Has anyone Over their mid 30s with NO experience actually gotten a Job?

Hi I started an associates degree in internet technology about a year and a half ago. till I realized it was not teaching me anything. Then I decided to pursue Open Source Learning. I am 42 years at the moment. In my country there are not a whole lot of jobs for programmers and even fewer who do it. For me it is a skill that I can leverage on to make my own job for myself.

BTW I am a chartered accountant. So the answer is that I do not know. I do not think there are the $100,000 USD jobs anymore for people like me and most companies in the US may not be willing to sponsor overseas workers.

So if there is no job for you I guess necessity forces you to make your own.

Thanks for the good advice.

Any recommendations on where to learn the other stuff not available on FCC?

Thanks again.

That’s a great attitude to have! If you can’t find a job, make up your own. But keeping looking anyway, you never know.

I’m not going into this career thinking I’ll be making +$100k. You have to pay your dues like every other career out there. So, in the beginning, it’s probably working in the trenches, I’d be happy even if I get paid $0 the first year. I just want the opportunity to enter the industry and get my feet wet.

Happy coding and job searching :slight_smile:

Thanks for sharing this!

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think that if you have the skils then freelancing is the way to go if there is no one who will hire you.

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Hi bro. Could we link up? I’m also learning, I’m in Nairobi and I believe we can help each other. I’m 32 and still learning. Thanks a bunch.

I’m a bit reluctant to promote paid learning platforms because FCC has a learn-to-code-for-free ethos. But in my view, good learning resources are well worth paying for. Why should teachers work for free when their students will get well-paid jobs? I used a ton of Pluralsight (monthly subscription, but 1000s of courses - great for dipping into new topics), and quite a lot of Udemy (tends to be longer courses more aimed at learners). PS is aimed at professionals rather than learners, so its a great way to push yourself towards being job ready.

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Great to hear your story… it is truly inspiring. I am in the same situation with being in my 40’s and changing my career. I have completed an FCC certification and a nanodegree from Udacity as a Front-End Web Developer. I have a few projects in my portfolio written in vanilla js and react. I have noticed that recruiter and potential employers always ask how much work experiencing I have. Which in my case none. How did you manage to get over that? Any insight would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

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Congrats on your new career!

I would have maybe a bit of an unusual question:

I would like to know in which field of science you were working and why you didn’t like it.

I’m asking because actually, although I love coding, I believe I would love it even more to be a scientist. Especially a physicist. I’m continuously thinking about going back to university and studying physics again (or mathematics or computer science).

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Thank you for sharing, you are inspiration for all of us.

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Thank you for share your experience!

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Hi there, thanks for your lovely comment. It sounds like you’ve been taking some great steps towards landing your first dev role. To answer your question, on top of showing off my coding skills as much as possible (eg github account with code for different projects and a portfolio site), I highlighted any relevant transferable skills that I had gotten from previous jobs, such as problem solving, a methodical and logical approach, and so on. I also made it clear that I was looking for a junior role (with realistic salary expectations), and that I was committed to my new career path. In summary, I think if you can demonstrate some solid code from a variety of projects, enthusiasm, commitment, and a willingness to learn and to keep developing your skills, then you’re giving yourself a much better chance to succeed.

I hope that helps a bit. Wishing you all the best :slight_smile:

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Hi, thanks!

Nothing wrong with your question :slightly_smiling_face:. I was a cell biologist before I became a developer. The reason I decided to move away from that was mainly because of frustration with the lack of career progression. I was taking on dead-end contract roles that were increasingly hard to get in the first place, due to lack of funding and competition with other applicants. I found I was having to take pay cuts to take a job (despite my experience) but still spending long hours in the lab for not much reward. When I started to learn how to write code, I loved it more than the research I’d been doing, and realised that there were great opportunities for career growth. It was an easy decision in the end, and I haven’t looked back.

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Ok, thanks for sharing your story! Looks like a good and logical decision!

Let’s see how I’ll do it. Maybe I’ll start an own company right away, sell it for a few million and become then an indie scientist in my 60s :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

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Ursula,

I am the co-host of the CodePrep podcast. We would like to interview you for our podcast. I couldn’t find a way to email you directly so can you email me at ratracegrad [at] gmail? Would love to talk to you about being on our podcast.

Jennifer Bland

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To be honest still trying to figure out myself. I am watching you tube and also trying to figure out the approach i need but doing my own projects, reading, more reading and concluding with reading again.