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

I was eventually let go, and for the past few years have been doing on-and-off menial gig work. Feel like I’ve wasted my life. No marketable skills. Unimpressive résumé. No network. No mentor. No confidence. No motivation. And I’m in my mid-30s.

-Is there any hope for someone like me?

-Is there any reasonable path to starting over?

-Where do I even begin?

-Will tech co’s ever consider hiring someone like me?

The path depends on whether going to school full time will work for you. You don't need a degree from a fancy school to start over, community colleges have plenty of great classes. But if you can't put in some time to get sharp at something, it might have to be a different path.

(I also feel like I've done a shitton of stuff at times, with not much marketable to show for it. Some grounded but pie in skyish, some in tech but really just knowing how to use a computer really well and not so much deep programming knowledge.)

IMO now (2023+) is a fantastic time to re-start. There's a lot of change and a lot of opportunity. Maybe there has never been a better time to start new.

Look at everything that is broken, that everyone (or at least many--maybe half) know is broken (at least subconsciously).

I think maybe going out there and KEEPING AT MAKING/DOING SOMETHING PUBLICLY no matter how small, to add value (solve real problems) in one or more of the broken spaces, has got to turn into being profitable (trade value for value, put a price on a thing).

These are my random thoughts. I actually think I pretty much know what to do, and just need the courage/motivation to do it. So maybe motivation is a thing to look at, too.

This is high level. I could probably make a list of the broken areas, and so could you probably. I think if one gets started on solving them, there are plenty of people to hire and who would find the work meaningful and to grow. And plenty who know the fixes are needed, and not enough people making and providing the fixes.

There are also more obvious/traditional ways to restart, I guess. The same applies; a lot of things are new or newly matured enough to be really obvious/useful, so starting now as an experienced person (even not in the domain) in something different will have its advantages.

I doubt this helps much, but hang in there and believe in yourself. Sounds silly, I know. I think we can be realistic optimists here.

[Addendum: What I really want at present though is to find something that just needs me to be a really good computer user, and can help someone's business with that, to make ends meet, while I try to start the loftier stuff on the side. That has to be valuable, right? Seriously, IME most people cannot do that, and it's like it almost does not even matter. I do not want to learn all the programming things, but I'm still extremely proficient other than I guess what people actually need. Open to input along these lines. Thanks for asking this question. I might sound stupid, if so please just ignore.]

She's an awesome nurse.

You can do this.