I started in my mid to late 30’s. I was an 8 year employee at a Fortune 250 when I decided to completely change my career direction. They completely supported me. So I understand that a lot of people don't have that luxury. But it wasn't easy, still not easy. Imposter syndrome is amplified and you always feel in catch up mode. Sometimes you feel you aren’t taken seriously. So you need to find a way to overcome those things. It’s hard to give advice there because I struggle with it constantly. The advice I do have is
constantly build things
Be proud of the wins, big or small
Don’t get consumed by the struggles
It’s ok to use google
Have a mentor, or two
Don’t feel you need to know EVERYTHING
And you have a family make sure your side projects doesn’t conflict with the time your family needs. Some things are more important than programming.
EDIT - what people are saying about previous experience is spot on. For example, I had tons of Excel and analysis experience before my career switch. The mode of thinking in terms of setting rules and logic transferred nicely.
"Don’t feel you need to know EVERYTHING" - wish I knew this back when I started working for clients fresh from university. Sometimes I still need someone to tell me to pull the break and "just make it work". :D
At my 30s I found out that there was a developer inside a Political Science Graduated.
I've been COO an CMO for 4 years but I decided to persue my dream and become a Front-end developer:)
Location
Elche, Alicante, Spain
Education
Certificate of Higher Education for Web Applications Development & Degree in Political Science
I started in my mid to late 30’s. I was an 8 year employee at a Fortune 250 when I decided to completely change my career direction. They completely supported me. So I understand that a lot of people don't have that luxury. But it wasn't easy, still not easy. Imposter syndrome is amplified and you always feel in catch up mode. Sometimes you feel you aren’t taken seriously. So you need to find a way to overcome those things. It’s hard to give advice there because I struggle with it constantly. The advice I do have is
EDIT - what people are saying about previous experience is spot on. For example, I had tons of Excel and analysis experience before my career switch. The mode of thinking in terms of setting rules and logic transferred nicely.
"Don’t feel you need to know EVERYTHING" - wish I knew this back when I started working for clients fresh from university. Sometimes I still need someone to tell me to pull the break and "just make it work". :D
Thank you, I needed to read something like this, hehe.
This is a good article about not knowing everything from Dan Abramov. overreacted.io/things-i-dont-know-...