Hi! I’m absolutely new, not only to FCC, but also to coding, period. I’m 54 years old with absolutely no coding or programming experience (I’m an accountant by trade). And I live in Los Angeles, which I have to guess is pretty competitive for tech. Can someone give me some opinions on how easy/difficult it might be for me to find employment as a developer once I finish the FCC full stack program, and what kind of salary someone my age and with my lack of experience could expect? Thanks in advance for all your help - I appreciate it!
@romanstjames I think it depends. I am a little bit younger than you, studying for more than a year (with already some code experience) and REALLY struggling to find a job.
After trying to find a job for a while I have made some conclusions about “successful factors” (those that bring you more opportunities…), some of them I haven’t met yet. I think everything comes up to:
- interpersonal skills - most of the “oldies” that I have seen finding jobs, usually around 30-40, are trying to create a good local network in the sector and being pro-active in finding clients; meetups are a usual source of contacts
- selling yourself by doing a lot of different things; you must really show you are a doer - this is one of the things I have seen work the most: collaborating with content, contributing, helping others; FCC is a good place for that
- specific job market conditions - not always favourable, check where you will sell more, remote options are also available although I think they pay less and competition could be vicious but sometimes is your best option to start
- other skills - maybe combining your current skills with the new ones?
- check where your real opportunities are - perhaps it would be enough for you to know the technical aspects so it would help to boost your current curriculum into a different direction within your present career or different kind of company, not bringing you necessarily into a totally new career path (probably it is not what you want when you are over 50, as you run the risk of being considered a junior developer)
- start ups? there are few cases I have seen here, mostly of them by people who already have some coding experience; there is one that stand out the rest though: there was one guy who started a new business just after the training; the person already have experience as freelancer in a different sector (carpentry) so he at least knew about what is to set up a small business (RELEVANT)
- Don’t be afraid - you will surprise how small knowledge in the area could help you to find a job in several situations; not all jobs require strong technical base and currently this sector is diversifying rapidly while becoming almost ubiquitous
Hope this helps
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Thank you both! That was all very helpful!