Ask HN: Has anyone successfully started their career over in their 30s?

You need to read the wikipedia article on the "Cursus honorum" from the roman empire. Everything old is new again, not just in computer science.

You step one foot off the path, and the pyramid means there's a zillion people in line clamoring to take your place, your old spot is already gone, already filled.

Its like asking how you become a pro football quarterback if you're starting in your 30s. That's easy, you don't.

You CAN however, have an enjoyable and successful career and happy life doing something else. Just not on the old path. Which wasn't working for you anyway, so you're not losing much.

> I spent years running around like a headless chicken to satisfy sales-type execs who had no interest in leveling me up.

I got bad news for you if you think hopping from a startup to a megacorp will avoid that, LOL. Its kind of like travel, where you eventually learn its the same everywhere and you can't run away from yourself.

In a word yes. I worked in the film industry for 20 years from 20-40. The hours were killing me. My wife and I moved from Vancouver to Barcelona. I got a crap job at a call center. The company had courses in excel available. I took those. I then applied internally for a business analyst position. After getting that I learned SQL and JavaScript from LinkedIn learning and YouTube. I applied for a Security Analyst position at a different company. Got the gig and have since learned python and am working as a SOC analyst. I 44 now. Never had any higher education for the film gig nor the analyst jobs. I went to school for audio recording and have always had a way with computers.

Today, we know KFC as Kentucky Fried Chicken, a pretty decent restaurant as far as fast food goes.

But back in the day, Colonel Sanders didn't actually start what became KFC until he was 62 years old. His career was haphazard and beset by setbacks until he was almost a senior citizen.

You got this!

Mid-30s is fine. Pay attention to all aspects of your health, because it's super-important. Also, while you're in or working towards "the best shape of my life", as they say, that might have the bonus of another lifestyle/relatability point in common with some of your younger health-focused new colleagues.

What kind of work do you want to do? Software? If you already have some software experience, picking up a popular Web framework is very doable, and you can grow from there.

Too discouraged to imagine anything you want to do? If you weren't discouraged, what would you want to do, and how would you start working towards that? Why not start that, and get out of the discouragement trap?

Once you have some career traction going again, you might find that your prior experience has a silver lining. For example, you might see a pattern happening in a company, which you've previously seen not work out well, and can help nudge the company/person away from a pitfall.

I worked with 3 DBA’s that took a semester community college course in database administrator paid for certification in Oracle and started working as full time DBA’s shorty thereafter. They all were over 40 when they started as DBA’s and one had a background as a Disney animator