30 is not that old. Think of it this way - you have how many years of work left? 30-35, maybe longer? 2-3yrs to get a masters if not that long, relatively speaking.
Ask HN: Messed up my education, now 30 and regretting it. What to do?
21–30 of 122 posts
Re: Ask HN: Messed up my education, now 30 and regretting it. What to do?
#22> 3D graphics, in distributed systems, in machine learning, or other "hard computer science" fields
You're looking across widely different fields that are each impossible for anyone to master (despite the degree being called a Masters).
To use an analogy, even the GOAT Michael Jordan couldn't transfer his skills across sports.
You could pick anyone of those, spend an entire lifetime (or several) and barely make any impact.
If you want to develop expertise in any field, go right ahead. But the idea that a PhD (or anything) would allow you to master multiple tech disciplines is a pipe dream.
Re: Ask HN: Messed up my education, now 30 and regretting it. What to do?
#23> if I were to do that I would still feel like a massive screw-up for going back to university in my 30s
There's no shame in this; I'm wondering where you got this feeling for, especially, because radical changes in 30s/40s are generally considered success stories (when successful, of course ;)).
> until I came to university, where I could never seem to care about the course material or putting effort into my classes [...] But then I look around and see the cool jobs in 3D graphics, in distributed systems, in machine learning, or other "hard computer science" fields, and it feels like I will never be qualified without a graduate degree.
There's a big risk here of liking the idea of something more than something itself. The yellow flag here is that if one likes "hard CS problems", they'd find the CS university subjects tendentially interesting, or anyway, worth completing. Of course there are exceptions, but it's worth thinking about it.
> Putting my career on hold for a few years to go back to school has a very high opportunity cost right now
If your current career is not the one you want, you're paying a "very high" opportunity cost by not changing it.
This assumes that it's not an economical problem, but I read "opportunity cost", so it seems it isn't. To be kept in mind that taking a 3 years break for work, for education, especially in the early 30s, does no harm to the career.
Re: Ask HN: Messed up my education, now 30 and regretting it. What to do?
#24I was in the exact same position. I found a university program which allowed me to get MS in Computer Science mostly online. I took me 3 years, but I did this in parralel with may day job while having 2 kids at home. I think it was well worth it and I encourage you to try.
As long as you going to invest all this time and money, do it with recognizable university, not some online only program.
Your company may agree to pay part of it. US companies have some tax writeoff for employee education so it is basically free to them (up to some limit). It is usually not enough to cover the full tuition but still helps.
Re: Ask HN: Messed up my education, now 30 and regretting it. What to do?
#25Qualification for advanced fields has nothing to do with a degree in those fields. You get qualified by doing projects in those fields. You can do such projects while paying some institution to give you a paper certificate ... or you can take an online course to learn stuff ... or you can study books and papers and implement a project yourself and open source it to gain recognition for your work.
The industry has some luminaries who do AI/Graphics, etc., without having done much work in those areas in school.
See Jon Carmack, one of the greatest programmers alive. See Abrams. See Cooley. etc. etc.
It's a fallacy that grad school teaches you to do XYZ. You learn it on your own. It's just a forcing function to put you on a timeline.
Everything I know in computer science, outside the intro classes, I learned on my own.
Re: Ask HN: Messed up my education, now 30 and regretting it. What to do?
#26Unless you get a specialized degree, I wouldn't expect undergraduate level courses to help much with the fields you listed.
I did take a 3D graphics course, but that mostly instilled some basic concepts. I have no idea how to do something like contribute to a 3D game. At best I'm slightly better equipped to do Google searches to try to figure things out.
Re: Ask HN: Messed up my education, now 30 and regretting it. What to do?
#27> but then I look around and see the cool jobs in 3D graphics, in distributed systems, in machine learning, or other "hard computer science" fields, and it feels like I will never be qualified without a graduate degree.
I think you are being too hard on yourself. You can only become a specialist in one of these fields. Even if you were to dedicate your life on doing 3D graphics, you won't easily switch to a distributed systems or machine learning type of focus. Also, working on "hard" problems in these fields primarily happens in an industry/academic research type of job - these are really niche topics you have to throw your soul at to stay up to date/ahead in.
Re: Ask HN: Messed up my education, now 30 and regretting it. What to do?
#28I was in a very similar situation and was able to go back and get my bachelors degree without putting my career on hold. Here is how:
- I used my tech background to get an IT job at local University. As a full-time employee, I was eligible for tuition remission.
- The majority of my classes were available in the evenings or online. For the evening in-person classes, I was already on campus for work, so getting to class was a non-factor.
- For the few required classes only offered during the day, I worked it out with my boss to take an extended lunch break to go to class. Turns out that IT managers in Higher Ed value continuing education for their employees.
It took about 6 years of going to classes part-time, but I graduated at age 35 with zero student loans.
Also, there are a lot more non-traditional students out there than you would think. Don't let your age be a deterrent.
Re: Ask HN: Messed up my education, now 30 and regretting it. What to do?
#29brother, crack open a damn Brene-brown audiobook about vulnerability.
https://brenebrown.com/book/the-power-of-vulnerability/
Never feeling qualified, feeling like a screw-up for attending college in your 30's... these are stories you've made up in your head for how people gauge your worth.
close your eyes and think about where you want to be sitting in 5 years, work your way backwards, and start checking boxes...
Re: Ask HN: Messed up my education, now 30 and regretting it. What to do?
#30I would absolutely not halt your career for this.
Most people do college/university as a means to get where you are now. It seems like you do not need this. You just want to deeper learnings. No reason you can't pursue that.
If you find a way to do both, then great. However you can pursue to better yourself through education that don't require you the double-cost of university fees and loss-of earnings then go for it.