Guy I know switched from being a helicopter pilot for 30 years to a software developer in his late 50s. So yes!
Ask HN: Has anyone successfully started their career over in their 30s?
211–220 of 234 posts
Re: Ask HN: Has anyone successfully started their career over in their 30s?
#212I know lots of people who have started their careers over in their 30s. My mom, for instance, went to school to become a respiratory therapist. My dad was in his 30s when he learned to be a tool and die maker. Both of them needed formal training. I've hired people who have switched careers by going to dev bootcamps, but their situation was different because they hadn't had a period of downtime. In general, though, I…
> but I need them to have the focus and the drive to do that growth This is really important. I just spent the last couple of months helping some people transition to the tech industry, and I'm seriously reconsidering whether I want to continue. It's demotivating when people don't have the drive to take initiative or follow through when you're volunteering your time to help them. So OP, there's definitely people out…
Are you being paid for that?
IMO for vast majority - getting into tech is not driven by curiosity but pure money. Which is not necessarily bad when you need to feed your family, but the people rarely last.
I've spoken to a banker at some point in his 40s trying to switch to crypto in 2017 when it was all hype. I gave him the roadmap, specific steps and extended network. He never followed through, well because it still required hard work. Not everyone is committed enough to do such work, particularly if it requires trade-off. However if there is something on the line, like 5-10 grand. Different story.
Re: Ask HN: Has anyone successfully started their career over in their 30s?
#213Analyst => BD in 20s
BD => PM in 30s
Kind of want to try software engineering :)
Quite frankly, if you are interested in something, you'll have enough to sustain the motivation to redo your life or career, regardless of "when".
Re: Ask HN: Has anyone successfully started their career over in their 30s?
#214There *is* hope.
This comment of mine on another thread might be of help: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34059925
Re: Ask HN: Has anyone successfully started their career over in their 30s?
#215I got my first programming job at 31. I was always interested in computers before but never did anything serious. I was a classical ballet dancer.
You could say that I had a career before my 30s but that career was completely irrelevant for my new occupation.
So yeah. If youre interested in tech, 30s is not old. If you’re interested in classical ballet…sorry, you’re just too old.
Re: Ask HN: Has anyone successfully started their career over in their 30s?
#216Let's say you wasted the last 10 years (you didn't - you learned a lot of valuable experience apparently).
So what ? You will probably live until you're in your 80s, and work (if you want or need) until you're into your 60s.
You have plenty of time - I suggest not to rush - you won't turn it around in 3 months. But you definitely can turn it around in 1-2 years. As someone wise said - people overestimate what they can do in the short term, but also underestimate what they can achieve in the long term.
Don't bother with the resume or marketable skills. Decide on what you want to do, and go after it. If you do it for a year, every single day, confidence and motivation will take care of themselves, and I can guarantee you will be surprised how far you can go.
99% of success in anything worthwhile in life, is just showing up, every single fucking day !
Re: Ask HN: Has anyone successfully started their career over in their 30s?
#217I know lots of people who have started their careers over in their 30s. My mom, for instance, went to school to become a respiratory therapist. My dad was in his 30s when he learned to be a tool and die maker. Both of them needed formal training. I've hired people who have switched careers by going to dev bootcamps, but their situation was different because they hadn't had a period of downtime. In general, though, I…
Nice response! I agree. As someone who has also done a great deal of hiring, having sincere interest is just so important in the big, wide world of software engineering. So now I tell people this… 1. Live for yourself not your mom or dad or societal expectations. 2. Provided you don’t have any responsibilities besides yourself, do whatever you want for a profession. 3. It’s completely OK to have a job that you can st…
> having sincere interest is just so important
This is a very significant point.
I’ve noticed both in myself and in close friends who are in the industry (all of us pushing or having broken past the 40 yo mark) that a mental fatigue has set in, one that particularly attacks interest, rather than acuity.
It seems that interest remains strong in the general sense, i.e. interest in tech, but wanes in the specific sense, i.e. wrt interest in an employer’s objectives.
It’s not exactly “burn out”, as our mental faculties remain strong. It’s rather a sort of middle age bitterness, which takes away the capacity to invest effort in external targets with the same abandon as before.
If anyone has experienced something similar, and broken through to a sunny patch beyond, I’d really appreciate an advice or three.
Re: Ask HN: Has anyone successfully started their career over in their 30s?
#218I know lots of people who have started their careers over in their 30s. My mom, for instance, went to school to become a respiratory therapist. My dad was in his 30s when he learned to be a tool and die maker. Both of them needed formal training. I've hired people who have switched careers by going to dev bootcamps, but their situation was different because they hadn't had a period of downtime. In general, though, I…
"I suggest you hire a career coach to explore your options;" Re: this, i'm happy to do career coaching consultations if you're interested.
Re: Ask HN: Has anyone successfully started their career over in their 30s?
#219I was in tech, left in 2017 (when I was ~31 years old), though I had the funds to take significant time off. VRChat got me into 3D modeling, which eventually led me to taking classes as an avocational student at a VFX school in 2019 (33-34). Now I work as a contractor doing 3D modeling for decent money, though I do feel like I lucked into this position (hard to find lucrative 3D modeling positions without experience).
Re: Ask HN: Has anyone successfully started their career over in their 30s?
#220[deleted]