Am I crazy trying to learn this at 50?

“Childlike” versus “childish”. Too many working environments have too much of the latter (petty, childish games) and not enough of the former (curiousity, excitement, playfulness).

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I’m 41 now. I started looking for place to learn to code 2 years ago, because I needed to edit the website of my new business, then I realice how much I loved to code, I hadn’t touch a line of code for over 15 years, since I was in the university. I started to find ways to learn more, and today I’m fully committed to be proficient in JS in front and back end. I’d like to work on a big company, but I live in Chile, south america, and here the market is super small, and there is no way to make a lot of money, because everybody use wordpress templates and charge USD 100 for a website.

So, I set my goal. I want to work as freelancer for companies in north america or europe. I’m working on it, and I hope to reach that goal this year!

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I’m in my mid 40s and returning to coding after three decades of very little to no programming. I’ve worked with developers for most of my career ((as a community and customer support person) always wanting to explore the other side. Now seems a great time to do it. :slight_smile:

Whenever doubts surface or I feel like a square peg trying to fit in a round hole, I hold onto this bit of advice offered by a coder: “Immerse yourself and your way of thinking will gradually align itself to one that is compatible with programming.”

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I used to read an advice columnist, Ann Landers, who received a letter from a 50 year old man who had always wanted to be a doctor. His family didn’t have the means when was younger, but money wasn’t an issue since he had just sold his business. He just wanted to know if he was crazy to start now because he would be 60 by the time he graduated.

Her response was perfect: How old would you be in 8 years if you didn’t do it? And how much regret will you have for not following your dream?

I just happened to be reading the paper 8 years later when man wrote back to say that he had just finished med school and had never been happier.

Side Note: Colonel Sanders started KFC at 63.

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It’s definitely not too late!

I worry about this too sometimes, but I’ve found as a freelancer / small business owner that none of my clients seem to care about my age.

And sometimes it’s seemed helpful when I can relate to older clients.

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I am 53 and am in my second year of studying FCC and Colt Steele’s webpage bootcamp course on Udemy. I have NO doubt I will be able to find a job in this field. I am currently a network tech, but need to find a job that is better aged proof. I figure to have to work until 75 in this economy before I can retire.

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Loving this thread and the others. Let us not forget about the increasing number of cybersecurity jobs that have and will become available. Companies are even changing the way they hire people for the position: “have IT experience? Good. We’ll train you”. It’s what I keep reading/hearing online about cyber security.

Me: 48 years old and 25 years in Desktop Support. Free code camp and Code cademy have been my go to sources every day so far.

I learn by doing but also like to watch and listen to an instructor. So E D X, U demy, Youtube and others in the same vein are good sources as well.

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Thank you so much for putting this out there. I’m the same age and didn’t know there were others in our age bracket learning to code. I have the exact same fear but fear is a liar!

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Why’d you think that? It’s simply following instructions. We just happened to be where all the rage is to code code code and make great things - but people put age are more than able. Your time is now old timer.p

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Me too. I turned 40 a few months ago and I recently started with the fundamentals in SQL and now learning C#. Age is just a number so learning to code can be like a hobby for you but in future can be your work from home job. That is my vision. As a developer, you can work remotely provided you have a lot of exposure.

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Even if a bit outdated, that course is absolute golden. I really need to go through it again.

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Hi @NancyK! I’m in the same boat just about. Stayed at home with my 3 kids. Two are in college and the youngest is a junior in high school. I’ve been at home for 20 years and about to turn 50 next week. I feel like you need youth, or experience and I have neither. However, I’m pretty determined to do this. I’ve been studying graphic design remotely for the last year and that grew into learning to code for websites. Loving the tech side and hope to maybe work freelance or remote sometime int the next year.

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That is so true particularly start up companies have silly games.

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By the way, the person that said “no,” if you read their post they actually mean “yes”! I am 55 and have cancer and am learning and made some gorgeous (their words) paid websites already. But, JavaScript is more interesting to me–and making web apps.

You can do it! What I also found helpful was going to Meetu(com) local meetings, there are a surprising amount of free classes in some areas.

Go for it!

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I say way to go. I am 52, and I enrolled in the University of Texas Coding Bootcamp to become certified as a full stack developer in November. It is one of the most challenging things I have ever taken on, but it has opened up a whole new world for me and is giving me something extremely valuable. I have discovered that developers are supportive and helpful. Age is not relevant. Each person has their own set of qualities to bring to the table and is willing to share their knowledge and help you wherever you are in the process of learning (which never stops). Even though I am just beginning my journey, I know that I made the right choice to do this.

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I’m 46 and have started the curriculum at the beginning of January. I’m also doing the Python video tutorial from FCC and a short free online uni course on Processing.js. Same as you, I’ve been working hands on tools all my life but am now looking to a different industry and type of work as I don’t want to keep doing what I’m doing for the next 20ish years.

It’ll be awesome to keep reading about your journey. All the best mate!

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47 next month - first coding job interview earlier this week - HTML/CSS I am OK with, Javascript is a PITA sometimes but the biggest challenge is having examples to work through to cement understanding - thats where FCC comes in to its own.

I dont think any age is too old to learn or make a career change (I am hoping this year will see me switch from project manager to developer for example) - life experiences bring with them knowledge, understanding, determination that these whipper-snapper graduates have less of

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I’m 51, so I can also identify with you. I would think skills are what matter the most. And not only developer skills. As I have much more experience in other areas, (such as researching user requests, education users and leading projects for example) I like to think of the effect of combining that with developer skills. I’ve been doing the curriculum back and forth at fcc for a while, and I’m set to make them all, maybe even this year. I’m in no position to give firm advice, but if I would give myself advice it would be to continue because it is so much fun. And to eventually do some form of specialization. (My specialization now is to be pretty good at many things, and I would see an advantage to deepen my skills and be more advanced in something. That something for now is Javascript for me. And I will also have a go at React this year, the whole year). So, much about me, hope it gives you something. All the best!

/Uffe

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After fifty, you can learn any useful skill, learn what you have always dreamed of, and turn this business into your new profession. It is never too late to try to become what you wanted to be when you grow up. Even if it fails, the pleasure of the process is worth it!

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I am above forty now and actually used to work as a programmer before and now teaching computers in a community college in one of the tiny islands in the Pacific. But I want to get back to programming badly and in fact enrolled with Udacity for their ReactJS program just recently and completed it and was in fact invited to be one of the tutor (and I did by the way for awhile). But anyway, with how the US economy is going up right now there are plenty of jobs in IT. Having said that I haven’t really applied for a job because I find myself inadequate at this point. But hoping that one of these days as I continue to sharpen my skills, would be confident enough to apply for an IT remote job. If that would not be successful, GOD willing I want to create my own app or website instead that could generate income and go back to my home country the Philippines. Additionally, I want to do some remote job as an intern but could not find one. Anybody have some tips on that?

By the way there was a man in the bible whose name is Caleb who at 85 years old asked his buddy Joshua (who is now also old) to give him the mountains where the giants are. Joshua gave him Hebron to which he conquered by driving the giants out, at 85 years old where the younger ones never even dare to do so (Joshua 14:6-15; 15:14-17).

On the other note. What if someone from here will team up with others to make a website including an app that would only cater for 40 and above who wants to work. Probably first in IT field would be the target? That would be awesome if successful.

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