Hi Angel. I was signed for my first developer job at 35 in March 2018. It took me 3 years from when I first realized I wanted to be a developer, working on freecodecamp, codeschool, codecademy, several udemy courses, and even a part-time Full-stack Javascript development course at General Assembly in mid-late 2016. I also have an AWS developer associate certification from Nov. 2017 which is about to expire in a few months if I dont re-up. You have to be vigilant. Recognize that you're always in the right place at the right time. If you haven't scored your first gig yet, then chances are you might not be ready for an employer to take a risk on you yet. But this means that you're not on the hook for developing things in agile sprints. So, use this time to actually build on what you're learning by experimenting off-script. If you work in retail, what kind of website or application could you start building that would make things easier for yourself, your team, or your employers? When I was a business analyst, we had this crappy mobile database of our customer's offices, it was literally HTML tables only -- no styling, nothing... I had been complaining that there were so many things that we need information access to, and just didn't have any good resources. When I mentioned this around the team, I got grunts, hrumphs, and yups of recognition. SOO... I started building a newer version of the database that also had button links to other resources that we needed on a regular basis. After I couldn't deal with the mundane in my position anymore, I showed what I was working on to my boss. He was blown away, and then of course asked if I could add more features to the application. I said sure, but never got to building those new features because I had also been putting my resume out and telling recruiters and interviewers about the application that I had build in my spare time for my current job. Ultimately, it was my passion to become a developer that sold my hiring manager on me. Two years in, and each sprint I still wonder how I'm going to be able to finish my stories/features in the amount of time I have. But my skill levels have immensely grown since I started my first job, I was and still am thankful for that first job I got. But now its all on me to make any new change in my own journey happen... So I continue when I can building things and learning things. And I've still got a long way to go. Most days are pretty tough and challenging. But I know the more I practice, the more I continue testing my limits, the more opportunity and chance I am causing for myself. Hope my testimony means something to you. Good luck, and I'm rooting for you!
For further actions, you may consider blocking this person and/or reporting abuse
We're a place where coders share, stay up-to-date and grow their careers.
Hi Angel. I was signed for my first developer job at 35 in March 2018. It took me 3 years from when I first realized I wanted to be a developer, working on freecodecamp, codeschool, codecademy, several udemy courses, and even a part-time Full-stack Javascript development course at General Assembly in mid-late 2016. I also have an AWS developer associate certification from Nov. 2017 which is about to expire in a few months if I dont re-up. You have to be vigilant. Recognize that you're always in the right place at the right time. If you haven't scored your first gig yet, then chances are you might not be ready for an employer to take a risk on you yet. But this means that you're not on the hook for developing things in agile sprints. So, use this time to actually build on what you're learning by experimenting off-script. If you work in retail, what kind of website or application could you start building that would make things easier for yourself, your team, or your employers? When I was a business analyst, we had this crappy mobile database of our customer's offices, it was literally HTML tables only -- no styling, nothing... I had been complaining that there were so many things that we need information access to, and just didn't have any good resources. When I mentioned this around the team, I got grunts, hrumphs, and yups of recognition. SOO... I started building a newer version of the database that also had button links to other resources that we needed on a regular basis. After I couldn't deal with the mundane in my position anymore, I showed what I was working on to my boss. He was blown away, and then of course asked if I could add more features to the application. I said sure, but never got to building those new features because I had also been putting my resume out and telling recruiters and interviewers about the application that I had build in my spare time for my current job. Ultimately, it was my passion to become a developer that sold my hiring manager on me. Two years in, and each sprint I still wonder how I'm going to be able to finish my stories/features in the amount of time I have. But my skill levels have immensely grown since I started my first job, I was and still am thankful for that first job I got. But now its all on me to make any new change in my own journey happen... So I continue when I can building things and learning things. And I've still got a long way to go. Most days are pretty tough and challenging. But I know the more I practice, the more I continue testing my limits, the more opportunity and chance I am causing for myself. Hope my testimony means something to you. Good luck, and I'm rooting for you!