of programming. The web was the gateway, starting with HTML and CSS. Once I got the hang of it, it was unstoppable - I just kept learning and building more and more every day, because it was so fun. It took a couple years to become a full-time, professional programmer. I picked up server-side languages, released open-source libraries, which led to clients and later co-founding software companies.

A funny thing is, things have come full circle, and now I spend a lot of my time with TypeScript, another creation of Anders Hejlsberg. How the language integrates with the editor (in my case VS Code) to support software development, showing hints, smart autocompletion, navigating type definitions.. It reminds me of Turbo Pascal's IDE in some aspects.

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The past year or so, I've had a lot of fun with Raspberry Pi. It's a perfect hobby, and I'm now re-learning C so I can control hardware. I remember being ten years old, reading a manual on 8086 assembly language. So happy to be back where I started, with that sweet childhood joy of tinkering with computers.

In the U.S. only a very small percentage of lawyers ever get to the point where they make $250 an hour, and even if they do they only have a certain amount of years they can earn that much then if they don't make partner at whatever firm they're at they get put out to pasture.

During the time they're making that much money they're basically trapped working insane hours at one firm. Most lawyers don't even make six figures. Also, they can get disbarred if they make a mistake.

Software engineering allows for higher earnings for your entire career (though the ceiling might be lower on earnings), is less stressful and doesn't demand as many hours (in general) doesn't have a regulatory body that can take away your right to work if you get in trouble.