Currently struggling with an important life decision I have to make. I finally got an job opportunity as a webdev at a nice company here in my town. I am in my 40s.
Thanks to freecodecamp and many other resources, I have been learning and applying webdev on an self employed/freelancer basis and love doing it.
A close family member died 4 months ago and I got a shock about getting old and I applied for a full-time sysadmin job, which I am doing right now. Its for a government institution and it seems, if I wont fuck up, I can have this job till my retirement. So doing all kind of Microsoft, Active Directory and phone support for 1.6k coworkers here.
Some weeks ago I got an email from a company I applied for 1y ago. They had a open position now, and after 2 interviews, they offered me a job, as a webdev, where salary is >30% higher compared to my current job and has many other benefits. The job, I always dreamed of…
Also from the social standpoint the new company would be a better fit, because I am more of the sensible coder guy, who likes academic background - and frankly - sysadmin teams really have very rude ways of interacting. I feel like I work on a submarine, a prison or at military service (only males on the team). Coding/Development world is much more self reflective and has made tremendous improvements in work environment and how you deal with your colleagues.
The only thing, that is holding me back is the feeling, that I am not sure if web development will be a job opportunity for the next years. Everything can be outsources into East Europe eg., where young coders are doing a very good job. Or the company could be sold/go bankrupt.
I also got very strong imposter syndrome. I had to substitute a person on the new job, whose name is on that wall: https://reactjs.org/acknowledgements.html
Is webdev only something for young people, aged 20-30, and after that one should do something ‘serious’?
To sum it up:
- Decision between secure/boring/ugly office/rude, rotting from inside, perspectiveless coworkers and risk/adventerous/nice office/interesting, motivated, empathic team life
- Imposter Syndrome
- Fear of beeing too old for webdev
2 videos that show the problem:
vs.