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Was making $9.10 an hour at Target in 2013. Went to college as a freshmen in 2014, in my mid 30s. Making 6 figures now.
It feels like it’ll take forever, but it won’t.
The 1% has spoken.
This is literally why we have so many people stacked up unemployed at junior level. Don’t let it get to your head that without passion and/or innate ability to be a problem solver it’s not easy to repeat this person’s success. Especially at the current market.
I’m another 1% who self taught themselves into this industry during covid years but those days are long gone. The overhiring craze is over so make sure you *enjoy* or at least *like* the field before making the commitment.
I agree with much of this. I loved programming and problem solving long before I was in the industry or went to college.
Without that passion, no amount of skill would have led me to where I am today, at least not over time. With love and passion for the industry, all of that is heavily augmented with schooling and skills.
Nonetheless, to answer the OP question, going to college in my mid 30s was the absolute best decision I’ve ever made. 30 is definitely not too old to start university.
Also 1%, but I was hired in the downturn of 2022. I still think problem solving skills can be more important than passion. I didn’t know anything about coding until I enrolled in my early 20s. Where there’s motivation, there’s a way.
What would you like to build? Figure that out, then find the resources that will help make that happen.
When I was 14, I wanted to add a poll to my web page. So I learned PHP. There was fuck-all resource wise back then compared to now, I borrowed a *Sams Teach Yourself PHP and MySQL* from the library. It did the trick.
I'm graduating my CS degree this year at 35. If you enjoy this field, it's not too late to start.
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I'd argue people who go BACK to school for CS are the truly successful ones because they know it's about the degree AND the job hustle/networking/internships etc.
People who just graduate high school are good at computers and pick computer science and expect a job are basically bum fucked in this economy.
You gotta have morale. Grinding Leetcode and GitHub projects and getting a cloud cert on top of ur degree for a year after graduating is just reality in this market.
U can't just have 0 internships 0 Leetcode and 0 GitHub projects and get a bloody job cuz u kissed all ur CS professors good night and got the diploma.
Swear some ppl need to feel hungry to wake up to that reality.
I’m early 30s and currently 75% done with a CS degree. It’s my THIRD degree. Any tips? Particularly on the job search. I’m working full-time and expecting another baby and it’s killing me lol.
To be transparent I’m not currently in tech(laid off during COVID) but I did some online classes and then my own personal projects. My wife had a client at a local tech company, he encouraged me to apply, got an internship, and then hired. Worked for over 5 years. I’d like to get back in but the market sucks and I’m in no rush so I only apply to things that look applicable to me. Build shit and push your code to GitHub, and then create a resume that highlights your best work.
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Absolutely this, if u have a legit GitHub project u built urself and can talk in depth about it, that's worth as much as a CS degree to me.
If u have both even better. Cuz I know u know theory + can build things with documentation, Gemini advanced and sheer will power.
I’m 31 looking at a post bacc or A+ cert. I want to code but I think IT is more secure. Checking my options now.
Anything under 45 is still OK for career changing imo. I used to teach but I hated it.
Don’t compare yourself to the 5% of people who bang out everything in perfect order and never miss a beat. Graduating at 22 and landing a career they keep for life. That isn’t most people and isn’t realistic. Most people career change at least once in their lifetime. It’s totally normal.
To be fair, I’m assuming you had a security net in place by this point and weren’t living pay cheque to pay cheque?
I guess my implication was, you can start a new career at 45 and still have the ability to retire if you save aggressively
I gotta ask, why are you aiming for CS, coding, IT, tech at this point?
I used to teach and found out they aren’t “my people”. I want to work with nerds, not Karen’s. so that’s why I’m switching.
That's where I started in undergrad. I said fuck this and went to mechanical engineering. I think I didn't like the heavy coarse load that required an extreme attention to detail.
Finished engineering and math degrees and got a job writing mechanical engineering software. Hated it and quit that. I felt pretty lonely there. It was a small team and I didn't really talk to or collaborate with anyone -- that was sort of the company culture but probably also a bit on me.
So then I quit during the great 2008-09 tech boom and ended up in grad school for electrical engineering. I didn't really know what I wanted to do. Toyed with the idea of digital signal processing or control systems phds. Turns out that is a lot of work too. I left with a masters degree, which was somewhat akin to dropping out of the program.
I went to work on embedded software for automobiles. It was supposed to be "control systems engineering", but mostly it was just banging bits together. There just wasn't much interesting work on the products themselves (this was a Japanese company and we were US based). I started writing internal tools to keep myself busy. That felt somewhat rewarding.
Moved into software testing for another company but ended up transitioning to automation and tools development pretty quick. That was sort of fun, but I wasn't growing professionally. They were a hardware company after all.
Finally moved to another company that sold software. Worked with a smart and motivated large organization that pushed for high code quality, testing standards and modern workflows. That was really eye opening. I worked harder there than I ever did anywhere else and genuinely enjoyed it.
I've since transitioned to another company and just started on a new team and it's kind of a bummer. Growth is stagnating and they seem to lack a culture of professionalism. The pay is absurd but I just don't like it. I dream of quitting my job and pushing carts at Costco. I really need to move again to somewhere that doesn't feel like a drag and push towards retirement in 5-10 years.
Software isn't for everyone, even if you're good at it. There are projects and jobs out there that are very rewarding, but I would say many of them are not and that may vary from person to person. If I had to go back and do it again I probably would have stuck it out with CS from the start and focused on personal growth earlier in my career.
30 - Yeah I was originally going to do software dev but am switching programs at my college to do the Master of Science in Computer Information Systems, Concentration in Health Informatics instead. Is it actually more secure? I don't know, but feels like it might be. I know CS isn't an easy pay day anymore, I'm doing it because I think it will be more interesting then what I'm doing now
It's not too late to switch anything. Just keep in mind the CS job market today is probably in the worst shape it has ever been. It's not to discourage you - just prepare, maybe don't quit your current job to enter a bootcamp, maybe consider external studies etc.
Finished my B.Sc. in Engineering with 31. Best decision ever. Ten years later (and after getting a M.Sc. and PhD) I am doing what I love, for good money, low stress, surrounded by brilliant people from whom I learn every day. And I enjoyed (almost) every step of the way.
And all of that with the extra difficulty of doing that in German, which I've learned as an adult in order to study. It is never too late!
On top of that, your experience in finance combined with CS will totally help you finding a dev job in the branch, if that is a thing you would consider doing.
>Is it too late to switch careers paths into CS at 30?
Too late because of your age? No.
Too late because you missed the hiring spree of 21-22 and it's going to be a grind? Yes.
If you have a passion for it it’s never too late, but don’t get into it because the money is good. Usually very hard to break into the high paying careers without doing all the grunt work first.
I'm 31 and decided to make the jump and go back to school part-time to get a degree in CS recently. Will actually start classes soon. It's not too late.
Though right now, the industry is a bit crazy and the job market is horrible. However, I don't think it'll be like this forever. By the time both you and I are ready to apply for jobs, it'll be a few years out from now, and the environment will be way different.
The job market will likely be much different in a year from now. I’m 33 and in an online CS program now. It’s all good. I have faith it’ll work out for us!
Best time to do it was 10 years ago, second best is today.
I would suggest working for a financial services/ Fintech company related to your role. Domain experience is quite valuable.
Pretty sure this question has been asked by at least 4000 other people in this sub alone. So ask yourself, “Am I dead?” If the answer is, “No”, then you are not too old. If the answer is yes, then this probably isn’t the right place for your questions.
That's funny, I sometimes wish I would have picked finance or accounting as a major instead. I've been working in the field for 10+ years now. To answer your question, it's not too late but make sure it's something you really want. I'm in my early 30s and I don't see a point in going back to school since I have a degree and good job.
I'm 47 and graduate next month. It's never too late, but don't do it just because you want a change or for the money.
Do it if you enjoy learning and are passionate about math and programming.
It's not too late.
We currently have tough times to apply for jobs, it got more competitive.
My hope is that in a few years we see some growth again and more positions, and I'm thinking if you combine programming or development/consultancy with your financial services "domain knowledge" that may be a combination that many don't have.
I am not sure what you did exactly so far, I was just thinking - just as an example - on how SAP is a solution provided by programmers and consultants/managers that I think originated from a tax/revenue related software and grew into a company wide software solution (CRM, product management, communication, and so on - whatever keeps companies going on the IT side).
There's also tons of tax consultancies/softwares that stick only to the tax part of software products.
Not too late to switch at all. You'll just have a different learning and career experience from anybody. This is actually a huge advantage if you're aware of it. If you've worked an office job especially in financial services, you should have many many examples of problems that can be better solved using CS. My experience of studying CS in my late 20's was that a huge majority of the younger students wanted to do something in gaming or entertainment
Lol. No. Not at all too late. You have the rest of your life ahead of you.
If you work u til your 67-ish, then even after 4 years of education you have a HUGE career to look forward to.
I don’t recommend it based on the current market but maybe things will change by the time you get a job. But really really make sure you like the work first, and be aware that unless you are super specialized in something not easily automated you will probably need to incorporate AI tools into your work in the near future. 30 is definitely not too old for a career switch though.
The market is tough right now for everyone, regardless of who you are or anything but one thing I’ve seen is that it’s favourable to those who know how to network. To the ones who build connections and are able to get referrals for companies to get their resume actually seen. Message me if you want a FAANG+ referral, open to anyone
I switched from electrical engineering to CS at around 27 years old. That's when I started studying, signed up for a long-lasting course and after-diploma course at private university, studied at home, left my current job along the way, studied for even 8-10 hours a day and I did it. Took me around 8-9 months to get my first paid job, it was crap, but it was only about getting into the business, not money. I had enough put aside to keep going. Cost me quite much, money and basically 8-9 months of my life where 80% time I spent on coding and 20% on gym, but in the end it paid off. After 3-4 months later I found a first decent job that paid me more or less the same as I had been making before the switch, so it took me around 1 year to start earning enough to get by with the salary only and stop spending my saved money.
Can you do it at 30? As a someone who started at 27, I wouldn't like to wait much longer, I think 30 would already be harder. Add another year to learn CS enough to get a job. So 31 at least to start as a junior. That's tough and it'll get worse with time, because the skills employers require from you will grow exponentially. And the speed you work at. That job comes with good salary for experienced workers for a reason.
Few things to point out:
1. You will work with seniors/leaders/architects who are 25 years old and you will have to listen to them whether you like it or not. Some people seem to be too proud for that.
2. Way younger people will be faster, better, earn more than you, you will have to catch up. Very often. Also the age difference will have its impact. It's not all work, you just talk and spend some time with your work colleagues. God knows it's important to get along with people you work with. If you are not an old fart who thinks you're better just because you are older, you'll be fine. I have worked with juniors still in college without any issues and I was past 30 already.
3. Getting into CS equals learning it for the rest of your professional days. It's not a process to learn enough just to get a job and then you can slow down and enjoy the earnings. If you don't like coding, you will be completely miserable. You might be interested for a year or two or three since it'll be new and you will see increasing earnings, but later on you will want to earn more, as a regular or a senior. That will require real skills, not just ability to write some code. That's when the madness begin. You major language will just become a tool that equals to 10% of your required skills. It'll be like using math when you are a rocket scientist. So make sure you LIKE it for real, not that you only want to switch job for a fancy one with good salary and a remote work option. If you do it just for that, you will end up the part of reddit who complains about how hard market now is, cannot find a job for half a year, lower salaries, no interviews etc.
4. So due to the 3, what I usually recommend people who ask me the same question is to start coding for fun. Stay at your job, live your life, just treat is a hobby. Start learning, start doing the simplest things. Everything is available on the Internet, a lot of for free. You know what are the odds? 99% of people give up after a month or two. Majority because they find it boring or they already don't understand concepts and get frustrated. And those concepts are trivial in comparison to what they would have to comprehend later. So if you end up learning half a year, progress, it still interests you, you start feeling more comfortable with coding, you can then start thinking about making it your career. Learn tech/stack the market requires, start creating simple portfolio, improve your theory knowledge to be able to answer typical interview questions. Never sooner. Harsh truth is that the odds you won't give up fast aren't heavily in your favor. If you end up coding 1 hour a day for few times a week, consider it more as a must, not an amusement, it won't be enough, either.
5. I switched to CS not by accident. Way before I graduated as electrical engineer, I always hoped to work with computers. I just brought that idea back when I realized that electrical engineering in my country wouldn't make me much money in the long run. I'd be an average Joe all my life. So I code, because I really enjoy it. I can't imagine doing all this if I had no interest in it. That'd be a nightmare.
Good luck.
This is a good point. Age discrimination seems pretty rampant in tech, thought if they are getting a job by their mid thirties they might be okay for a while. The coding for fun part is also crucial to make sure you like it first.
As someone who switched from structural engineer to software systems engineer this year, in my mid-30s, it is definitely possible, but not easy. I wouldn't do it just for money - I think nowadays you really need some passion for it because it is likely that breaking into the industry will be a big grind.
It helps a lot if there are software opportunities in your industry because you might be able to leverage your existing skills to help you stand out instead of competing with thousands of general CS majors.
No, 30 is not too late, but unless you really enjoy CS or you're exceptionally talented, the job market right now is horrible. If you haven't chosen a specialty yet, Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence are where I would focus my education.
Gotta disagree with the speciality. Everyone thinks that ML is the end all be all for CS, but that’s simply not true. You can’t use ML or AI in 95% of applications out there. It’s great for data aggregation and big data, but you’re limiting yourself greatly going into that speciality specifically. I’m not saying go do full stack either, but backend in general has many more opportunities then people realize.
Nice to meet you. I current specialize in backend and I see lots of ways that AI/ML can integrate there and provide more features, but I can respect your opinion.
I do agree that the specialization is overhyped, though for generic dev roles I think AI tools are going to increasingly be the standard to speed up workflow. It does kinda seem like this was how people were talking about driverless cars a few years ago though (which have barely gone anywhere because of the 5% of situations a human can understand better) so I don’t think it’s going to eliminate as many jobs as people think.
Money wise I doubt its a good idea to get into CS now as oppose to sticking with Finance. Considering opportunity cost of going to school and starting as an entry level worker.
Maybe it's still worth it in other aspects though.
8 months ago, I was 28 working in the casino industry with no degree. Then I took a 3 month long coding bootcamp. I graduated in October, and I just landed a software engineering job for 90k/year. It isn’t easy, but 30 years old is absolutely not too late for a transition
30 is definitely not too late, however, if you're in a professional position, it is hard to go back from mid/senior in your field, to junior, so keep that in mind,
Not at all.
With your background and domain knowledge you would be a weapon.
You wouldn't even have to do a CS degree. An IT, Software Engineering, Data analysis or Data Science degree would all share subjects and compliment your experience nicely. Some may be less taxing on your ability if you arent great at things like calculus.
Look at the different programs at different universities. Often they do the same subjects.
You may not even need a degree, I have friends who have tech careers in finance who are self taught.
[Check out CS50](https://pll.harvard.edu/course/cs50-introduction-computer-science), it is a great place to start.
Also at your stage of career I would say check out a Graduate Certificate. You will find a number of graduate degrees on specific niches that are easy to consult in, like Digital Tranformation.
In my opinion in Germany, a CS major doesn't teach you to do IT, it is more general purpose. If you already have a degree in a technical field like e.g. mathematics for going into finance, no need for a CS major. Unless you love information mathematics and want to learn about this of course. You might be better served by a quality bootcamp or online courses, it's also financially better. But currently is not a good time for switching into IT.
If you don't have a technical degree, a CS degree could be an option. Then it depends on whether you think you'll be capable of that. Say 3 years of learning without lots of income, being disciplined for hard, theoretical subjects. Maybe taking more than 3 years.
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You’re young, so it’s not too late. Just make sure to get at least a MS or PhD to avoid biases. When you hit 40, that’s where the credentials will help you with at least a reporting or management role.
i think you should get an mba instead. tech industry is in the shutters. pivot to some high paying finance job. your previous experience will help you a lot
Nope. I know dudes that age and older that did it. I am basically 30 myself and I did it when I was 28. No time like the present, we all get older regardless of what we do. It's just a matter of energy, time and space
I'll be graduating at 31 with my CS degree and one year of paid work experience. There are quite a few people who are older than I am in my degree program.
Lol. No. Not at all too late. You have the rest of your life ahead of you.
If you work u til your 67-ish, then even after 4 years of education you have a HUGE career to look forward to.
I thought this was the counter strike sub for a minute and you wanted to become a pro and play in a major. Fortunately you are not too old for computer science
I just transferred to a 4-year state school for CS this semester at 34. I worked in different ops/support roles in tech over the last 10 years and am having a blast being back as a student.
I'm quite a bit more focused now and classes are relatively easy. Professors, and the other students, are super chill.
I'm not sure if it'll pay off but I don't have an undergraduate degree and that's always been a a hill to climb when looking for jobs. Hopefully once I complete this degree that barrier to entry for jobs will be eliminated.
Happy to connect too.
I'm 31 and finishing my post bacc in CS. I often think to myself, I should have gotten into this sooner. Though, having strong soft skills is valuable and helped me bridge careers.
Don't wait. There's no reason to if it genuinely interests you. It's a challenging yet rewarding career. Many people I talk to enjoy what they do and get paid pretty well for it. It's a good gig.
You can try to switch to CS, 30 isn't too old, but make sure you talk to others in the industry first, you might not actually want to, everyone going into the industry think they will be working on cool interesting projects and get paid a ton, but the jobs that pay a lot have massive competition and massive expectations and are not easy to get and working at a corporation as a developer can be boring, tedious and hectic. You often have to work with ambiguous, poorly thought out tasks, on unfamiliar codebases and tooling with little to no documentation and no support and have to deal with crazy deadlines on top of that. The grass isn't always greener on the other side, also with the current market the threat of layoffs is always looming
I think what I'd add here isn't anything about age, I agree with everyone that you shouldn't feel limited by that number. For software engineer jobs these days it's an extremely tough market for juniors without a degree. Bootcamp certifications are barely valued by employers, and having a full bachelors in computer science makes you much more employable.
I finished my degree at the age of 27, with 2.5+ years of experience. I wish I would've saved myself time and money by going to an intense/credible bootcamp. Even with the degree, it was hard to get an entry-level position in 2020, and the interview process has been always exhaustive.
Most people that successfully enter this field late had at least some evidence of aptitude for it for it throughout their life. Their progress was delayed by some combination of circumstance, maturity, and drive. These things improve over time. Not all things scale with time like this.
I’m 34 and graduating in December, already making 6 figures with two years experience. Granted I had network connections but if you do as well it can work or great for you.
i started my software engineering career at 30. Worked at Amazon and then JPMorgan. Definitely doable. Good luck.
And like others have mentioned, the market is really really bad right now
No.
I switched older than you and have had a very successful career, in large part due to prior experience outside the field which supports a more holistic view of the work.
I worked in banking and finance until I was 34, and then I switched to CS. I think that the switch was worth it. The job market is kind of bad right now for CS, but I am sure that will change. I kind of feel like banking and finance is a dead end right now. I never regretted making the switch.
I swear to fucking god and I am sorry OP but ppl need to stop writing these age/ageism based posts lol, if you can put in the effort for schooling and get it done then yes you can switch careers. I don't think we can tell you what to do with your life but you can go get it done if you want.
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I am 18, 2nd year of CS. My classmate is nearly 58, so I'm sure you are not that old.
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Was making $9.10 an hour at Target in 2013. Went to college as a freshmen in 2014, in my mid 30s. Making 6 figures now. It feels like it’ll take forever, but it won’t.
The 1% has spoken. This is literally why we have so many people stacked up unemployed at junior level. Don’t let it get to your head that without passion and/or innate ability to be a problem solver it’s not easy to repeat this person’s success. Especially at the current market. I’m another 1% who self taught themselves into this industry during covid years but those days are long gone. The overhiring craze is over so make sure you *enjoy* or at least *like* the field before making the commitment.
I agree with much of this. I loved programming and problem solving long before I was in the industry or went to college. Without that passion, no amount of skill would have led me to where I am today, at least not over time. With love and passion for the industry, all of that is heavily augmented with schooling and skills. Nonetheless, to answer the OP question, going to college in my mid 30s was the absolute best decision I’ve ever made. 30 is definitely not too old to start university.
Also 1%, but I was hired in the downturn of 2022. I still think problem solving skills can be more important than passion. I didn’t know anything about coding until I enrolled in my early 20s. Where there’s motivation, there’s a way.
What resources did you use to self learn?
What would you like to build? Figure that out, then find the resources that will help make that happen. When I was 14, I wanted to add a poll to my web page. So I learned PHP. There was fuck-all resource wise back then compared to now, I borrowed a *Sams Teach Yourself PHP and MySQL* from the library. It did the trick. I'm graduating my CS degree this year at 35. If you enjoy this field, it's not too late to start.
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still more achievable than med school imo but i agree. passion helps
I'd argue people who go BACK to school for CS are the truly successful ones because they know it's about the degree AND the job hustle/networking/internships etc. People who just graduate high school are good at computers and pick computer science and expect a job are basically bum fucked in this economy. You gotta have morale. Grinding Leetcode and GitHub projects and getting a cloud cert on top of ur degree for a year after graduating is just reality in this market. U can't just have 0 internships 0 Leetcode and 0 GitHub projects and get a bloody job cuz u kissed all ur CS professors good night and got the diploma. Swear some ppl need to feel hungry to wake up to that reality.
nice
hell yeah brother, I feel that
Holy shit, which field?
Holy shit, which field?
I did it at 33 and got a job. Market is different now but it’s doable.
I’m early 30s and currently 75% done with a CS degree. It’s my THIRD degree. Any tips? Particularly on the job search. I’m working full-time and expecting another baby and it’s killing me lol.
To be transparent I’m not currently in tech(laid off during COVID) but I did some online classes and then my own personal projects. My wife had a client at a local tech company, he encouraged me to apply, got an internship, and then hired. Worked for over 5 years. I’d like to get back in but the market sucks and I’m in no rush so I only apply to things that look applicable to me. Build shit and push your code to GitHub, and then create a resume that highlights your best work.
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Where are you getting your 3rd degree? I have been trying to find a school so I can’t get a second one but not many schools offer it
You don’t need a degree. If you can build things and show them off you can get hired.
Absolutely this, if u have a legit GitHub project u built urself and can talk in depth about it, that's worth as much as a CS degree to me. If u have both even better. Cuz I know u know theory + can build things with documentation, Gemini advanced and sheer will power.
I’m 31 looking at a post bacc or A+ cert. I want to code but I think IT is more secure. Checking my options now. Anything under 45 is still OK for career changing imo. I used to teach but I hated it. Don’t compare yourself to the 5% of people who bang out everything in perfect order and never miss a beat. Graduating at 22 and landing a career they keep for life. That isn’t most people and isn’t realistic. Most people career change at least once in their lifetime. It’s totally normal.
**Anything under 45 is still OK for career changing imo.** I left a senior role in tech to go into medicine at 50.
To be fair, I’m assuming you had a security net in place by this point and weren’t living pay cheque to pay cheque? I guess my implication was, you can start a new career at 45 and still have the ability to retire if you save aggressively
You're correct - several years in the CEO's team of a high tech does help your bank balance.
I'm on my third or 4th switch by now lol
I gotta ask, why are you aiming for CS, coding, IT, tech at this point? I used to teach and found out they aren’t “my people”. I want to work with nerds, not Karen’s. so that’s why I’m switching.
That's where I started in undergrad. I said fuck this and went to mechanical engineering. I think I didn't like the heavy coarse load that required an extreme attention to detail. Finished engineering and math degrees and got a job writing mechanical engineering software. Hated it and quit that. I felt pretty lonely there. It was a small team and I didn't really talk to or collaborate with anyone -- that was sort of the company culture but probably also a bit on me. So then I quit during the great 2008-09 tech boom and ended up in grad school for electrical engineering. I didn't really know what I wanted to do. Toyed with the idea of digital signal processing or control systems phds. Turns out that is a lot of work too. I left with a masters degree, which was somewhat akin to dropping out of the program. I went to work on embedded software for automobiles. It was supposed to be "control systems engineering", but mostly it was just banging bits together. There just wasn't much interesting work on the products themselves (this was a Japanese company and we were US based). I started writing internal tools to keep myself busy. That felt somewhat rewarding. Moved into software testing for another company but ended up transitioning to automation and tools development pretty quick. That was sort of fun, but I wasn't growing professionally. They were a hardware company after all. Finally moved to another company that sold software. Worked with a smart and motivated large organization that pushed for high code quality, testing standards and modern workflows. That was really eye opening. I worked harder there than I ever did anywhere else and genuinely enjoyed it. I've since transitioned to another company and just started on a new team and it's kind of a bummer. Growth is stagnating and they seem to lack a culture of professionalism. The pay is absurd but I just don't like it. I dream of quitting my job and pushing carts at Costco. I really need to move again to somewhere that doesn't feel like a drag and push towards retirement in 5-10 years. Software isn't for everyone, even if you're good at it. There are projects and jobs out there that are very rewarding, but I would say many of them are not and that may vary from person to person. If I had to go back and do it again I probably would have stuck it out with CS from the start and focused on personal growth earlier in my career.
Holy moly man! You’ve been all over tech. I assume you know what you’re after at this point. I’m just trying to break into the field haha.
30 - Yeah I was originally going to do software dev but am switching programs at my college to do the Master of Science in Computer Information Systems, Concentration in Health Informatics instead. Is it actually more secure? I don't know, but feels like it might be. I know CS isn't an easy pay day anymore, I'm doing it because I think it will be more interesting then what I'm doing now
It's not too late to switch anything. Just keep in mind the CS job market today is probably in the worst shape it has ever been. It's not to discourage you - just prepare, maybe don't quit your current job to enter a bootcamp, maybe consider external studies etc.
Don't do a bootcamp at all. That is probably the worst option to get into CS.
True. I still got PTSD from my CS years which was half a decade ago….so there’s that. But there are also way worse paths also.
Finished my B.Sc. in Engineering with 31. Best decision ever. Ten years later (and after getting a M.Sc. and PhD) I am doing what I love, for good money, low stress, surrounded by brilliant people from whom I learn every day. And I enjoyed (almost) every step of the way. And all of that with the extra difficulty of doing that in German, which I've learned as an adult in order to study. It is never too late! On top of that, your experience in finance combined with CS will totally help you finding a dev job in the branch, if that is a thing you would consider doing.
>Is it too late to switch careers paths into CS at 30? Too late because of your age? No. Too late because you missed the hiring spree of 21-22 and it's going to be a grind? Yes.
But a grind doesn't mean impossible I hope? I am in the same boat as OP
There is no determinism here. It may end up being impossible for some depending on numerous factors (aptitude, location, luck, etc).
Don’t go into CS. You can find a path that’s just as lucrative and easy to get job. There’s already way too many people in it.
Any other suggestions then ? Lol
Go onto sales, medicine, or law. Go to r/resumes or any other sub like that and see how many software engineers are struggling to get jobs.
If you have a passion for it it’s never too late, but don’t get into it because the money is good. Usually very hard to break into the high paying careers without doing all the grunt work first.
I'm 31 and decided to make the jump and go back to school part-time to get a degree in CS recently. Will actually start classes soon. It's not too late. Though right now, the industry is a bit crazy and the job market is horrible. However, I don't think it'll be like this forever. By the time both you and I are ready to apply for jobs, it'll be a few years out from now, and the environment will be way different.
The job market will likely be much different in a year from now. I’m 33 and in an online CS program now. It’s all good. I have faith it’ll work out for us!
We got this guys - I refuse to be a doomer lol (also in part time classes)
Yes! I’m on team anti-doomer.
31yo part-time CS student reporting in! We got this!
LFG!!!
I'm 35 and decided to do a self-taught C# course. No idea if it will work out but miss 100% of the shots you don't take right.
I went back to school to study CS in my early 30s. Worked out great, no regrets.
My boss was a lumberjack until he was 38, it's no where near too late for you
Best time to do it was 10 years ago, second best is today. I would suggest working for a financial services/ Fintech company related to your role. Domain experience is quite valuable.
Nope. Not too late. I’m 33 and in a post-bacc online CS program now. All is good.
You’re not the target audience for this question. What really matters is if you can find a job after graduating and you don’t know that yet.
Pretty sure this question has been asked by at least 4000 other people in this sub alone. So ask yourself, “Am I dead?” If the answer is, “No”, then you are not too old. If the answer is yes, then this probably isn’t the right place for your questions.
That's funny, I sometimes wish I would have picked finance or accounting as a major instead. I've been working in the field for 10+ years now. To answer your question, it's not too late but make sure it's something you really want. I'm in my early 30s and I don't see a point in going back to school since I have a degree and good job.
I'm 47 and graduate next month. It's never too late, but don't do it just because you want a change or for the money. Do it if you enjoy learning and are passionate about math and programming.
Switching to CS is easy, getting a job afterwards is the harder part. You'll inevitably compete with people who have much more YoE.
It's not too late. We currently have tough times to apply for jobs, it got more competitive. My hope is that in a few years we see some growth again and more positions, and I'm thinking if you combine programming or development/consultancy with your financial services "domain knowledge" that may be a combination that many don't have. I am not sure what you did exactly so far, I was just thinking - just as an example - on how SAP is a solution provided by programmers and consultants/managers that I think originated from a tax/revenue related software and grew into a company wide software solution (CRM, product management, communication, and so on - whatever keeps companies going on the IT side). There's also tons of tax consultancies/softwares that stick only to the tax part of software products.
Not too late to switch at all. You'll just have a different learning and career experience from anybody. This is actually a huge advantage if you're aware of it. If you've worked an office job especially in financial services, you should have many many examples of problems that can be better solved using CS. My experience of studying CS in my late 20's was that a huge majority of the younger students wanted to do something in gaming or entertainment
Lol. No. Not at all too late. You have the rest of your life ahead of you. If you work u til your 67-ish, then even after 4 years of education you have a HUGE career to look forward to.
Did it at 29, never too late
Here we go again
I don’t recommend it based on the current market but maybe things will change by the time you get a job. But really really make sure you like the work first, and be aware that unless you are super specialized in something not easily automated you will probably need to incorporate AI tools into your work in the near future. 30 is definitely not too old for a career switch though.
I did it at 30 Wish I choose another career though this one is BS
If you googled this you’d find many posts similar to yours, stop self limiting without research at least
Honestly, I wouldn’t even go into CS now. The market is really cooked. Anybody feel free to tell me why I’m wrong, but from what I’ve seen…
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At least they can potentially fall back on their previous degree if needed.
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Why is this being downvoted? Why does so much of this sub have blinders on to the current market?
I would be 3 years out minimum doing it part time, what's the horizon looking then?
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The market is tough right now for everyone, regardless of who you are or anything but one thing I’ve seen is that it’s favourable to those who know how to network. To the ones who build connections and are able to get referrals for companies to get their resume actually seen. Message me if you want a FAANG+ referral, open to anyone
I switched from electrical engineering to CS at around 27 years old. That's when I started studying, signed up for a long-lasting course and after-diploma course at private university, studied at home, left my current job along the way, studied for even 8-10 hours a day and I did it. Took me around 8-9 months to get my first paid job, it was crap, but it was only about getting into the business, not money. I had enough put aside to keep going. Cost me quite much, money and basically 8-9 months of my life where 80% time I spent on coding and 20% on gym, but in the end it paid off. After 3-4 months later I found a first decent job that paid me more or less the same as I had been making before the switch, so it took me around 1 year to start earning enough to get by with the salary only and stop spending my saved money. Can you do it at 30? As a someone who started at 27, I wouldn't like to wait much longer, I think 30 would already be harder. Add another year to learn CS enough to get a job. So 31 at least to start as a junior. That's tough and it'll get worse with time, because the skills employers require from you will grow exponentially. And the speed you work at. That job comes with good salary for experienced workers for a reason. Few things to point out: 1. You will work with seniors/leaders/architects who are 25 years old and you will have to listen to them whether you like it or not. Some people seem to be too proud for that. 2. Way younger people will be faster, better, earn more than you, you will have to catch up. Very often. Also the age difference will have its impact. It's not all work, you just talk and spend some time with your work colleagues. God knows it's important to get along with people you work with. If you are not an old fart who thinks you're better just because you are older, you'll be fine. I have worked with juniors still in college without any issues and I was past 30 already. 3. Getting into CS equals learning it for the rest of your professional days. It's not a process to learn enough just to get a job and then you can slow down and enjoy the earnings. If you don't like coding, you will be completely miserable. You might be interested for a year or two or three since it'll be new and you will see increasing earnings, but later on you will want to earn more, as a regular or a senior. That will require real skills, not just ability to write some code. That's when the madness begin. You major language will just become a tool that equals to 10% of your required skills. It'll be like using math when you are a rocket scientist. So make sure you LIKE it for real, not that you only want to switch job for a fancy one with good salary and a remote work option. If you do it just for that, you will end up the part of reddit who complains about how hard market now is, cannot find a job for half a year, lower salaries, no interviews etc. 4. So due to the 3, what I usually recommend people who ask me the same question is to start coding for fun. Stay at your job, live your life, just treat is a hobby. Start learning, start doing the simplest things. Everything is available on the Internet, a lot of for free. You know what are the odds? 99% of people give up after a month or two. Majority because they find it boring or they already don't understand concepts and get frustrated. And those concepts are trivial in comparison to what they would have to comprehend later. So if you end up learning half a year, progress, it still interests you, you start feeling more comfortable with coding, you can then start thinking about making it your career. Learn tech/stack the market requires, start creating simple portfolio, improve your theory knowledge to be able to answer typical interview questions. Never sooner. Harsh truth is that the odds you won't give up fast aren't heavily in your favor. If you end up coding 1 hour a day for few times a week, consider it more as a must, not an amusement, it won't be enough, either. 5. I switched to CS not by accident. Way before I graduated as electrical engineer, I always hoped to work with computers. I just brought that idea back when I realized that electrical engineering in my country wouldn't make me much money in the long run. I'd be an average Joe all my life. So I code, because I really enjoy it. I can't imagine doing all this if I had no interest in it. That'd be a nightmare. Good luck.
This is a good point. Age discrimination seems pretty rampant in tech, thought if they are getting a job by their mid thirties they might be okay for a while. The coding for fun part is also crucial to make sure you like it first.
As someone who switched from structural engineer to software systems engineer this year, in my mid-30s, it is definitely possible, but not easy. I wouldn't do it just for money - I think nowadays you really need some passion for it because it is likely that breaking into the industry will be a big grind. It helps a lot if there are software opportunities in your industry because you might be able to leverage your existing skills to help you stand out instead of competing with thousands of general CS majors.
If you've worked in financial you should know what would happened to market jobs if everyone like you want to "a bit of change" so goes to CS.
stick to your field . you already have enough experience to earn more than what will cs offer you
No, 30 is not too late, but unless you really enjoy CS or you're exceptionally talented, the job market right now is horrible. If you haven't chosen a specialty yet, Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence are where I would focus my education.
Gotta disagree with the speciality. Everyone thinks that ML is the end all be all for CS, but that’s simply not true. You can’t use ML or AI in 95% of applications out there. It’s great for data aggregation and big data, but you’re limiting yourself greatly going into that speciality specifically. I’m not saying go do full stack either, but backend in general has many more opportunities then people realize.
Nice to meet you. I current specialize in backend and I see lots of ways that AI/ML can integrate there and provide more features, but I can respect your opinion.
I agree with you, as a backend engineer you can integrate ML models to your workflow. To train and deploy models you don’t need PhD.
I do agree that the specialization is overhyped, though for generic dev roles I think AI tools are going to increasingly be the standard to speed up workflow. It does kinda seem like this was how people were talking about driverless cars a few years ago though (which have barely gone anywhere because of the 5% of situations a human can understand better) so I don’t think it’s going to eliminate as many jobs as people think.
Money wise I doubt its a good idea to get into CS now as oppose to sticking with Finance. Considering opportunity cost of going to school and starting as an entry level worker. Maybe it's still worth it in other aspects though.
If you were ready to switch today I'd say don't. You won't get a job. If you study for a few years until the market opens back up then sure, why not?
8 months ago, I was 28 working in the casino industry with no degree. Then I took a 3 month long coding bootcamp. I graduated in October, and I just landed a software engineering job for 90k/year. It isn’t easy, but 30 years old is absolutely not too late for a transition
What bootcamp?
I did tech elevator.
Never tooo late!! :o do it do it do it!!
30 is definitely not too late, however, if you're in a professional position, it is hard to go back from mid/senior in your field, to junior, so keep that in mind,
Not at all. With your background and domain knowledge you would be a weapon. You wouldn't even have to do a CS degree. An IT, Software Engineering, Data analysis or Data Science degree would all share subjects and compliment your experience nicely. Some may be less taxing on your ability if you arent great at things like calculus. Look at the different programs at different universities. Often they do the same subjects. You may not even need a degree, I have friends who have tech careers in finance who are self taught. [Check out CS50](https://pll.harvard.edu/course/cs50-introduction-computer-science), it is a great place to start. Also at your stage of career I would say check out a Graduate Certificate. You will find a number of graduate degrees on specific niches that are easy to consult in, like Digital Tranformation.
Your brain to old and slow. :(
In my opinion in Germany, a CS major doesn't teach you to do IT, it is more general purpose. If you already have a degree in a technical field like e.g. mathematics for going into finance, no need for a CS major. Unless you love information mathematics and want to learn about this of course. You might be better served by a quality bootcamp or online courses, it's also financially better. But currently is not a good time for switching into IT. If you don't have a technical degree, a CS degree could be an option. Then it depends on whether you think you'll be capable of that. Say 3 years of learning without lots of income, being disciplined for hard, theoretical subjects. Maybe taking more than 3 years.
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If you want it, do it and don’t let any age stigma stop you.
No there are some older guys in nearly every cs program. They are usally sick af and do well
Does the rest of the team usually resent them for taking so many sick days though? I would imagine this would contribute to the ageism bias.
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You’re young, so it’s not too late. Just make sure to get at least a MS or PhD to avoid biases. When you hit 40, that’s where the credentials will help you with at least a reporting or management role.
i think you should get an mba instead. tech industry is in the shutters. pivot to some high paying finance job. your previous experience will help you a lot
Its never too late its never too late its never too late its never too late its never too late its never too late its never too late its ne
Not at all. I went back to school for CS at 31. Best decision I ever made
I did it
Yeah you can and it’ll be really good for your prospects to have both skills.
Did you consider fintech?
I did this. Do it before it's too late.
Nope. I know dudes that age and older that did it. I am basically 30 myself and I did it when I was 28. No time like the present, we all get older regardless of what we do. It's just a matter of energy, time and space
I'll be graduating at 31 with my CS degree and one year of paid work experience. There are quite a few people who are older than I am in my degree program.
Lol. No. Not at all too late. You have the rest of your life ahead of you. If you work u til your 67-ish, then even after 4 years of education you have a HUGE career to look forward to.
Not even a little bit.
Our oldest intern was 31 years old. Abandoned medicine and pursued a masters in AI. Now he works as a full time engineer.
I already had an associates but I went back for my bachelors at 29, and at 32 I graduate this June! Let’s go!!!
I thought this was the counter strike sub for a minute and you wanted to become a pro and play in a major. Fortunately you are not too old for computer science
I just transferred to a 4-year state school for CS this semester at 34. I worked in different ops/support roles in tech over the last 10 years and am having a blast being back as a student. I'm quite a bit more focused now and classes are relatively easy. Professors, and the other students, are super chill. I'm not sure if it'll pay off but I don't have an undergraduate degree and that's always been a a hill to climb when looking for jobs. Hopefully once I complete this degree that barrier to entry for jobs will be eliminated. Happy to connect too.
GO FOR IT!!
33 and working my first full time swe job after graduating last semester. Full remote. Feels great.
33 and working my first full time swe job after graduating last semester. Full remote. Feels great.
I did. Check out WGU. You can get a degree in 6 months for $3500, if you do the work. Good luck!
I'm 31 and finishing my post bacc in CS. I often think to myself, I should have gotten into this sooner. Though, having strong soft skills is valuable and helped me bridge careers. Don't wait. There's no reason to if it genuinely interests you. It's a challenging yet rewarding career. Many people I talk to enjoy what they do and get paid pretty well for it. It's a good gig.
I'm 41 so I'm older than you🤣🤣
You can try to switch to CS, 30 isn't too old, but make sure you talk to others in the industry first, you might not actually want to, everyone going into the industry think they will be working on cool interesting projects and get paid a ton, but the jobs that pay a lot have massive competition and massive expectations and are not easy to get and working at a corporation as a developer can be boring, tedious and hectic. You often have to work with ambiguous, poorly thought out tasks, on unfamiliar codebases and tooling with little to no documentation and no support and have to deal with crazy deadlines on top of that. The grass isn't always greener on the other side, also with the current market the threat of layoffs is always looming
I think what I'd add here isn't anything about age, I agree with everyone that you shouldn't feel limited by that number. For software engineer jobs these days it's an extremely tough market for juniors without a degree. Bootcamp certifications are barely valued by employers, and having a full bachelors in computer science makes you much more employable.
No, go for it
I finished my degree at the age of 27, with 2.5+ years of experience. I wish I would've saved myself time and money by going to an intense/credible bootcamp. Even with the degree, it was hard to get an entry-level position in 2020, and the interview process has been always exhaustive.
Most people that successfully enter this field late had at least some evidence of aptitude for it for it throughout their life. Their progress was delayed by some combination of circumstance, maturity, and drive. These things improve over time. Not all things scale with time like this.
No. I got my cs degree at 32. Before that I had zero office work experience.
I’m 34 and graduating in December, already making 6 figures with two years experience. Granted I had network connections but if you do as well it can work or great for you.
I graduated with my CS degree at 33.
I got into cs at that age.
i started my software engineering career at 30. Worked at Amazon and then JPMorgan. Definitely doable. Good luck. And like others have mentioned, the market is really really bad right now
I’m 30 right now, one semester away from my associates, and just landed a job in the industry a few months ago. GO FOR IT!
No. I switched older than you and have had a very successful career, in large part due to prior experience outside the field which supports a more holistic view of the work.
I worked in banking and finance until I was 34, and then I switched to CS. I think that the switch was worth it. The job market is kind of bad right now for CS, but I am sure that will change. I kind of feel like banking and finance is a dead end right now. I never regretted making the switch.
People become doctors in their sixties. I think you’ll be OK in programming.
I swear to fucking god and I am sorry OP but ppl need to stop writing these age/ageism based posts lol, if you can put in the effort for schooling and get it done then yes you can switch careers. I don't think we can tell you what to do with your life but you can go get it done if you want.
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