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Ask HN: Messed up my education, now 30 and regretting it. What to do?

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Re: Ask HN: Messed up my education, now 30 and regretting it. What to do?

#31

Post by throwaway_pKmOh »

pizza234 wrote: post #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…

> There's a big risk here of liking the idea of something more than something itself.

It's a good point. Worth noting that my degree was not in CS, but in another engineering discipline.

> If your current career is not the one you want, you're paying a "very high" opportunity cost by not changing it. [...] 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.

Also a good point. My friends are buying homes and settling down, and part of me feels that I should just stop worrying and do the same. Missing out on my current salary and going back to a student lifestyle would sting a little.

Re: Ask HN: Messed up my education, now 30 and regretting it. What to do?

#34

Post by rripken »

Are you willing to put in a significant amount of work? Look into Georgia Tech's OMSCS program. Do some searches, read (or watch) some of the press coverage of the program. Its very affordable. But the program is not a gimme - you will have to do significant amounts of work. When you complete the program you will have the knowledge and credentials to pursue some of those cool jobs you see. Seems like the credentials matter less and less these days but for some people/jobs its still necessary. Make sure you do the work. You will only get out what you put in. Machine Learning, Computer Vision, Reinforcement Learning, AI are all greatest hits/best of courses. You will learn amazing things and have very challenging assignments. If you don't have a ton of free time you can take one class each quarter and finish in 3 years. You don't have to quit your well paying software job (at least I didn't). Have kids? wife? pets? volunteer work etc? Its still doable (I did it). Just plan ahead and don't leave things until the last minute.

Re: Ask HN: Messed up my education, now 30 and regretting it. What to do?

#35

Post by throwaway_pKmOh »

blairanderson wrote: post #29

brother, 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...

Thanks. I'll check it out.

Re: Ask HN: Messed up my education, now 30 and regretting it. What to do?

#36

Post by davydka »

vzaliva wrote: post #24

I 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 t…

Do you mind me asking, where was the program?

Re: Ask HN: Messed up my education, now 30 and regretting it. What to do?

#37

Post by [deleted] »

donohoe wrote: post #30

I 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…

[deleted]

Re: Ask HN: Messed up my education, now 30 and regretting it. What to do?

#38

Post by gwbas1c »

> 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 have a good BS in CS, and did some interesting things in my career. At 40, the jobs that you list would also be hard for me to get.

IMO: Only get the degree if you want the experience of being a student again. There's no guarantee that a degree will get you a job in that field.

Edit: One of the risks in our field is that the more specialized you are, the market narrows for your job opportunities. You could find that you have a fancy degree, only a few places you can use it, and for some unfair reason they won't hire you.

Re: Ask HN: Messed up my education, now 30 and regretting it. What to do?

#39

Post by ac2u »

throwaway_pKmOh wrote: post #20
pezzana wrote: post #15

> As a result I never even finished my bachelors degree, and I'm now in my early 30s and regretting it a lot. I'd really think carefully about why you want that degree. > 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. Why do you feel that? What sign…

Part of it is vanity. Part of it is the feeling that I'll have to defend my lack of credentials for the rest of my career, and that it's ultimately going to hold me back. And maybe part of it is the idea that there are some things I'll never properly learn without taking significant time off work to do focused study. But more than a few commenters here are saying that demonstrating ability is more important than pedi…

>Part of it is the feeling that I'll have to defend my lack of credentials for the rest of my career

Your feeling is, IMO misguided. Ok, some employers will be shortsighted, but the ones where you'll have a fulfilling career recognize that the person that taught themselves has proven that they can learn something new without explicit guidance, and had the grit to see it through themselves. This is something that freshly minted grads have yet to prove.

Don't get me wrong, I found my degree useful personally, it helps to have an education programme map out your unknown unknowns and turn them at into known knowns.

When hiring, with computer science graduates, I know that they at least know certain things (with a little prodding), but I don't yet know their capacity for learning new things unguided.

For non-graduates, I might need a little more time when hiring to figure out what they do know (if they're new to the industry), but when they can demonstrate skills I know they have capacity to learn for themselves.

It's not that it's better or worse to have the degree, it's just different, but some of the differences are to your advantage.

Re: Ask HN: Messed up my education, now 30 and regretting it. What to do?

#40

Post by sinnet11 »

rripken wrote: post #34

Are you willing to put in a significant amount of work? Look into Georgia Tech's OMSCS program. Do some searches, read (or watch) some of the press coverage of the program. Its very affordable. But the program is not a gimme - you will have to do significant amounts of work. When you complete the program you will have the knowledge and credentials to pursue some of those cool jobs you see. Seems like the credentials…

Doesn't this require a bachelors degree though?
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