If so, how’d that work out? Advice?
Ask HN: Did you change career paths after 30?
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Re: Ask HN: Did you change career paths after 30?
#2Yes, twice in fact. Went from being a geologist for environmental consulting firms -> community management for various tech websites -> software engineer.
Each has worked out better than the last and brought me more enjoyment (and dollar bills as well, ah gem). I still like my rocks, but I really like coding, too.
Now over 40 though. Hoping to stick with the software engineering side of things from here on out. But who knows!
Edit: In terms of advice - if you’re bored or lacking fulfillment in your current role and something else legitimately interests you, take the chance and do it.
It’s not always possible of course, I am very very fortunate in having a partner who is supportive and can help cover us financially while I attempted to ramp us in new careers.
But people with a strong enough desire seem to find a way. It just might take a bit longer.
Re: Ask HN: Did you change career paths after 30?
#3Multiple times, went from mechanical engineering > tech project manager > product manager > educator/developer
It's been working out well due to me having doing something I enjoy more than doing something that makes me money.
What I regret is not getting here sooner.
Re: Ask HN: Did you change career paths after 30?
#4Planning on it and I'm almost 40. I'm in tech now, but in life I really enjoy deep 1-1 time with people more than anything else I do at work.
I've got a 5-year plan to leave tech and go back to school to become a therapist, specifically working with people suffering from OCD (and perhaps some other forms of anxiety). At this point it's mostly meeting with people in the industry to hear their stories, with a goal of applying to master's programs in the next two years.
Most likely complete a 3 year program and then open up a private practice.
Demand for therapy in my area (Seattle) is at an all-time high, and there are often considerable wait lists when it gets specific like OCD.
Re: Ask HN: Did you change career paths after 30?
#5Transitioned from a data analyst to a SWE at 34. Its worked out well so far, but there are definitely aspects of SWE that I still play catch-up with. Much of any good advice would depend on the career path you are switching from/to, but for anyone switching from analytics -> SWE, I've found that I (personally) should have invested more time in learning OOP and reading more production code. I don't write a ton of OO code on a daily basis now, but coming from an analytics background, most of my workflow revolved around FP where my goal was to just get something to work they way I expected to.
I also wish I reached out to my network a bit more and talked to other SWEs prior to accepting my role. Not that I would have changed my decision, just could have leveraged friends to get a sense of the day-to-day.
Re: Ask HN: Did you change career paths after 30?
#6I went to graduate school at 30, and became and industry researcher at 35. My main advice is to realize that there is a lot of work in the transition, and your co-workers/advisor/etc will not care much about your previous accomplishments. You'll need to prove yourself again, but being comfortable with having to do that is worthwhile.
Re: Ask HN: Did you change career paths after 30?
#7Planning on it and I'm almost 40. I'm in tech now, but in life I really enjoy deep 1-1 time with people more than anything else I do at work. I've got a 5-year plan to leave tech and go back to school to become a therapist, specifically working with people suffering from OCD (and perhaps some other forms of anxiety). At this point it's mostly meeting with people in the industry to hear their stories, with a goal of a…
In a gold rush (mental health crisis society), sell shovels?
Re: Ask HN: Did you change career paths after 30?
#8I'm trying to break into SE (at 32 from an accounting background), but not having a US/EU passport and living in a third world makes it hard. So I will say that depending on where you are from, things can get tricky. But the usual still stands, you get jobs by knowing the right people.
Re: Ask HN: Did you change career paths after 30?
#9Planning on it and I'm almost 40. I'm in tech now, but in life I really enjoy deep 1-1 time with people more than anything else I do at work. I've got a 5-year plan to leave tech and go back to school to become a therapist, specifically working with people suffering from OCD (and perhaps some other forms of anxiety). At this point it's mostly meeting with people in the industry to hear their stories, with a goal of a…
In a gold rush (mental health crisis society), sell shovels?
Therapy is not necessarily a bad form of shovels :-)
Re: Ask HN: Did you change career paths after 30?
#10I was a network engineer and after age 40 did a bootcamp and now happily work as a web developer.