I am extremely nervous. Am I doing the right thing?

HI All,

I apologise right at the start for writing a long post. I am 32. I was a Creative Director with an ad agency. However, things were never in my favor since the very beginning. It’s now been 8 years since I started, and money-wise, I was doing fairly well. ONLY money-wise, mind you. I had this HUGE guilt in me, that I haven’t studied enough and take a stable job. And over time, this guilt had taken the form of a void. An emptiness.

Advertising isn’t for everyone. The very core of the business, is dicey at best. I mean, it’s like debating over your favourite color. You like orange? Great. I don’t. Now? And in most cases, the one saying “I don’t” is my prospective employer, and the oranges are my “creative ideas”. How do you survive in a field that is based on subjectivity?

Then, something else had happened in the past, when I was in school. My elder brother had helped me buy my first PC. And my love story with computers had begun. I used to spend days around it. He even inducted me into the hardware. When most of my friends were happy just tying on the keyboard, I used to know where and what a RAM is and what a motherboard. (This was a huge thing 10 years ago).

And this brings me to the present situation. I am currently jobless. And more frustrated than ever. I JUST don’t want to do advertising. However, it is my only way of earning. Now I want to revoke my love of coding, programming and computers. I want to have a definite degree in hand, I want to be an expert in something solid. That doesn’t change as per people’s whims and fancies. \

If my code works, it works. No employer can deny that. They don’t have any excuse to give me like in advertising (We DONT like your idea!!).

Now my question to all you guys reading this, should I jump the boat? I am 32, Indian male, single (divorced actually), and living with my parents. Also, I was not Einstein-brillaitn with maths. I was average, about 55-60%. Do I stand a better (than advertising) chance at doing something in the programming industry?

My dream job? How about programming an arm of a probe going to different planets?

I will have to make a lot of sacrifices, time, money, energy. I am prepared to do all of that, if the end is fruitful. Otherwise, my depression and frustration will only double if I fail in this.

Thanks for reading and will really appreciate your honest suggestions.

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It’s never too late to start coding and math is a part of it, but unless you want to do games / serious math usage software, you might be good with algebra knowledge and linear algebra could be a good thing to know.

Your dream job might be far fetched with basic math, but nothing is stopping you from starting a math course and learn all you need. The world is your oyster, you should definately try what you love, considering you are also young.

You can start slow, learn and take your time, when you feel ready you can try and search for programming jobs that are not your dream job and after a while maybe try to built it on your own?

Dunno, the field you are looking for is probably nano-mechanics and mechanics combined but I’m not sure.

Best of times mate, best of times :slight_smile:

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Thank you so much for your encouraging words mate. I just wanted to be sure of what I am doing. At least this time. When I started 8 years back, I had no clue and a decent amount of money. Now I have the money, but no interest or enthusiasm to do advertising.

But cheers and thanks once again!

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Hope you can reach your dreams man :slight_smile:

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Hi GaurangD,

Do what you love. If you love coding then do it. Given how competitive advertising is, it shouldn’t be harder to get a job in programming or web development. Life isn’t a dress rehearsal so you need to have enjoyment and purpose in your work!

You said you’ll have to make a lot of sacrifices. What exactly is your plan? I’ve noticed a lot of people here do FCC in their spare time because they work full-time jobs. Are you going to do FCC full-time instead of working? How long will that be possible for? Are you planning on doing a university degree? If your parents are supporting you and they are happy to do so until you finish your studies then that’s great. If you think you will need to combine study and work then maybe look at ways to step sideways into the area you love. If you are studying full-stack development and have a background in advertising then maybe a web marketing company would be interested in hiring you. It might not be your dream job, but it might be more enjoyable than pure advertising while you work towards your goals.

Good luck. I’m sure you will get to your goal!

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Hi Aldek,

Thanks for your reply. At this point in time, I honestly don’t know. I am unemployed right now, and am hunting for a job half-heartedly, because I know, other side of this job search is only going to be money. No job satisfaction, no peace. And a lot more stress.

I would LOVE to dedicate all I have to computers and coding and hold a respectable position in the society.

Thanks for your reply.

Web development is full of opportunity. Programming jobs are expected to only grow for our entire lifetimes. No one can promise you anything, but the information that is available points to this being a good path. I don’t know if you can program space probes, but I do web development just fine while also being terrible at math.

Go for your dreams GaurangD…Good luck for your future!!!:grinning: