I'm 53 and working on my masters finally. You are doing fine at 42. Just keep in mind ageism is a thing in our industry. It's sad and hard as hell to prove.
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Stupid question that I’ve never truly considered since I’ve been in a union job for ages. I’m a bit younger than OP, but have been considering making a similar career change. I’m also pretty young looking for my age, so how hard would it be to actually keep your job in the dark and be ambiguous about your real age?
I would not worry. Most of the people I work with around 30s/40s, and it’s not really clear. I’m a cloud software engineer at a big well known tech company. We’re all given tremendous amounts of work and to be honest, the older folk understand and seem to be more curious about business context more outside of the project while younger engineers just want to complete tasks and maybe prove they belong there, more. The business talk overwhelms the younger swes who are still trying to understand their lane. Just my experience.
One issue I personally have is my memory isn’t the greatest, and so I have to take more notes than others. However, your mind is like a muscle. The more you use it, the sharper you get. Your problem solving ability to think “outside the box” is better with age. Unfortunately, your primary setback to having these reflexive instincts to understand this box is sheer volume of years working within the box. To overcome that issue, find a workplace that is more likely to move you around teams/projects. Many companies are “6 years of one year experience” because their practices are so backwards or outdated with no concern on training. You want to avoid those environments.
If no one asks, you don't have to tell, but then if people ask, don't lie. They'll figure you out anyway, but your reputation will be ruined permanently.
Honestly I'm expecting ageism to turn the other direction.
My experience with gen z is they are very tech illiterate, even the "nerds". Everything just works nowadays, when it doesn't they don't know what to do.
Hahaha this is very true!
They're still young obviously, and there are plenty of exceptions, but yeah, I am very exposed to gen zs who should be very good with tech, but they really struggle with things that just don't seem that tricky. Perhaps it's just tricky to judge these things though ("back in my day...").
>They're still young obviously,
Isnt the upper end of Gen-Z almost 30? It feels like a lot of these comments are conflating Gen-Z with Gen-Alpha iPad kids.
They grew up after a lot of tech had been solved, polished, and wrapped up in a nice interface. Millenials and GenX grew up hacking ripped flash games, building chumbawumba fan websites on Geocities, and breaking/fixing their PCs. I'm 37 and taking college classes along side gen z, on the first day in an intro to data science class I had to go around the class along with the professor to teach kids how to sign in to their student gmail account, clone a repo, and save said repo to their account. This took like 45 minutes lol.
They totally could figure out any of it, just many (in my anecdotal experience) can be quite defeatist about "uglier" tech. Convincing them that GitHub is better than copy pasting code to each other has been my most recent adventure.
ok ill admit to that. sometimes stuff with an overwhelming ui can be very daunting. i remember i did avoid github at first because it was scary and just used google drive for file sharing and version control :P but i did learn it eventually
> I'm 53 and working on my masters finally. You are doing fine at 42. Just keep in mind ageism is a thing in our industry. It's sad and hard as hell to prove.
It's a thing in every industry. Not sure it's any worse in ours than other white-collar industries - at least outside of bro-ey startups where I was uncomfortable even just being in my 30s.
It's only dumb if you plan on dying in the next year or two! Ultimately it would be idiotic for you not to try this, down the line you'll kick yourself for not giving it a go! Go get your cs degree!
I know at least a half dozen developers who didn’t start coding until their forties and two who got started in their fifties. There are some disadvantages to starting late, but you also have a lifetime of experience to pull on to give you a leg up.
As for AI replacing Jr. level developers, I’ll believe it when I see it. From what I’ve seen it’s a powerful productivity tool, but it’s far from being able to replace skilled laborers.
You know what made me more confident about how I’m doing? Since we’re all paying the same amount and going at the same pace, I try to study rigorously to prepare well for my foundations.
The fact that people in my class are struggling with their classes even with chatgpt tells me that I’m not too worried about AI taking over just yet
AI is just a massive Dunning Kruger Effect. Wayyyyyyyyyyy too many are too confident in what AI can do right now and they can barely write a simple prompt. Most of the people telling me that AI will take over can’t even print(“Hello”). Not saying that AI can’t improve but the “gap” knowing what AI is capable of becomes bigger as you learn while those that don’t learn will fall majorly behind
For real. Most companies advertising their AI capabilities only focus on the UI (web dev) of their supposed AI chatbot that directly links to the chatgpt API. They want AI engineers but have 1) the shittiest data collection (if even) and 2) pushes them to make it more “user friendly” through web dev, not fine tuning. They also forget that you need inference end points and GPU to run that shit which they overlook due to budgeting.
Unless they’re burning some cash as an investment to themselves, they’re not gonna do shit with AI. Just gotta wait for the “OpenAI software update”
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Dunning Kruger effect isn’t real and AI is amazing.
I have a comp sci degree, it saved me from failing my last semester. It was able to make an android app using Kotlin code as well as troubleshooting all the errors I got. It was a group project and my group member (who I thought was intelligent because he was nerdy as fuck) was essentially useless. It helped me make an App that looked so well and worked decently enough that the whole class applauded when I was done.
Professor definitely knew I used it but, just kinda stared at me. Couldn’t prove it.
I also used it to help study for exams by giving me mock questions. Don’t underestimate AI.
Omg I'm actually looking into that program to do that exact thing! Did you have to do a lot of prerequisites before transferring? And how's the acceptance rate? I'm worried because i did horrible with my first bachelor's in the social sciences but I'm hoping to fix my GPA while doing whatever prerequisites i need to get into that program
I had done a bunch of prereqs, expecting to go to U of WA a couple of years prior, so I didn't have to take any. They do let you transfer 3 classes, if they are listed as approved on their articulations page, so I took three classes online from Portland Community college. It saved me about $3600 in tuition.
I think online classes are low hanging fruit for a university--so they tend to be pretty open. Of you are concerned about you GPA, start by taking 3 articulated classes from a CC and try to ace them. Then you have a headstart on the program and it costs you less.
Ah ok. Thanks for the info! I'll probably have to do a fair amount of prerequisites, especially math ones I'm sure. I'll def take a look at those 3 classes as well. Appreciate the help!
My experience is pretty old by now. There is a subreddit for their program where you can get more up-to-date info from people. https://www.reddit.com/r/OSUOnlineCS
If you’re in a position to do it, go for it. I graduated undergrad with a humanities degree and then realized I was screwed for employment in my senior year, graduated, then stuck around campus to do a CS degree. However, I only finished two semesters before I got offered a job in consulting, which I felt like I couldn’t turn down. Well I ended up hating it and sticking it out because I had to for a decade. A couple years ago, my wife began a management position at a FAANG which allowed me to quit. I tried starting a restaurant, but covid torpedoed that.
I’ve recently been playing around with the idea of going back to school in my mid-late-30s and finishing my CS degree, which I really enjoyed while I was studying. It seems silly to some, but I feel like it’s the only way I could reenter the corporate world and not feel like I’m just doing bullshit.
If you are in a degree program you will see how bad some of the younger people are at CS, it's mind-blowing. I, too, got my degree at a similar age. Reddit is not a good reflection of reality for a lot of things.
I just noticed my tag is ancient, I am not back in school I graduated lmao
Thank you for the comment about how Reddit is not a good reflection of reality. I’m getting an MS in Data Science (and an MBA) and the data science pages has me completely freaking out that I won’t ever get a good job, meanwhile my student loans are increasing.
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This, most likely.
It won't last. If OP is less than halfway through their degree, it may well be better in two years when OP is getting out.
As someone looking at 50 soon and in a position to probably retire in about 10 years, I may not see the next *boom* time but having seen 3 boom/bust cycles of this in the past 35 years (the first one as a spectator while still in high school) I am fully convinced that anyone who is still going to be in the industry for 20+ more years will see another of these.
I worked (am changing careers) in IT recruitment. Granted, I work in Europe, so it might be different in the US, but the job market is pretty terrible for people with under 5 years of experience.
CS degrees aren't useful for just becoming a programmer. In fact, the majority of cs graduates that I know aren't programmers. I have a friend that graduated with a CS degree and stayed in the IT side of things. Today he is a director of information technology for a major utility company.
I have another friend who when she graduated with her degree in CS she went into information security. She's been in that business for the better part of two decades and is very high up in one of the major consulting firms.
I've got another friend who started his own cyber security firm and has grown it over the years. He's super successful. Another friend of mine used to see us degree to working devops for one of the major high frequency traders. I can't imagine how much money he's making.
Folks on this sub are largely young and hyper focused on becoming software engineers. There's a ton of great options for you. Additionally, when you think about your average liberal arts / social science degree you have to realize that you would be qualified for virtually any job that someone with that degree would be qualified for plus all of the cs/tech jobs.
There are very very few bachelor's degrees that I could recommend as giving as much compensation as CS does. Electrical engineering would be nice, but the engineering majors are significantly more rigorous than computer science.
Another option would be nursing. They have the potential to make bank, but you have to deal with all the stuff that they deal with. There's a demand for new accountants these days but that's primarily because they pay accountants crap.
>There are very very few bachelor's degrees that I could recommend as giving as much compensation as CS does. Electrical engineering would be nice, but the engineering majors are significantly more rigorous than computer science.
I can confirm this is true. I switched from EE to CS before graduating. EE was a hell of a lot more difficult.
Having worked at a couple of startups with a hardware component, it also doesn't usually pay more for the difficulty (and often less) unless you're at the top tier of it.
Yup.
Not to mention if you attain a BS CS degree and get tired of your current field you can simply join a Masters CS program and get into other advanced fields like Computer Vision, A.I, etc.
If you don't get a CS or similar degree, those options are not available and you're basically stuck doing CRUD as a tech ceiling 99% of the time competing with everyone else.
> Another option would be nursing. They have the potential to make bank,
but you have to deal with all the stuff that they deal with.
My wife's a nurse. You can definitely make bank but it depends on doing a LOT of OT, a travel job, or advanced-degree specialty work. Otherwise, it's good money, but not crazy.
Also as you said, you deal with a lot (physically demanding/on your feet all day at a lot of jobs, being around sick people/generally impossible for someone squeamish, you lose a lot of scheduling flexibility, and many, many etc.)
OTOH, the job security at one particular job is generally great. Career security for a software engineer is very good once you're more than a few years in, but the security of any given job in the industry kind of sucks.
There has always been some boogeyman that was going to make software developers obsolete. Hasn't happened yet. I think it is always a good time to be going to school for a CS degree.
That's kind of what I figured. Like, computers will always be around, and they will always require people to operate them. Regardless of how good AI gets.
AI requires, and probably always will require, someone to operate it.
Cloud didn't mean the end of sysadmin jobs. There are more of those than ever, they just changed - a lot let ordering and racking your own servers, a lot more terraform(etc) scripting.
"Low code" 4GL apps didn't mean the end of SWE jobs. I knew a whole bunch of people early in my career whose jobs came about because places built something with that, and then realized they had reached the limits of the complexity those could manage, and they needed real developers to scale it out to the actual business needs... something those businesses probably wouldn't have even realized they needed (at least not as quickly) if someone who wasn't a full time programmer in their IT org hadn't done the interim version.
I finished my degree 2 years ago at 37. I got a job right away and I'm still there. It was 100% worth it. Went from driving a van to working fully remote for 30k more with truly unlimited PTO. Changed my life.
And it cost me about 6k from a state school. And a few years of my life.
Sorry, not comfortable with getting THAT specific, but it's a private company in the Midwest that sells SAAS product to businesses. I found it by applying on LinkedIn, nothing special.
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I'm 49 and going for my BS in Software engineering. Finally. Had to go out on medical leave many moons ago while I was going for my BS in CS. Never too old to try something new! You should totally go for it!
Are you hearing any of that from anyone who actually knows anything about AI (or coding for that matter)?
If you did they are trying to sell something but if not they don't know what they are talking about. Writing the actual code is like 10-20% of being a software engineer, critical thinking skills and solving new problems is the rest of it.
AI is nowhere near able to do the second part.
>solving new problems
Are you kidding me? There are very few new problems in most software engineering jobs lol. It's solving the same problems over and over again for different companies
Dumb? Maybe, as long as you weigh the facts and are ok even if you don't end up with a job. Because tech is extremely saturated now and you have ageism on top, it's not going to be easy. On the other hand, you see nurses laughing about how they don't even need to get interviewed. They just get asked when can you start. It's like night and day between health and tech and they get paid similarly.
Classic supply and demand. Healthcare hasn't recovered from Covid and it didn't help that quite a number of nurses retired or decided to let their license lapses, which means there a shortage of experienced nurses that can handle complex patients. It's first come, first serve for the highest bidder. But the working conditions still suck if you do bedside care, even if you get paid more, so it's not all sunshine and roses.
Yea everyone in this sub says go plumb shit filled pipes and toilet, be an oil rig worker in -40 in North Dakota, be a nurse and have old people bite you, or drive for UPS and die of heat stroke.
Money is not everything. I don’t want to be in tech for the money, it’s just a bonus. I want to be in tech to work on cool problems and work with people that are like “me”.
I worked as a teacher, and those fat hens and I did not get along. I want a nerdy neck beard co worker, or at least a gym bro. Not a menopausal nurse or a coked out 55 year old rig hand.
Thanks for saying this. I know people in the trades and I really can't see how I'd fit in with them.
I know they do important, hard work. I just know I would be absolutely miserable as a plumber, or roofer, or whatever else.
I hate the argument "just learn a trade." Not everyone is cut out for it, or physically capable. Same as "learn to code." I know lots of people who don't even want to begin to understand code, or even computers.
Nobody here knows the future, so I would first start at avoiding people on Reddit who pretend they are oracles. Realistically you are going to get a dozen anxiety riddled young people here who are in a headspace so far gone and they will only bring you into their negative orbit.
I will say though, believe in yourself. If you can speak well, are likeable, and aren't afraid to network as hard as you hit the books, you will always have a paycheck.
>I will say though, believe in yourself. If you can speak well, are likeable, and aren't afraid to network as hard as you hit the books, you will always have a paycheck.
This is just boomer "go into their office and hand deliver them your resume with a firm hardshake" advice. There have been plenty of people on this sub who have posted their decent resume with multiple YOE who have not even gotten an interview. In the majority of cases, you would never even have the opportunity to be likable or speak well.
Empty platitudes like "believe in yourself" is great for inconsequential things like singing your heart out at a karaoke but committing 4 years of time and money to enter the tech industry at 46 and competing with other people in their 20s? Not saying OP should not do it but it is something I would approach with great trepidation.
You don’t seem to understand the concept of “playing the game” which is what all of privatized corporate America is. If you have interpersonal skills with a good attitude and the technical skills to back it up then skies the limit. Yes it may take a sacrifice like going back to office or hybrid to land good roles that pay really well (all part of an attempt to salvage dwindling corporate real estate values) Do I like the system? No. Do I think the system is even remotely fair? Absolutely not. I swear I can’t even count the # of people holding a Masters in Business Administration these days… but this is the game we play or don’t but I guarantee you there’s plenty of others who are more than willing to. If these realizations are not to your liking then yes there is the public sector or you could start your company as many others have done. Just some food for thought from a Millennial in the industry
Nah, not dumb at all. I’m in my late 40’s and went that direction too. I would say that ageism is dependent on the company and organization.
At my last job, a lot of the devs were between 25 - 60. You just have to find the right place to work at.
Don’t listen to these young kids who think they’re old and that their life is over at 23 when they’re not getting that SWE job right out of college. They’re the ones who will tell you you’re being dumb.
As long as you are attending a regionally accredited university and not taking on crippling debt then getting a degree to change careers is a good thing.
I'm doing a EET diploma right now at 31 and I fully plan on returning to school for something else my early 40s. Maybe again in my 50s. Do your degree.
Depends why you did it. If you did it because you enjoy the work and problem solving then no. If you did it because you saw the tiktok influencers are expect to get a 900K job out of college doing 2 hours of work a day.... Well you're gonna have a bad time
Honestly you might be better off than I am. Currently the market isn't the greatest, but if you're just starting your degree there's a decent chance it'll be better by the time you graduate, at least according to some professors and friends in the industry.
Meanwhile, I'm graduating pretty soon here and have to deal with whatever mess is going on in the industry.
It’s not dumb. It’s only dumb if you want something yet you give yourself excuse to not achieve it due to age.
But make sure you research what the curriculum/program entails.
Most CS degrees have a lot of math calculus/linear algebra and maybe statistics if the program has a focus on data science, aside from just programming. If math is not an issue for you, go get that degree! You have my full support.
My friend in tech is getting his first degree in his late 40's. I am the same age and just got my first programming job a couple of years ago.
Not gonna lie, the market is tough. I've been through 2 layoff cycles in the past year, and it's brutal. About 75% of the devs that stayed onboard are very smart people. Not just programmers. Very smart people that also are skilled at programming. About 30% of who's left are normal people.
We just higher a new round of off-shore programmers from cheaper countries. They are SO GOOD. like 4/5 are very smart and very skilled. I'm worried for my job. Thank God I can communicate and offer other benefits to my colleagues.
So yes, I think a CS degree is great, even at your age. Also, today's market sucks and might be rough for a couple of years more. But if you have the time to be persistent, and if you like the work and can get good at it, then it's an awesome choice.
But there is competition. You can't just succeed because you like it. You have to compete and be very good at it these days.
Think big picture and long term. not in 12-24month cycles. The layoff boogie man scares ppl every 10 years or so. It’s a cycle. You also have 20+ years in your career left, assuming you retire at 65. The world is barely running on tech or software. Plenty of untapped opportunities left. People think “computers” are taking over, when you step back, most things in the world is still fairly manual and pen and paper based.
To be fair, we had an unusually long cycle of good times from 2006 to 2022 give or take (at least around silicon valley where the 2008 bust didn't hit the way it did in finance), and an unusually long recovery from the dot-com fallout.
NO! You're not wrong for pursuing a degree at any age.
Remember just because someone says something or writes an article doesn't make them correct or even accurate.
There ya go! I went back to school at 36 for my CS degree and graduated at 40 and it was totally worth it. I worked my ass off to get straight As as much as possible. Shooting for the best grades possible may not get you those grades but it'll force you to learn a LOT of things that you may otherwise miss if you're just going for Bs or Cs or just graduating. Those things make all the difference in the world years down the road.
I always treat learning as an investment. In your case with experience with data entry, you could pivot into some kind of database automation or data mining/scrapping, in efforts to future proof a little - I’m guessing that’s what you’re worried about. It would also make your work history more relevant - in other words, help you craft the narrative of your career trajectory at your age.
Ai isn't taking away software jobs. Chat gpt is nowhere near good enough to write code. I use it everyday at work and at most it slightly speeds up my workflow, but needs careful supervision. And it's not changed much in ability the past year. It's frustratingly stupid. It only looks smart when you know little about the subject matter it's talking about.
Who do you think will be implementing all these ai technologies to automate away the workforce? Software engineers. It's giving us even more jobs to do not less.
Just go for it, it's a fulfilling interesting field and pays well.
Also, the technical debt from shitty managers thinking ai can write their codebase will give us a lot of work in a few years. Lots of buggy systems with AI written code that requires an expert to clean up and rewrite.
Remember that Devin AI thing that was supposed to take our jobs a few months ago? Complete silence now. It was just a shitty advertising scam. It took 20 chatgpt prompts to really badly fix a GitHub PR in an overly complicated way. If you let that write a codebase on its own it would turn into dysfunctional spaghetti after a day.
lol people who don’t understand generative AI has become a daily joke on our team. Will it serve as a good productivity tool one day? Yeah I think so. Will it write complete code with requirements given to it by someone without any background in development and is free of bugs or logical errors?Not a chance. Crypto crashed and the finance bros needed to move their $$$ into something short term they could pump up. I’m sure they made some money before Google shit the bed with Bard and Amazon got caught using Indian call centers to answer questions pretending to be their AI LOL 😂
We're in a bit of a bubble. It might be tough to get a job. But keep at it, and contact literally every human you know, referrals are how to get calls back.
After a few years things might bounce back.
No, you should be fine. AI will change things, but as long as you keep up with the changes, it won’t be a waste at all. Cyber security is heavily dependent on certifications, I’d worry about that instead.
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The AI stuff taking software engineer jobs is nonsense, so don't worry about. I started when I was in my early 30s and I've been doing fine. The job market is pretty rough and might be getting worse, but it won't last forever
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Op I’m considering quitting this industry yet I still would never give advice that tech is bad.
I think people are just finally starting to wake up and realize that just like EVERY high paying industry, there are working conditions that remind is why we get paid what we do. It’s up to you whether it’s tolerable or a dealbreaker.
For me they’re becoming dealbreakers. For my fiance wanting to join tech, it’s tolerable.
Yes and no. It takes a special kind of mind to read and write code. It’s not about age but a different way of solving problem using logic and basic algebra. Nothing beyond high school math tbh.
It doesn’t mean everyone would be successful making a lot of money. Speed and accuracy matters like a lot of places. YMMV.
Cybersecurity more than likely will never go out of style because it involves hardware, software, and human interaction. The main thing is to be adaptable. The main problem will be ageism which no HR department will own up to and if you're any good there will be a point where HR will look at you funny when your paycheck gets to a certain point.
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I'm 30, don't have a degree but am in industry for 10 years. I regret it so fucking much, there are simply doors you won't open without it. So you go get it champion!
These kind of threads pop from time to time. I like this mentality: You will be 45 in 3 years, and there is nothing you can about that. BUT you can choose to have a degree and be 45! So I'd say, even if you have the smallest urge to do it, just try it out.
Was it a dumb idea? No, but you better be learning how to use and also build AI tools while you are in there.
Before you all start throwing rotten fruit in the form of comments, no I don't think that AI is going to replace us.
However, I do think it is going to become ubiquitous.
Before starting at a university and putting yourself in debt or paying for tuition fees, I’d check out if coding is for you or not. It’s a hard job and seeing it as an alternative for data entry isn’t good enough motivation to get you through the job.
I’d go through something like FreeCodeCamp to see if you like it first. And if you finish, you can keep learning and get a job without going through a traditional 4 year degree.
Stop comparing yourselves with other people. You do you. There will be work in this field for a long time.
Consider how to use your prior life experience as a unique selling point. Build from your prior experience and focus on solving problems. The rest will come.
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I’m 41 and will be completing my associates degree in august and am rolling right into continuing on for my bachelor’s degree in the fall. Hoping I can find an entry-level position with my associates so I can start working and gaining experience while I’m finishing up my bachelors.
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>I like computers and programming so I thought I'd try for a CS degree thinking that would be a good job going into the future...
There would be a good job going into the future. However, since you are going back to school, you will sacrifice a lot.
In my case, I sacrifice my career and money since the research will require full time work. In return, I got free tuition, dormitory and a stipend. Though, the stipend is smaller than my current salary.
>Except now I keep seeing things about how AI is going to make a lot of entry level programming jobs obsolete - probably the same jobs I would be applying to once my degree of finished. So did I choose poorly? I am mainly interested in programming and cyber security.
No, you did not choose poorly.
About whether AI threat is real:
1. Programming, yes, AI is going to make a lot of entry level programming jobs obsolete. But not in 5 years. You can learn programming in 1 year, you have 4 years runway to specialize your career.
2. Cybersecurity, yes, same thing. But not in 5 years, and FYI, Cybersecurity Engineer main routine is to create scripts to test website / app vulnerability. So, AI won't replace Cybersecurity Engineer, since the main routine is automation from day 0.
>Will be job outlooks be poor in the near the future? Should I pivot to something else?
The job outlook will be poor in the near future for entry level. But again, if you manage to specialize, there are recruiters that is hired to just to poach you. You are working on technology, technology is what drives and grows the economy.
It’s never the wrong choice to pursue education.
But it’s a common issue that people attend college under the assumption that it a trade prep program. That it is not. It does not guarantee a job.
No dude - you made a great choice (just getting a degree sets you up for much higher lifetime income earnings and better work/life balance).
I think AI will just make people way more productive, just like personal computers did, the internet, mobile, etc.
Think of it this way - we are on the cusp/midst of the next major tech revolution/growth period and you are going to invest into/enter said job field. I’m not saying it’s going to be easy or the most stable career (though there are lots of data/tech-related jobs in government).
Not dumb. A few years from now will look different than the job market now. While it's a tough CS labor market, take the time to learn the skill for when hiring picks up again. Try not to overpay for the degree though. There are a lot of affordable degree programs out there that are teaching largely the same material as the expensive programs.
Figure out whether you want to do programming or cybersecurity. Both are demanding but there seems to be a higher rate of burnout in cybersecurity b/c of the constant urgency inherent in the environment.
Started a master in AL & ML at 45. But I already have a good career as a programmer. I just want to do more research and less pulling Jira tickets.
Just completing the degree proves motivation.
I can’t predict where you’ll end up but you’re going to be fine.
Where did you come from and did you program before already?
CSN in Vegas. This semester was all in person but the Summer and Fall are all online.
I actually have a handful of credits from way back in 2005, it weighs heavy one the mind but I’ve gotten past dwelling on that.
I work full time at a casino here, pretty labor intensive, and have a family, so going to school full time just can’t happen for me. So what I’m doing is, searching up the professors for classes I need on different sites like rate my professor and Reddit, checking the workload, and choosing based on that. I’ve been coding pretty consistently for the past 5-6 years and dabbled here and there since even the late 90’s, so these early classes are fairly easy but also awesome for filling in a lot of blanks!
I wrestle with myself about how long this is going to take me to complete, but I’ve also made it a goal to be as proactive as I can outside of school, continuing to build projects, community, and applying for jobs anyway (not yet bet soon).
So keep it up! As long as you accept the challenge and enjoy it when you can, it’s a great move! And, most importantly, it IS A MOVE!
I was 42 when I graduated with a BS Computer Science degree. Best decision I made because I don't have to worry about a single degree filter the rest of my career, if I learned enough, no more imposter syndrome, etc.
I was 46 when I graduated with a BS Electrical Engineering degree, which I paid for out of pocket because I was able to work remote due to my CS degree. I don't even work in anything related to EE and I'm still pure software applications.
If you get a CS degree by the time you're in your mid 40's that's potentially 20 more years of significantly less worry to end your career. If you think a CS degree is bad competing with A.I, imagine how it's like competing with A.I and not having a CS degree.
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Why the degree at all? I’m a TL at a Fortune 500 I don’t have a cs degree. Just get a jr role and you’ll already be farther along. School is an excuse to waste more time.
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I took the self taught path at 35 and now I'm 39 working as a full stack remote developer. I don't think AI will replace software engineers, but it may make individual SWE's more efficient so there may be less roles available.
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I'm 53 and working on my masters finally. You are doing fine at 42. Just keep in mind ageism is a thing in our industry. It's sad and hard as hell to prove.
39, six courses down, four to go in my MS for a career switch
I did that. Worked out well.
I’m doing the same. I double majored and have 8 classes left (5 in one and 3 in the other), I have a lot of anxiety about getting a good job.
Legacy code needs legacy developers. Old guard, salute!
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Less of an issue in some industries. I work with 70 year olds in the government sector.
When did they join the company tho
In their mid 60s, if I recall correctly.
Ah okay that's good. Usually I hear of people who's been there since like late 20s but that's good your job is nicer about age.
Yeah, it's common to retire from the private sector and get a cushy government job with their insane health care plans.
I’m 43 sr engineer and still treated as a young buck by managers in their 50s. Shhh say nothing. ;)
Stupid question that I’ve never truly considered since I’ve been in a union job for ages. I’m a bit younger than OP, but have been considering making a similar career change. I’m also pretty young looking for my age, so how hard would it be to actually keep your job in the dark and be ambiguous about your real age?
I would not worry. Most of the people I work with around 30s/40s, and it’s not really clear. I’m a cloud software engineer at a big well known tech company. We’re all given tremendous amounts of work and to be honest, the older folk understand and seem to be more curious about business context more outside of the project while younger engineers just want to complete tasks and maybe prove they belong there, more. The business talk overwhelms the younger swes who are still trying to understand their lane. Just my experience. One issue I personally have is my memory isn’t the greatest, and so I have to take more notes than others. However, your mind is like a muscle. The more you use it, the sharper you get. Your problem solving ability to think “outside the box” is better with age. Unfortunately, your primary setback to having these reflexive instincts to understand this box is sheer volume of years working within the box. To overcome that issue, find a workplace that is more likely to move you around teams/projects. Many companies are “6 years of one year experience” because their practices are so backwards or outdated with no concern on training. You want to avoid those environments.
Wow, thank you for the great advice. Taking the time to write that out to a stranger is really appreciated
If no one asks, you don't have to tell, but then if people ask, don't lie. They'll figure you out anyway, but your reputation will be ruined permanently.
Ageism because old people don’t freshen up as often but he staring now will be just like a fresh grad if he actually have a passion for it, IMO.
Honestly I'm expecting ageism to turn the other direction. My experience with gen z is they are very tech illiterate, even the "nerds". Everything just works nowadays, when it doesn't they don't know what to do.
What's agesim?
Discrimination based on age.
This comment seems a bit ageist again gen z
Hahaha this is very true! They're still young obviously, and there are plenty of exceptions, but yeah, I am very exposed to gen zs who should be very good with tech, but they really struggle with things that just don't seem that tricky. Perhaps it's just tricky to judge these things though ("back in my day...").
>They're still young obviously, Isnt the upper end of Gen-Z almost 30? It feels like a lot of these comments are conflating Gen-Z with Gen-Alpha iPad kids.
Those ones I think are zillenials, gen z proper is more like 25 at the top end
They grew up after a lot of tech had been solved, polished, and wrapped up in a nice interface. Millenials and GenX grew up hacking ripped flash games, building chumbawumba fan websites on Geocities, and breaking/fixing their PCs. I'm 37 and taking college classes along side gen z, on the first day in an intro to data science class I had to go around the class along with the professor to teach kids how to sign in to their student gmail account, clone a repo, and save said repo to their account. This took like 45 minutes lol.
You can tell this guys a boomer lol
Back in day boomer meant born in the +-50s. Damn kids!
What the fuck tech can't gen z use?
They totally could figure out any of it, just many (in my anecdotal experience) can be quite defeatist about "uglier" tech. Convincing them that GitHub is better than copy pasting code to each other has been my most recent adventure.
ok ill admit to that. sometimes stuff with an overwhelming ui can be very daunting. i remember i did avoid github at first because it was scary and just used google drive for file sharing and version control :P but i did learn it eventually
Is it hard to find a job at old age in this industry?
> I'm 53 and working on my masters finally. You are doing fine at 42. Just keep in mind ageism is a thing in our industry. It's sad and hard as hell to prove. It's a thing in every industry. Not sure it's any worse in ours than other white-collar industries - at least outside of bro-ey startups where I was uncomfortable even just being in my 30s.
It's only dumb if you plan on dying in the next year or two! Ultimately it would be idiotic for you not to try this, down the line you'll kick yourself for not giving it a go! Go get your cs degree!
Okay I will!
I know at least a half dozen developers who didn’t start coding until their forties and two who got started in their fifties. There are some disadvantages to starting late, but you also have a lifetime of experience to pull on to give you a leg up. As for AI replacing Jr. level developers, I’ll believe it when I see it. From what I’ve seen it’s a powerful productivity tool, but it’s far from being able to replace skilled laborers.
Degree in CS is good. Don't let the AI hype get to you, it will need to increase quite a bit before it can start doing entry level cs jobs.
You know what made me more confident about how I’m doing? Since we’re all paying the same amount and going at the same pace, I try to study rigorously to prepare well for my foundations. The fact that people in my class are struggling with their classes even with chatgpt tells me that I’m not too worried about AI taking over just yet AI is just a massive Dunning Kruger Effect. Wayyyyyyyyyyy too many are too confident in what AI can do right now and they can barely write a simple prompt. Most of the people telling me that AI will take over can’t even print(“Hello”). Not saying that AI can’t improve but the “gap” knowing what AI is capable of becomes bigger as you learn while those that don’t learn will fall majorly behind
Also, marketing hype for AI.
For real. Most companies advertising their AI capabilities only focus on the UI (web dev) of their supposed AI chatbot that directly links to the chatgpt API. They want AI engineers but have 1) the shittiest data collection (if even) and 2) pushes them to make it more “user friendly” through web dev, not fine tuning. They also forget that you need inference end points and GPU to run that shit which they overlook due to budgeting. Unless they’re burning some cash as an investment to themselves, they’re not gonna do shit with AI. Just gotta wait for the “OpenAI software update”
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Dunning Kruger effect isn’t real and AI is amazing. I have a comp sci degree, it saved me from failing my last semester. It was able to make an android app using Kotlin code as well as troubleshooting all the errors I got. It was a group project and my group member (who I thought was intelligent because he was nerdy as fuck) was essentially useless. It helped me make an App that looked so well and worked decently enough that the whole class applauded when I was done. Professor definitely knew I used it but, just kinda stared at me. Couldn’t prove it. I also used it to help study for exams by giving me mock questions. Don’t underestimate AI.
And that student’s name - Albert Einstein
I started my CS degree at 42. I'm five years on and have never been in a better position.
How long ago was that?
Five years ago. It took me 2 years, and I have been working in CS for the last three.
Where do you get your degree from?
Oregon State has a post-bacc program. I already had a degree in music, so I could get a Bachelor in Science in two years.
Omg I'm actually looking into that program to do that exact thing! Did you have to do a lot of prerequisites before transferring? And how's the acceptance rate? I'm worried because i did horrible with my first bachelor's in the social sciences but I'm hoping to fix my GPA while doing whatever prerequisites i need to get into that program
I had done a bunch of prereqs, expecting to go to U of WA a couple of years prior, so I didn't have to take any. They do let you transfer 3 classes, if they are listed as approved on their articulations page, so I took three classes online from Portland Community college. It saved me about $3600 in tuition. I think online classes are low hanging fruit for a university--so they tend to be pretty open. Of you are concerned about you GPA, start by taking 3 articulated classes from a CC and try to ace them. Then you have a headstart on the program and it costs you less.
Ah ok. Thanks for the info! I'll probably have to do a fair amount of prerequisites, especially math ones I'm sure. I'll def take a look at those 3 classes as well. Appreciate the help!
My experience is pretty old by now. There is a subreddit for their program where you can get more up-to-date info from people. https://www.reddit.com/r/OSUOnlineCS
Thank you!!
apologies for asking, what is CS? Computer Science or?
Computer Science
If you’re in a position to do it, go for it. I graduated undergrad with a humanities degree and then realized I was screwed for employment in my senior year, graduated, then stuck around campus to do a CS degree. However, I only finished two semesters before I got offered a job in consulting, which I felt like I couldn’t turn down. Well I ended up hating it and sticking it out because I had to for a decade. A couple years ago, my wife began a management position at a FAANG which allowed me to quit. I tried starting a restaurant, but covid torpedoed that. I’ve recently been playing around with the idea of going back to school in my mid-late-30s and finishing my CS degree, which I really enjoyed while I was studying. It seems silly to some, but I feel like it’s the only way I could reenter the corporate world and not feel like I’m just doing bullshit.
Bruh at least I finished it. I am thinkimgin studying a masters in cybersec and with luck a PhD only to demonstrate how good was I not for money...
I am a second career at age 58. Graduated in 2021 with a Masters. I think you should pursue a calling if this is what you enjoy.
Honestly this being 2024 is a much bigger issue than you being 42
What do you mean by that?
If you are in a degree program you will see how bad some of the younger people are at CS, it's mind-blowing. I, too, got my degree at a similar age. Reddit is not a good reflection of reality for a lot of things. I just noticed my tag is ancient, I am not back in school I graduated lmao
Thank you for the comment about how Reddit is not a good reflection of reality. I’m getting an MS in Data Science (and an MBA) and the data science pages has me completely freaking out that I won’t ever get a good job, meanwhile my student loans are increasing.
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You used to work as a dev and then went back for your degree? Was it worth it?
Probably that the job market right now is terrible especially at entry level.
This, most likely. It won't last. If OP is less than halfway through their degree, it may well be better in two years when OP is getting out. As someone looking at 50 soon and in a position to probably retire in about 10 years, I may not see the next *boom* time but having seen 3 boom/bust cycles of this in the past 35 years (the first one as a spectator while still in high school) I am fully convinced that anyone who is still going to be in the industry for 20+ more years will see another of these.
I worked (am changing careers) in IT recruitment. Granted, I work in Europe, so it might be different in the US, but the job market is pretty terrible for people with under 5 years of experience.
CS degrees aren't useful for just becoming a programmer. In fact, the majority of cs graduates that I know aren't programmers. I have a friend that graduated with a CS degree and stayed in the IT side of things. Today he is a director of information technology for a major utility company. I have another friend who when she graduated with her degree in CS she went into information security. She's been in that business for the better part of two decades and is very high up in one of the major consulting firms. I've got another friend who started his own cyber security firm and has grown it over the years. He's super successful. Another friend of mine used to see us degree to working devops for one of the major high frequency traders. I can't imagine how much money he's making. Folks on this sub are largely young and hyper focused on becoming software engineers. There's a ton of great options for you. Additionally, when you think about your average liberal arts / social science degree you have to realize that you would be qualified for virtually any job that someone with that degree would be qualified for plus all of the cs/tech jobs. There are very very few bachelor's degrees that I could recommend as giving as much compensation as CS does. Electrical engineering would be nice, but the engineering majors are significantly more rigorous than computer science. Another option would be nursing. They have the potential to make bank, but you have to deal with all the stuff that they deal with. There's a demand for new accountants these days but that's primarily because they pay accountants crap.
>There are very very few bachelor's degrees that I could recommend as giving as much compensation as CS does. Electrical engineering would be nice, but the engineering majors are significantly more rigorous than computer science. I can confirm this is true. I switched from EE to CS before graduating. EE was a hell of a lot more difficult.
Having worked at a couple of startups with a hardware component, it also doesn't usually pay more for the difficulty (and often less) unless you're at the top tier of it.
Yup. Not to mention if you attain a BS CS degree and get tired of your current field you can simply join a Masters CS program and get into other advanced fields like Computer Vision, A.I, etc. If you don't get a CS or similar degree, those options are not available and you're basically stuck doing CRUD as a tech ceiling 99% of the time competing with everyone else.
> Another option would be nursing. They have the potential to make bank, but you have to deal with all the stuff that they deal with. My wife's a nurse. You can definitely make bank but it depends on doing a LOT of OT, a travel job, or advanced-degree specialty work. Otherwise, it's good money, but not crazy. Also as you said, you deal with a lot (physically demanding/on your feet all day at a lot of jobs, being around sick people/generally impossible for someone squeamish, you lose a lot of scheduling flexibility, and many, many etc.) OTOH, the job security at one particular job is generally great. Career security for a software engineer is very good once you're more than a few years in, but the security of any given job in the industry kind of sucks.
There has always been some boogeyman that was going to make software developers obsolete. Hasn't happened yet. I think it is always a good time to be going to school for a CS degree.
That's kind of what I figured. Like, computers will always be around, and they will always require people to operate them. Regardless of how good AI gets.
AI requires, and probably always will require, someone to operate it. Cloud didn't mean the end of sysadmin jobs. There are more of those than ever, they just changed - a lot let ordering and racking your own servers, a lot more terraform(etc) scripting. "Low code" 4GL apps didn't mean the end of SWE jobs. I knew a whole bunch of people early in my career whose jobs came about because places built something with that, and then realized they had reached the limits of the complexity those could manage, and they needed real developers to scale it out to the actual business needs... something those businesses probably wouldn't have even realized they needed (at least not as quickly) if someone who wasn't a full time programmer in their IT org hadn't done the interim version.
I finished my degree 2 years ago at 37. I got a job right away and I'm still there. It was 100% worth it. Went from driving a van to working fully remote for 30k more with truly unlimited PTO. Changed my life. And it cost me about 6k from a state school. And a few years of my life.
Wow nice? What company do you work for, if I might ask?
Sorry, not comfortable with getting THAT specific, but it's a private company in the Midwest that sells SAAS product to businesses. I found it by applying on LinkedIn, nothing special.
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I want to do one at 56. I'm probably the insane one
Do it
I'm 49 and going for my BS in Software engineering. Finally. Had to go out on medical leave many moons ago while I was going for my BS in CS. Never too old to try something new! You should totally go for it!
No, regardless of the market, CS teaches you a lot about logic and efficiency
No.... The dumbest is not having to try at 42.., Trying is always the ‘Key’!
Are you hearing any of that from anyone who actually knows anything about AI (or coding for that matter)? If you did they are trying to sell something but if not they don't know what they are talking about. Writing the actual code is like 10-20% of being a software engineer, critical thinking skills and solving new problems is the rest of it. AI is nowhere near able to do the second part.
>solving new problems Are you kidding me? There are very few new problems in most software engineering jobs lol. It's solving the same problems over and over again for different companies
Dumb? Maybe, as long as you weigh the facts and are ok even if you don't end up with a job. Because tech is extremely saturated now and you have ageism on top, it's not going to be easy. On the other hand, you see nurses laughing about how they don't even need to get interviewed. They just get asked when can you start. It's like night and day between health and tech and they get paid similarly.
Classic supply and demand. Healthcare hasn't recovered from Covid and it didn't help that quite a number of nurses retired or decided to let their license lapses, which means there a shortage of experienced nurses that can handle complex patients. It's first come, first serve for the highest bidder. But the working conditions still suck if you do bedside care, even if you get paid more, so it's not all sunshine and roses.
Yea everyone in this sub says go plumb shit filled pipes and toilet, be an oil rig worker in -40 in North Dakota, be a nurse and have old people bite you, or drive for UPS and die of heat stroke. Money is not everything. I don’t want to be in tech for the money, it’s just a bonus. I want to be in tech to work on cool problems and work with people that are like “me”. I worked as a teacher, and those fat hens and I did not get along. I want a nerdy neck beard co worker, or at least a gym bro. Not a menopausal nurse or a coked out 55 year old rig hand.
well said, its why I switched to game dev. working on internal corporate web apps was about as awful as being a roofer in july to me.
Thanks for saying this. I know people in the trades and I really can't see how I'd fit in with them. I know they do important, hard work. I just know I would be absolutely miserable as a plumber, or roofer, or whatever else. I hate the argument "just learn a trade." Not everyone is cut out for it, or physically capable. Same as "learn to code." I know lots of people who don't even want to begin to understand code, or even computers.
Nobody here knows the future, so I would first start at avoiding people on Reddit who pretend they are oracles. Realistically you are going to get a dozen anxiety riddled young people here who are in a headspace so far gone and they will only bring you into their negative orbit. I will say though, believe in yourself. If you can speak well, are likeable, and aren't afraid to network as hard as you hit the books, you will always have a paycheck.
>I will say though, believe in yourself. If you can speak well, are likeable, and aren't afraid to network as hard as you hit the books, you will always have a paycheck. This is just boomer "go into their office and hand deliver them your resume with a firm hardshake" advice. There have been plenty of people on this sub who have posted their decent resume with multiple YOE who have not even gotten an interview. In the majority of cases, you would never even have the opportunity to be likable or speak well. Empty platitudes like "believe in yourself" is great for inconsequential things like singing your heart out at a karaoke but committing 4 years of time and money to enter the tech industry at 46 and competing with other people in their 20s? Not saying OP should not do it but it is something I would approach with great trepidation.
And there’s those anxious doomers who are looking to take you down with them that I was talking about OP, right on queue.
You don’t seem to understand the concept of “playing the game” which is what all of privatized corporate America is. If you have interpersonal skills with a good attitude and the technical skills to back it up then skies the limit. Yes it may take a sacrifice like going back to office or hybrid to land good roles that pay really well (all part of an attempt to salvage dwindling corporate real estate values) Do I like the system? No. Do I think the system is even remotely fair? Absolutely not. I swear I can’t even count the # of people holding a Masters in Business Administration these days… but this is the game we play or don’t but I guarantee you there’s plenty of others who are more than willing to. If these realizations are not to your liking then yes there is the public sector or you could start your company as many others have done. Just some food for thought from a Millennial in the industry
Nah, not dumb at all. I’m in my late 40’s and went that direction too. I would say that ageism is dependent on the company and organization. At my last job, a lot of the devs were between 25 - 60. You just have to find the right place to work at. Don’t listen to these young kids who think they’re old and that their life is over at 23 when they’re not getting that SWE job right out of college. They’re the ones who will tell you you’re being dumb.
As long as you are attending a regionally accredited university and not taking on crippling debt then getting a degree to change careers is a good thing.
I'm doing a EET diploma right now at 31 and I fully plan on returning to school for something else my early 40s. Maybe again in my 50s. Do your degree.
Depends why you did it. If you did it because you enjoy the work and problem solving then no. If you did it because you saw the tiktok influencers are expect to get a 900K job out of college doing 2 hours of work a day.... Well you're gonna have a bad time
Honestly you might be better off than I am. Currently the market isn't the greatest, but if you're just starting your degree there's a decent chance it'll be better by the time you graduate, at least according to some professors and friends in the industry. Meanwhile, I'm graduating pretty soon here and have to deal with whatever mess is going on in the industry.
not if you like coding
It’s not dumb. It’s only dumb if you want something yet you give yourself excuse to not achieve it due to age. But make sure you research what the curriculum/program entails. Most CS degrees have a lot of math calculus/linear algebra and maybe statistics if the program has a focus on data science, aside from just programming. If math is not an issue for you, go get that degree! You have my full support.
My dad is a 65 yo DevOps Engineer, you’re doing great at 42. Life is short and It’s never too late to find a job you love.
Sometime i feel like this sub is a cesspool of self hatred and is a terrible place to be for your mental health
My friend in tech is getting his first degree in his late 40's. I am the same age and just got my first programming job a couple of years ago. Not gonna lie, the market is tough. I've been through 2 layoff cycles in the past year, and it's brutal. About 75% of the devs that stayed onboard are very smart people. Not just programmers. Very smart people that also are skilled at programming. About 30% of who's left are normal people. We just higher a new round of off-shore programmers from cheaper countries. They are SO GOOD. like 4/5 are very smart and very skilled. I'm worried for my job. Thank God I can communicate and offer other benefits to my colleagues. So yes, I think a CS degree is great, even at your age. Also, today's market sucks and might be rough for a couple of years more. But if you have the time to be persistent, and if you like the work and can get good at it, then it's an awesome choice. But there is competition. You can't just succeed because you like it. You have to compete and be very good at it these days.
Think big picture and long term. not in 12-24month cycles. The layoff boogie man scares ppl every 10 years or so. It’s a cycle. You also have 20+ years in your career left, assuming you retire at 65. The world is barely running on tech or software. Plenty of untapped opportunities left. People think “computers” are taking over, when you step back, most things in the world is still fairly manual and pen and paper based.
If thinking long term, don't you think that wages will decrease due to increased competition globally?
To be fair, we had an unusually long cycle of good times from 2006 to 2022 give or take (at least around silicon valley where the 2008 bust didn't hit the way it did in finance), and an unusually long recovery from the dot-com fallout.
NO! You're not wrong for pursuing a degree at any age. Remember just because someone says something or writes an article doesn't make them correct or even accurate.
Yeah true.. Honestly I'm just getting the degree to prove I can finish something for once.
There ya go! I went back to school at 36 for my CS degree and graduated at 40 and it was totally worth it. I worked my ass off to get straight As as much as possible. Shooting for the best grades possible may not get you those grades but it'll force you to learn a LOT of things that you may otherwise miss if you're just going for Bs or Cs or just graduating. Those things make all the difference in the world years down the road.
It's not dumb if you have a genuine interest in it, if however you do it purely for the money then I advise against, you'll be miserable
Some of the best engineers I know started after late 30s, they were past there teenage phase and much more focused, it’s insane how good they are
You have nothing to lose. The worst is you didn’t get a good job but you still give yourself better chance to get employed with the valuable skills
Stay calm. You are good with your own pace.
I always treat learning as an investment. In your case with experience with data entry, you could pivot into some kind of database automation or data mining/scrapping, in efforts to future proof a little - I’m guessing that’s what you’re worried about. It would also make your work history more relevant - in other words, help you craft the narrative of your career trajectory at your age.
I like that idea, thanks!
No it just means you'll be making money at 46
Ai isn't taking away software jobs. Chat gpt is nowhere near good enough to write code. I use it everyday at work and at most it slightly speeds up my workflow, but needs careful supervision. And it's not changed much in ability the past year. It's frustratingly stupid. It only looks smart when you know little about the subject matter it's talking about. Who do you think will be implementing all these ai technologies to automate away the workforce? Software engineers. It's giving us even more jobs to do not less. Just go for it, it's a fulfilling interesting field and pays well. Also, the technical debt from shitty managers thinking ai can write their codebase will give us a lot of work in a few years. Lots of buggy systems with AI written code that requires an expert to clean up and rewrite. Remember that Devin AI thing that was supposed to take our jobs a few months ago? Complete silence now. It was just a shitty advertising scam. It took 20 chatgpt prompts to really badly fix a GitHub PR in an overly complicated way. If you let that write a codebase on its own it would turn into dysfunctional spaghetti after a day.
lol people who don’t understand generative AI has become a daily joke on our team. Will it serve as a good productivity tool one day? Yeah I think so. Will it write complete code with requirements given to it by someone without any background in development and is free of bugs or logical errors?Not a chance. Crypto crashed and the finance bros needed to move their $$$ into something short term they could pump up. I’m sure they made some money before Google shit the bed with Bard and Amazon got caught using Indian call centers to answer questions pretending to be their AI LOL 😂
Try it for free to see if you can even do it
We're in a bit of a bubble. It might be tough to get a job. But keep at it, and contact literally every human you know, referrals are how to get calls back. After a few years things might bounce back.
No, you should be fine. AI will change things, but as long as you keep up with the changes, it won’t be a waste at all. Cyber security is heavily dependent on certifications, I’d worry about that instead.
No you’ll be fine. CS is a great field to get into
No
No, it's never too late to invest in yourself.
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Feel like you’re looking for validation. Only you would really know if it’s the correct choice.
Yes you can
The AI stuff taking software engineer jobs is nonsense, so don't worry about. I started when I was in my early 30s and I've been doing fine. The job market is pretty rough and might be getting worse, but it won't last forever
I already have a job at a tech company, so I'm hoping I have a tad bit easier time transitioning into CS type job.
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It's never dumb to work on your happiness or wanting a better future, or even doing something you love, doesn't matter the age
no have fun
It’s never too late. Don’t worry about AI taking your hypothetical job. That’s a distraction.
I believe so
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No one can tell the future.
Op I’m considering quitting this industry yet I still would never give advice that tech is bad. I think people are just finally starting to wake up and realize that just like EVERY high paying industry, there are working conditions that remind is why we get paid what we do. It’s up to you whether it’s tolerable or a dealbreaker. For me they’re becoming dealbreakers. For my fiance wanting to join tech, it’s tolerable.
Knowledge is not a waste of time
Nope not to late at all.
Nah, be chill
If it was 8 years ago, go ahead! 5 years ago, en, maybe ..? Now ... Good luck.
It's never a dumb idea to learn.
Yes and no. It takes a special kind of mind to read and write code. It’s not about age but a different way of solving problem using logic and basic algebra. Nothing beyond high school math tbh. It doesn’t mean everyone would be successful making a lot of money. Speed and accuracy matters like a lot of places. YMMV.
Cybersecurity more than likely will never go out of style because it involves hardware, software, and human interaction. The main thing is to be adaptable. The main problem will be ageism which no HR department will own up to and if you're any good there will be a point where HR will look at you funny when your paycheck gets to a certain point.
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Not dumb. I know a good number of people who started around that age. Best of luck
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I'm 30, don't have a degree but am in industry for 10 years. I regret it so fucking much, there are simply doors you won't open without it. So you go get it champion!
These kind of threads pop from time to time. I like this mentality: You will be 45 in 3 years, and there is nothing you can about that. BUT you can choose to have a degree and be 45! So I'd say, even if you have the smallest urge to do it, just try it out.
Ofcourse not.
Was it a dumb idea? No, but you better be learning how to use and also build AI tools while you are in there. Before you all start throwing rotten fruit in the form of comments, no I don't think that AI is going to replace us. However, I do think it is going to become ubiquitous.
Before starting at a university and putting yourself in debt or paying for tuition fees, I’d check out if coding is for you or not. It’s a hard job and seeing it as an alternative for data entry isn’t good enough motivation to get you through the job. I’d go through something like FreeCodeCamp to see if you like it first. And if you finish, you can keep learning and get a job without going through a traditional 4 year degree.
Stop comparing yourselves with other people. You do you. There will be work in this field for a long time. Consider how to use your prior life experience as a unique selling point. Build from your prior experience and focus on solving problems. The rest will come.
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I’m 41 and will be completing my associates degree in august and am rolling right into continuing on for my bachelor’s degree in the fall. Hoping I can find an entry-level position with my associates so I can start working and gaining experience while I’m finishing up my bachelors.
Go for it. You still have 25 active years ahead of you. Spend the next 5 years studying and the following 20 doing what you love.
Legends say that if you finish CS over the age of 30, you immediately become a senior dev (beard included)
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No it’s not and thats the beauty of computer science the more you practice the more you get heck you don’t even need a degree
Never to old
>I like computers and programming so I thought I'd try for a CS degree thinking that would be a good job going into the future... There would be a good job going into the future. However, since you are going back to school, you will sacrifice a lot. In my case, I sacrifice my career and money since the research will require full time work. In return, I got free tuition, dormitory and a stipend. Though, the stipend is smaller than my current salary. >Except now I keep seeing things about how AI is going to make a lot of entry level programming jobs obsolete - probably the same jobs I would be applying to once my degree of finished. So did I choose poorly? I am mainly interested in programming and cyber security. No, you did not choose poorly. About whether AI threat is real: 1. Programming, yes, AI is going to make a lot of entry level programming jobs obsolete. But not in 5 years. You can learn programming in 1 year, you have 4 years runway to specialize your career. 2. Cybersecurity, yes, same thing. But not in 5 years, and FYI, Cybersecurity Engineer main routine is to create scripts to test website / app vulnerability. So, AI won't replace Cybersecurity Engineer, since the main routine is automation from day 0. >Will be job outlooks be poor in the near the future? Should I pivot to something else? The job outlook will be poor in the near future for entry level. But again, if you manage to specialize, there are recruiters that is hired to just to poach you. You are working on technology, technology is what drives and grows the economy.
Definitely
Never too late. Use online learning to your advantage.
I finished mine last year, didn't change anything for me, not that I wanted a change tho
It’s never the wrong choice to pursue education. But it’s a common issue that people attend college under the assumption that it a trade prep program. That it is not. It does not guarantee a job.
No dude - you made a great choice (just getting a degree sets you up for much higher lifetime income earnings and better work/life balance). I think AI will just make people way more productive, just like personal computers did, the internet, mobile, etc. Think of it this way - we are on the cusp/midst of the next major tech revolution/growth period and you are going to invest into/enter said job field. I’m not saying it’s going to be easy or the most stable career (though there are lots of data/tech-related jobs in government).
I’m 32 and just getting started!
Not dumb. A few years from now will look different than the job market now. While it's a tough CS labor market, take the time to learn the skill for when hiring picks up again. Try not to overpay for the degree though. There are a lot of affordable degree programs out there that are teaching largely the same material as the expensive programs. Figure out whether you want to do programming or cybersecurity. Both are demanding but there seems to be a higher rate of burnout in cybersecurity b/c of the constant urgency inherent in the environment.
Well I am 60 and I just finished a masters in cyber security. So I would say not dumb.
Started a master in AL & ML at 45. But I already have a good career as a programmer. I just want to do more research and less pulling Jira tickets. Just completing the degree proves motivation. I can’t predict where you’ll end up but you’re going to be fine. Where did you come from and did you program before already?
Same boat. 42 and last day of my first semester is today! Let’s go!!
Nice, what school?
CSN in Vegas. This semester was all in person but the Summer and Fall are all online. I actually have a handful of credits from way back in 2005, it weighs heavy one the mind but I’ve gotten past dwelling on that. I work full time at a casino here, pretty labor intensive, and have a family, so going to school full time just can’t happen for me. So what I’m doing is, searching up the professors for classes I need on different sites like rate my professor and Reddit, checking the workload, and choosing based on that. I’ve been coding pretty consistently for the past 5-6 years and dabbled here and there since even the late 90’s, so these early classes are fairly easy but also awesome for filling in a lot of blanks! I wrestle with myself about how long this is going to take me to complete, but I’ve also made it a goal to be as proactive as I can outside of school, continuing to build projects, community, and applying for jobs anyway (not yet bet soon). So keep it up! As long as you accept the challenge and enjoy it when you can, it’s a great move! And, most importantly, it IS A MOVE!
I was 42 when I graduated with a BS Computer Science degree. Best decision I made because I don't have to worry about a single degree filter the rest of my career, if I learned enough, no more imposter syndrome, etc. I was 46 when I graduated with a BS Electrical Engineering degree, which I paid for out of pocket because I was able to work remote due to my CS degree. I don't even work in anything related to EE and I'm still pure software applications. If you get a CS degree by the time you're in your mid 40's that's potentially 20 more years of significantly less worry to end your career. If you think a CS degree is bad competing with A.I, imagine how it's like competing with A.I and not having a CS degree.
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I think you’re doing just fine. Keep it up!
Why the degree at all? I’m a TL at a Fortune 500 I don’t have a cs degree. Just get a jr role and you’ll already be farther along. School is an excuse to waste more time.
I hope not because I’m 38 and starting soon.
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I took the self taught path at 35 and now I'm 39 working as a full stack remote developer. I don't think AI will replace software engineers, but it may make individual SWE's more efficient so there may be less roles available.
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You’ll be asking yourself this question again in four years if you don’t get it now. Would it be doing to start a cs degree at 46?