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Ask HN: I am in my late 20s looking to change careers. Any advice?

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Ask HN: I am in my late 20s looking to change careers. Any advice?

#1

Post by knlph »

Hi HN, I have been feeling very lost and out of place for as long as I can remember (with some temporary periods of feeling belonging). I have made a lot of mistakes, career mistakes. But I am doing slightly above average (by most society standards).

Yet I feel I am not doing justice to my role/calibre. I am thinking of moving full time to becoming a developer (I don't have an engineering degree, but have been learning on my own). But I am unsure and scared. Has anybody been through this? What advice will you give?

Re: Ask HN: I am in my late 20s looking to change careers. Any advice?

#2

Post by vouaobrasil »

Well, I went the opposite way and I would say I've had my fair share of career mistakes also. I would say that you gotta just do it, because there's really nothing worse than doing something uninteresting for decades. (Or even a few years).

At the same time, make sure developer is what you really want. I am transitioning out of being a developer because even though I loved that kind of thing in school, I find real-world development a lot different and not what I expected it to be.

What would you do if you could do anything in the world? Maybe that open-ended question will give you some ideas.

Re: Ask HN: I am in my late 20s looking to change careers. Any advice?

#3

Post by jamesfinlayson »

I haven't been through it myself but I've worked with two people that I know didn't have tertiary qualifications (probably other beyond those two that I didn't know about). Those two people were hard workers and were some of the better people I've worked with.

If it's what you want to do, go for it. When I'm involved in hiring it's not something I'd care about.

Re: Ask HN: I am in my late 20s looking to change careers. Any advice?

#4

Post by magicalhippo »

Haven't done it myself that late, but at 18 I knew I didn't want to do what I had studied up to that point, but rather wanted to do programming, so I spent some years to get the necessary grades to go to uni and did that. I landed my first programming job when I was 30.

One of our devs worked some regular office job without any special education, started programming on his own, ended up taking a bachelor at a local college before getting hired by us. He was just shy of 30 then. Been with us for several years now.

So it's certainly possible. Now, I started programming when I was 12, and I could probably have done a lot of good work without the degree, but at least here it's a foot in the door kinda thing. Though if you do good work and put it visible on GitHub or similar, one would hope employers would consider that favorably.

Anyway, even though it took me several years longer to get going compared to others I know, I do not regret switching.

Re: Ask HN: I am in my late 20s looking to change careers. Any advice?

#7

Post by JSeymourATL »

When people get to do work that innately feels good to them, they will run to work each day, thrilled to give it their all. Jonathan Fields, host of one of the world's top rated podcasts, Good Life Project, calls this a “Sparketype”. It's the “DNA-level driver” of actions that most deeply fulfill us.

> https://sparketype.com/sparketest/

Re: Ask HN: I am in my late 20s looking to change careers. Any advice?

#9

Post by theGnuMe »

I would examine your feelings towards your current role and what your inner voice is saying about what you want. You may seek out a career coach or a therapist. They can help you process your feeling and develop a plan! You are not alone, many have been down this road before. It is a unique journey to yourself but worth it.

Ask yourself what is the opportunity cost to not switching careers?

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