I've been meaning to start a blog/YouTube/podcast/something for a good while now, as a way to start documenting my programming journey.
A little about me, I'm 42, have a wife, kid, 2 dogs and a cat, and have (mostly) worked bs jobs in order to make ends meet.
I'm sure there's a lot of people in my shoes, trying to get a start in a new career, and coming to software development later than most, so I'm hoping maybe this might help some people who are in the same boat.
Honestly, I've been trying to learn to code on and off since 2016-2017. I've learned some basics, but I've struggled to retain things in the past. I hopped around a bunch, got stuck in Udemy Course Hell(more on that later), had a child, a couple of major deaths in the family, and a huge cross country move plus a bunch of other stuff that threw me off track.
So here I am, 2ish years later making another go of it.
Why?
For one, I'm a creative person. Programming is, in a lot of ways, the ultimate creative experience. For two, I want to do something I love for a living. I've done mostly career-dead jobs. I want something more. For three, I want to be home more. I took a job in the oil field in texas, because good jobs where I live in Arkansas are scarce. It pays decent, but I'm away for over a month at a time, with maybe a week off in between. My son is almost 4, and I'm missing a lot of his life.
What am I learning? I'm currently going through Tim Buchalca's insanely huge Java Master Class for Developers. It's a 75+ hour long course jam packed with everything a person would need to learn Java. I'm saying that as someone who has bought and tried more courses than I should have, but if I figured out one thing doing that, it is how I learn and what I needed to do to progress.
This is getting kind of long, so I'll continue in the next one.
Top comments (37)
I'm 37-something and just getting started. I'm starting on Udemy, so curious to see what you have to say about it. I worry I'm too old/too late, but for now am trying to focus on the code.
You're definitely not too old. It's really funny how many of us worry about that, even people in their 20s - 30s. What course are you doing on Udemy?
I have a couple ready to start with Colt Steele. Very early days, am doing the CSS section of his entry web dev bootcamp.
I did a large portion of that course. Really good stuff.
I have the second one too, advanced I think it's called. Did you have any other recommendations?
That first course is decent. The downside is that it does not teach es6 or any of the new JavaScript features. The end project is huge though, and you can always pick up another course to cover es6+. I'd recommend either Javascript the complete guide 2020 by Maximillian Schwarzmuller, or Andrew Mead's The Modern Javascript bootcamp. Keep in mind you want to take your time going through javascript. For example, once you start getting into writing functions I would take your time going through the course. Take a couple days and just write a ton of functions. My biggest beef with most courses is they dont really provide you with ample practice, despite what they say, so you have to make sure you just take your time, otherwise you'll get stuck. Getting stuck was the reason I switched to Java.
Thanks again. 👍 Have saved those to my wishlist and will have a look later on.
It is only too late to start something new only after a person has already died!
So, just go for it!
Don't hold back!
Keep on trying, making mistakes, but go for it!
Good luck! 👍
I'm not dead yet, thankfully :D I appreciate it. How are developer jobs in Russia? Plentiful?
Developers market in Russia is big. However, it is hard to find a remote job :D
Other aspects are more or less the same as everywhere.
I wonder why remote jobs are difficult there? They seem really plentiful in the US.
I believe that it is due to the high inertia of the local market and/or employers' mindset.
Another reason is that there no legal base and total lack of a culture of work of the distributed team.
Thank you! Working in the oil field, I do get plenty of spare time, fortunately, so I've been pouring that into learning over the last 54 days (currently doing the 100 days of code thing on tweeter). I usually do 2 hours a day and then on slow days I fit in maybe another 3-4.
It is definitely not easy being a nerd in Arkansas, lol. Most of the dev community seems focused around Fayetteville/Little Rock, but of course I live in a smallish town (Mountain Home, was in an even smaller one a couple months ago). Learning Java has been a ton of fun so far, and it's really sticking thanks to all the practice I'm getting. Awesome to hear from another Arkansan.
Hi Drew. I'm 49 and been in the same boat as you. I used to be in the printing industry which was a dead end job and got made redundant twice. I then thought what the hell and went and did a computing degree which I finished 2 years ago. It was a good experience but learning to code yourself was more relevant to me. From January I am going to start freelancing after a year of front end learning. I still have a way to go and still only at the beginning in many ways.
I still have 20 years of work in me hopefully and we are a long time dead so I'm just going for it and will pick myself up when I fall. Good luck my friend.
Rob
Thanks Rob. I'm definitely looking forward to starting a new career. I've worked way too many jobs that either dead ended or were going nowhere to begin with. I'm really enjoying the process of learning. Keep me posted on your freelancing, I'm sure you'll be successful.
may be you should also add #100DaysOfCode tag
Thank you, added. Wasn't aware that was a tag :)
I meant #100DaysOfCode not 1000 days. :-|
Typo. Fixed lmaoo.
Go for it. Age and life stage don’t matter for this. Make an app - that’s the best way to learn, even if you’re adapting from a tutorial. Then make another one. Keep at it!
Thanks. I will definitely do that eventually. I have an idea for an app that ai plan on starting once I finish the basics of this course.
If you have a passion, it's never late man.
In my personal opinion, it's never late for 2 things: coding and riding to bike.
Both hard but when you done, you will have different view to the world.
I would add a few more: to learn playing a musical instrument and start sport activities.
Never too late for those either!
I am 34 and I am a government employee. But I do not like 9-5 jobs and I love to work at home. Learning to code now.
My ultimate goal is working from home at least part of the time. Eventually I want to get into android also. What are you studying?
I study HTML CSS and Javascript these days.
Sounds great! All the best on your journey!