i’m 40 years old. i have a BS degree in electrical engineering. well i never landed a career in the field because i just didnt have the confidence i was ever good enough after graduation. and i hided persuing my degree taking care of the elderly parents. my parents made sure i was wellfed and sheltered as i was taking care of them . so sad to admit i took advantage of that. but anyways i need to get back on my feet and shoot for a second chance in life. i know my engineering degree is over 15 years old so its probably to obsolete when it comes to interviewers. so i thought of i learned programming it can revive my engineering degree. and having a bs degree with increase my chances of landing a software engineering job in the future if i keep perssistant at fcc. i realize late in life that i should of went computer engineering instead. because after completing my html and css cert and now beginning on javascript, i really enjoy the software and programming much better. and honetlhy its much easier to obrain the resources to become a good programmmer as oppose to a hardware designer because you always need an acess to a lab since the instruments for testing and fabricating hardwear is pretty expensive. but for software all you really need is a working computer a few books and a fcc account.
so my thought is to keep working on the fcc certs in the meantime and then try to find a software developer job and in the future consider going back to school for a master s in cimputer engineering. or if i find i want to stick to be a programmer all my life. ill keep at learning fcc and furter my studying to keep up to date in the field. i juST want to know if im doing the right thing. or is this a waste and should try something else ?
I will highly recommend to build projects.
And for that you can start following tutorials on YouTube, this tutorial can last up to 10h, the think is that, you will learn a lot, you could add the projects you made by yourself in your resume, and it will help you search for a job.
ok so more on the building projects and less on the completing FCC challenges.
I don’t know if I would go that far.
Look at it this way, if someone wanted to learn EE, would you have them follow a program or just have them start building things. Ideally, they would follow a program, and build/design things on the side, increasing in complexity as they got better. That is my same advice.
This is not easy. Having a BS in EE is good - it shows you can think technically and that you can finish something. There is a lot of overlap in how you think for programming.
This is not easy. This will take at least a year or two to get into a hire-able position. #ymmv
so my thought is to keep working on the fcc certs in the meantime and then try to find a software developer job
I would say, keep learning FCC (or some other path). Get those projects built. Then, start creating other stuff. Keep learning. Learn new ideas and then build a project that uses those. And build a project, run into a problem, and learn how to solve that. Just keep building.
One of the nice things about FCC is the first 6 certs leave you with the foundations of a solid MERN stack, a very marketable stack.
The age of 40 shouldn’t be a problem. I started at 48, worked my ass off, and got a job. #ymmv
Just learn things and build things. When you get tired of that, mix it up and build things and learn things for a while.
that was some really good advice. thank you. yeah i know it will be hard. and the javascript section is kicking my ass. sometimes i have to look at the solutions if im totally lost just to reverse engineer and learn. but anyways that was very encouraging that you were once in my same boat.tahnks alot. oh by the way im really 47. i just said 40 because i was afraid someone would shoot me down saying “oh its too late at that age”. but i quit believing negativity like that. i know i messed up on some life choices but i plan to climb back up out of my situation. and i really appreciate a program like FCC. I already have 5 projects and one cert a month into this program.
Our ages do make it a little more difficult. There is agism in this industry. There will be places that will roll their eyes. There are also places that value diversity, including age and different backgrounds. And there are a lot in the middle.
But remember, you don’t have to get every job - you only need to get one.
At the risk of shameless self-promotion, I once wrote up a doc with might thoughts on getting that difficult first job. You may not be at this point yet, but it will give you an idea about what is to come.
Your plan sounds perfectly good. I’ve worked with plenty of programmers whose degrees are in EE, especially folks who went to school before Computer Science was a common degree option. Once you’ve learned to code, going back for an additional degree is probably redundant.
As Kevin said, this isn’t a quick process that will get you a career change overnight. This is hard to learn and takes time to master. Following a course like freeCodeCamp will give you the foundations, but building projects is still really going to push you. Never hesitate to talk to your companions here on the forum whenever you run into a confusing point or want help. It’s what we’re here for.
Ageism does exist, but I think that what a lot of adult career-switchers experience is a form of culture shock and avoidance. You’re going to have to get comfortable with spending a lot of time with 20-something and 30-something peers. From the way they communicate to the ways in which their shared experiences shape their perspectives, it can be alienating. You’ll probably be in a team of younger people who have less life experience but more career experience than you. That can be a hard thing. Especially given that you’ve struggled with professional confidence in the past, I urge you to consider talking to a therapist, life coach, spiritual leader, etc as you go through this process.
I’ve had the opportunity to work with a number of older adults, and even mentored people my parent’s age. Sometimes they’re moving out of a career field that is dying out and sometimes, like you, they have been out of industry for a long time while they were caregivers. As long as they are comfortable learning from me, it’s been great.
Dude, never doubt in yourself. This is pretty amazing field and you should stick to it. Never stop learning, never stop growing.
I graduated last year in electrical/computer engineering(in my country its combined, i dont know why) and have been in system/networking more than a decade before. I tried to switch career, but dang it…got manager position instead… so i am exploring world of it management now, but if that wouldnt be the case, i would grind fcc to the end. So if you have the time, learn and land that job. Its def. worth it.
so i am exploring world of it management now, but if that wouldnt be the case, i would grind fcc to the end. So if you have the time, learn and land that job. Its def. worth it.