Went back to school at 39 for CS while working full time but...

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NationalOperations@reddit

Would you rather be 45 and not have done this? Or be 45 and have your CS degree? Either way you'll be 45, might as well be 45 and have done what you wanted. Any time limit of age is self imposed.

If you're worried about hire ability, being 40 or 45 with no field experience shouldn't be a ice breaker for any company that doesn't care about age to begin with

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forhisglory85@reddit (OP)

That's been one of the main drives keeping me engaged in this journey, and it's a good one. "I'm going to be 45/46 anyway" God willing.

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The second team I was on hired a some guy who was in his 50's. He had one year of experience, had just finished school after spending most of his life as a pastor. People like to hire competent people. Learn your shit and don't be incompetent and you'll do fine no matter your age.

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applebananacapsicum@reddit

You don't mention what your goals are OP, so the above comment is potentially bad advice. Would you rather be 45 with a CS degree or 45 with a few years experience working as a full time programmer?

If your goal is to have a career in programming, and you are not fussed with working somewhere elite that requires it, then I would look around at local jobs you are interested in and see just how many actually require you to have a degree. You are potentially wasting a heap of money and time on something that isn't required for your goal.

I started teaching myself programming in my 30s, now in my mid 30s with a few years experience. If I went back to uni part time I wouldn't be finished and I'd have over 50k of debt

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ZestyHelp@reddit

Good on you brother, I’m 28 and went back for my masters recently. It doesn’t matter when in your life you find the time or motivation to do it. What matters is you do it. Colleges offer a lot of study help and resources math professors in college in my experience are very passionate about math and love teaching it. If you reach out and explain your situation but that you want to learn I guarantee 9 times out of 10 they will want to help you. You just have to be willing to take their help

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lionseatcake@reddit

Or be 45 with a mountain of debt and a CS degree while people like me are already working for a software company with no CS degree and in 7 years when I'm 45, will have the experience software companies are looking for.

🤷

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applebananacapsicum@reddit

Don't know why this is down voted, it is solid advice. Universities are becoming worse and worse value for time and money, depending on your goals. Especially in programming.

Probably Reddit complex of preferring to pay thousands for degrees vs getting free work experience which most employers look at more favourably. Because bad business makes profit

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mocha_puff92@reddit

Your “advice” was more unnecessary if anything. It sounds more like a brag. So that’s why you’re getting downvoted. Hope this helps!

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lionseatcake@reddit

Okay thank you for your opinion, have a great day!

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mocha_puff92@reddit

I’m not a man number 1. Number 2 you asked why you were getting downvoted so I told you. You’re the one that came in here with whatever attitude that was. Play with yourself, not me.

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forhisglory85@reddit (OP)

Well, for what it's worth, I get free tuition.

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lionseatcake@reddit

I'm definitely not talking shit about going to university. I don't want to sound like some anti-intellectual. I just wanted to provide an alternative perspective.

If you got free tuition, that degree will get you many more opportunities than I have. If I were to leave this job, I'd have to broaden my search and maybe take a data entry job outside the tech industry, relying on my computer skills since I have no official degree to show people.

Keep getting after it. Like the other commentor said, it'll be better to 45 with that degree than without. Us old guys need all the help we can get 😁

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lionseatcake@reddit

I would still like to go get a CS degree, but really I just want a focused curriculum that teaches more about the inner workings of things like assembly and how that factors into different languages, and maybe some electives that revolve around managing a team in this industry.

But as you learn when you actually get a job in this industry, it's not really about what you know but what you're able to learn. Every company, you will start somewhere around square one learning what they use and even how they use it. You may have to use things the wrong way bc you're working with legacy spaghetti code.

There's just so much more to it than "what languages are you proficient in." Sometimes a screwdriver can also be a wrench ya know, and you don't learn those skills in university.

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NationalOperations@reddit

Ya missed the point bud, their age is gonna be their age regardless of their accomplishments or anyone elses so shoot for the moon. Your insecurity about your situation driving you to try and make people feel less so you can feel something is depressing for you. Better luck on the personality lottery in the next life

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lionseatcake@reddit

And just so you know. My personality only offers me more and more opportunities in life. I keep doing better and better every year.

You want me to be some failure because your feelings got hurt, but this personality and attitude have taken me from coast to coast in multiple industries, finding success in most of then, so I'm doing all right!

Thanks for worrying about me though pumpkin!

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lionseatcake@reddit

You do understand that everything you just said is simply how YOU interpreted my comment. Those feelings come from YOU not me.

Bragging means nothing when you're doing it to strangers on the internet. I am simply expressing my experience.

You didn't like the way I expressed it and that's okay! It's just like Karen's at a comedy show explaining how the guy in the stage SHOULD HAVE said something because it hurt their feelings

It's not my place to manage how you feel. That's on you, bud.

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Least-Structure-8552@reddit

Yes, but wanting a cs degree is cool. Wanting a cs degree to go into a highly saturated job market that is experiencing a lot of layoffs with heavy ageism at 45 is probably not as fun.

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NationalOperations@reddit

That's fair to worry about, but nobody can predict what the next 5-7 job market will look like. The money part of it is unfortunate but they're an adult capable of determining viable risk for their future.

It's entirely possible they can pay for school without much financial issue, but my interpretation of the post was is this a waste related to age. Which ultimately is up to every individual, but my personal view is age is mostly irrelevant, take the path you won't regret when you reach that age.

If someone burns all potential stability, to quote a ancient saying "yolo" that's on them.

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UndocumentedSailor@reddit

The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago.

The second best time is now.

(And please don't reply with other 2nd best times, it's a simple metaphor, don't let it go over your head)

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Foooff@reddit

I started my CS degree at 41 and will have my masters thesis done by the time i'm 46 next year. I am doing this while working. Sometimes it feels impossible but not giving up is what got me this far.

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deadbeef_enc0de@reddit

See if your school/university has a Math tutoring lab. I was a tutor while a student and helped a lot of people in situations like yours get up to date on their math skills. This included people with full time jobs and children.

You are going to want to have good math skills going into the program if it requires Calculus sequence for the degree. Those courses will assume you have decent algebra, geometry, and trigonometric skills and will not spend time reviewing them.

I wouldn't worry too much about not being able to program much now, you will likely have plenty of that for course work with the CS classes once you get there. Not to mention you won't learn to just program in the CS degree but also algorithms and theory of computer science as well. With a solid understanding under your belt learning a language, platform, or API actually is easy.

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shmurwin@reddit

I'm LITERALLY in the same boat. Career switch/second bachelor's in CompSci and I'm taking Intro to Programming and Pre-calc and working full-time. I have been near tears some weeks because this math class takes up all of my time. My first degree is in Sociology, so all I ever had to take math-wise was college algebra and stats. And that was over 10 years ago.... Playing catch-up while getting used to being in school again has been exhausting. But I know a few years from now, I'll look back and be happy that I stuck it out. Best of luck to you!

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mocha_puff92@reddit

If it helps, I’m 32 and in grad school for CS. It is hard but time management is very important. That’s something that got away from after graduating undergrad. I started my journey taking prerequisites to be able to get into the masters program and it’s very challenging because I don’t have much of the foundation that others who got that undergrad degree in CS have. But I love the challenge

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Nomsfud@reddit

If you're just going for programming you don't need a degree. But it is a good idea.

As someone who went the self taught route, I'm glad I did. Fuck calculus. I've never used calculus level math and I'm a senior full stack working on a stack I built.

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cquick72@reddit

My story from age 35

Miserable public school teacher for 13 years.
Took Calc 1/2/3 and Physics 1 online at local community college just to apply for CS degree. Meanwhile saving like crazy for 1.5 years so I could go student full time if need be. (Didn't touch code the entire time either)
Got accepted into program.
Took Programming Fundamentals 1 to test the waters. Loved every second of it.
Quit my sorry shit of a job at 35.
Pursued CS full-time.
Fought really hard for an internship to help pay the bills.
Accepted a Backend dev position at 38 (October 2024).

For real, don't let your age get in the way of your passions.

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scoony1823@reddit

Keep your head down brother and take it one day at a time. I was a software engineer at one point in my life. I went part time to college, at night, all while holding down a full-time job. I had a house and a family and needed to pay the bills. It took me 9 years to get my BS in CS. After working as a SW engineer for a bit I left the profession to go to law school (again, at night while holding down a FT job). SW engineers were being laid off at the time (early 2000s) and I simply couldn’t afford that. I, too, was 39. I’m now 60 and a patent attorney.

The point is I’ve been where you are now. But you can absolutely do this. It ain’t easy and it’s a rough road at times but definitely doable. You’re absolutely young enough for a second career. I’m living proof.

You can do this. I wish you all the best of luck!

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BMB_333@reddit

How long ago did you become a patent attorney? Was it worth it?

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SinnU2s@reddit

I’m 45 and in school for cs, about to finish my second year. I worked full time for the first two years while going to class, but I wasn’t sleeping, I was severely stressed out. Then I got laid off, and took stock of things. I decided there was no way I wanted to try and work and study full time. I took some savings and decided to just be a full time student until I graduate, That’s my situation so it doesn’t apply to everyone, but the toll of trying to work 40 and study 40+ was just too much for me. Good luck !

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B-Rythm@reddit

Hang in there! I started spring of 2023, will graduate with my AS in Software Development 2025. I’m 38. It’s worth it

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forhisglory85@reddit (OP)

Congratulations! Thanks for the encouragement. I feel like I'm fighting a final boss with the games starting equipment.

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Least-Structure-8552@reddit

Imma be harsh for a second, but you’re basically at the character select screen right now, not even. A CS degree is not easy by any means, precalc isnt even a blip on the radar for most people who manage to finish a cs degree. And the degree is the easy part compared to finding a job in the market right now. Its a bloodbath, many of my former students are either going to school for something else, or just working as uber/retail. And those were the smart 40% that manages to pass. Id take a hard look at your expectations for this degree. If you want to learn, go for it, it should be fun. If you expect to get a job, after going through college for 4+ years(id say 6+ since youre doing it part time), id say your chances are slim, especially right now.

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B-Rythm@reddit

I can dig it. I often deal with imposter syndrome because I forget the most basic shit but it’s like anything else. Practice, without burning out that is lolol

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Xypheric@reddit

I’m 37 and considering going back and finishing my degree. I got an associate of arts which served me really well but lately I feel like the pressure to have an official computer science degree is limiting my prospects.

Same boat on the math. I was always good at it, but I just haven’t done it or used it in years. Not really sure to pick it back up. I’ve seen a lot of people recommend khan academy but I find it difficult to pick a level or topic that is at my level that doesn’t end up being too easy or too hard.

Stick with it! Learning the CS behind programming should make programming easier. After that it’s just syntax.

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Hlidskialf@reddit

I’m going to be completely honest with you: calculus, algebra and discrete math is gonna take some time to get it but when I was getting my second degree in geology engineering I had 7 physics + geophysics, 4 calculus, differential equations, analytic geometry and linear algebra.

CS has almost no math/physics. Learn calculus and understand the logic and its going to help you tons during your learning code. Its gonna help you even with code optimization.

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Neat_Sympathy695@reddit

I , 27m, have cs degree and I regret it. I wanted to be a game programmer while my college only offered courses on web dev and I didn't like it. I was miserable about my life until recently. I try to learn how to draw and 3d model to make my dream game. Think about which field of programming could be your interest before entering a school, getting lots of debt and getting miserable on your life again.

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iAhYea@reddit

If i had the choice to do college again, i would not do it. I would teach myself. I was already decent at programming by the time I graduated HS from extracurriculars, programming competitions, etc. For me, College was a waste of money. Full of junk classes to run the tuition up.

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Goodname2@reddit

If you're looking for a maths teacher who posts videos explaining senior high/highschool level maths, Eddie Woo on youtube is a great teacher, he has a lot of playlists that might be a good place to start.

It's all based around the Australian Highschool curriculum, so not sure if it's exactly the content you need.

Also wolfram alpha is a great resource I used during my math courses at tafe.

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mjh-1991@reddit

I'm going to say that getting a hold of algebra, as rough as it might be, will help you in the long run. You might not run in to it that often, but at the end of the day a computer is a number crunching machine and you're telling it what to crunch. Calc is less important to know, but can surprise occasionally. Make sure you leave comfortable with algebraic manipulations for equations (it's much less important if you remember stuff like the rational root theorem and obscure trig identities).

A lot of stuff won't use too much math day to day, but it'll hold the door open for understanding some things (if you ever say want to understand how 3d rendering works under the hood you'll find lots of nasty math hidden). If you have interests in ML/AI/Data Science you'll probably want to take more math than the minimum even. If you have an interest in cryptography then you'll be living and breathing math (and even number theory). There's also a lot of math behind data compression.

Think of it this way, you might never work on your cars engine but you'll know enough to understand the rough strokes of how it works. That's what a bit of math will get you in the long run.

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PoMoAnachro@reddit

Learning a new profession takes a lot of time, and you have to be honest about it. You're staring down the barrel of about 7200 hours of study if you're doing a 4 year college degree - most universities assume students will be studying for about 3 hours for every 1 hour of class time. So (1 + 3) hour * 15 credits in a term * 15 weeks * 8 terms = 7200 hours. Not all students need that 3 to 1 ratio, especially mature students who are dedicated and have good study habits, but that's the ballpark - a university degree is calibrated to be about 60 hours a week of study and class for an average student. Maybe you learn stuff fast and are very dedicated and can cut that down to 30 hours a week, maybe you spread it out more over the summer and stuff, but no matter how you cut it - it is just a lot of hours.

Top it off that to be a programmer who can really do something useful and hirable you're going to have to put in at least a few hundred other hours either on the side or after school working on the skills a CS degree won't give you.

So all of these are perfectly doable - people do degrees much more intensive than CS while also working full time - but you really need to be honest about the volume of work and hour many hours a week you can put into it. Can you stay sane if you're working 40 hours a week at your day job, and also putting in 30 hours a week at schoolwork? Some people can - some people can do that 70 hour week every week for years and not be stressed - but I think it really helps to be aware of what you're signing up for and really commit to all that work.

What gets people in trouble is when they think they can squeeze all that learning into their life in the in-between spaces.

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lifting30@reddit

If you just try and learn coding on your own what should you do in place the place of it to brush up on important topics you missed by going the self-learning route? I’ve just been doing leetcode along with building hoping that whatever I missed regarding data structures and algorithms I’ll be forced to learn with leetcode

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DevLaunch@reddit

+1, setting proper expectations and having a plan in mind is a life saver to keep your sanity

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lifting30@reddit

Oh man I just went the intro to python route and building websites for fun route. In 4 months I’m on my 3rd website and I try to do leetcode every day. I have some experience with dropping out of college going at an older age and it was because of this issue. I felt I wasn’t learning what was necessary to make me more skilled. One thing I like about coding is that I like it so I end up spending ungodly amounts of time learning it when if I was still in accounting I’d be taking speech classes doing the bare minimum to get by. At least with coding I get to set my upper limit and college gives you structure but your upper limit is capped for a while.

I’m pretty sure though if I could go back to college it would be for CS though

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AhaoYin@reddit

Hey there! Your determination to pursue your CS degree at 39 is truly inspiring. It's never too late to chase your dreams, right? Remember, age is just a number, and the best time to start is now. You've got this! By the way, have you ever tried using Cursor for coding? It's a game-changer when it comes to boosting productivity with its AI features. Give it a shot; it might just make your coding journey even smoother. Keep pushing forward, and before you know it, you'll have that CS degree in hand! Good luck on your learning journey!

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stevelaurensius@reddit

I am 40. On July I started taking computer science course and up until now I've done 19 ECTS / credits in Introduction and advanced programming, cyber security class, and some introduction AI class and my current grade is 5.0 / 5.0.

Currently I am taking meta's back-end developer certificate outside my university courses and will do the capstone project this week.

I treat all of this as a hobby. Before taking all of this courses, I spent my time playing video games. I love puzzle and problem solving. By learning computer science and programming, I have the tools to solve real life problems. Btw last time I was in school (for my bachelor's degreee in Japanese Language) is also 12 years ago.

I'm not a person with exceptional intelligence, so if I can do it, so do you. Just don't put too much thought about it and try to be excited when you encounter new concepts or knowledges.

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ArkhamDuels@reddit

Hi! 42 year old student here. I'm not studying CS, but programming with emphasis on AI and data analysis and the school is not a university, but university of applied sciences (which is a Finnish thing): https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_applied_sciences_(Finland)

Anyway, this is what I wanted to share: I studied the first school year while working full time. Luckily, our teachers had decided that we all need to learn to program (Python) by coding, not by studying theory. In every course we had coding homework which needed to be returned before next week's class. So every evening after putting my kid to sleep I would open my computer, watch the day's lectures at double speed and churn out the coding tasks no matter how tired I was. I feel like this was the perfect method to start learning this stuff.

I don't know if you can apply this in any way, but this is my suggestion anyway: mandatory coding practice regularly. If you can do it in an environment where you get immediate feedback on code running successfully, all the better.

Good luck!

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Dramatic_Win424@reddit

The unfortunate truth is that to properly learn CS, you need the math because CS is basically applied math gone rogue but mislabeled. If you look at the CS schedule of a university like Purdue, you'll notice how much math it involves.

Pre-calc would just be the start for you in a long list of math classes.

Even non-math classes like algorithms are essentially half math classes anyway.

But a lot of people aren't interested in doing CS really, they just want to do software development. Unfortunately a lot of dev jobs list CS degrees as a prerequisite or favor CS degree holders, which is a bummer.

An alternative is to look for a way to switch to a software engineering degree if it's possible at your college. Those are much more practical and less math and science heavy and have a lot more programming in them.

In dev jobs, CS and SWE degrees can be considered to be similar enough.

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Just_to_rebut@reddit

Do most schools offer separate CS and SWE jobs? I thought SWE was typically a job title and CS was the typical degree.

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AmbientEngineer@reddit

CS derivative degrees like SWE are not overly common.

IMO, institutions typically use them to admit more students. The students admitted to these programs generally have more restrictions and are treated like 2nd class citizens of the CS world.

UC Irvine SWE degree is a good example. At my university, CS (BA) & CS Game Design could not enroll in things like ML, distributed systems, SWE etc...

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Just_to_rebut@reddit

That’s… pretty scummy, but par for the course I guess in higher education.

You don’t qualify for this program, but we’d like to take your money anyway please…

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_nepunepu@reddit

An alternative is to look for a way to switch to a software engineering degree if it's possible at your college. Those are much more practical and less math and science heavy and have a lot more programming in them.

Dunno where OP is located, just wanna point out a funny thing.

Where I'm from in Canada it's the opposite. CS has discrete maths, linear algebra, statistics, a class on mathematical proofs and calculus up to calc II. SwE has all of these, plus calculus up to diff eq, plus miscellaneous science classes because of the engineering common trunk that requires those to be considered an accredited engineering degree. It's also a year longer without many advantages, so most people tend to go CS.

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oldsecondhand@reddit

In Hungary there isn't even a SWE degree. Either you go computer engineering (mérnök informatikus) which will have digital technology , control theory and electronics courses too in addition to software developement; or you go CS (programozó matematikus literally programming mathematician) where you'll have 2 additional semesters of calculus (4 in total) and more emphasis on formal software verification.

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forhisglory85@reddit (OP)

Thankfully the only other requirements for the major are Calc 1 and Discrete Math. It's the CS program at NYU.

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DevLaunch@reddit

I've seen people over 40 become programmers by going your route, don't get discouraged, what's important is that you start and stick with it!

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Vizceral_@reddit

A lot of CS students don't really program that much in the early years too surprisingly. The rockstar wonderkids are not the norm, you've got time. Make sure you pass your math classes.

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SanguinarianPhoenix@reddit

Also in my early 40's. I was a physics/math genius 20 years ago. I'm happy to offer 3 free tutoring sessions of 30 minutes each via Zoom, Discord, or Telegram app. Just click this link and tell me how to contact you: https://www.reddit.com/message/compose/?to=SanguinarianPhoenix

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DarkSpanks@reddit

May I suggest getting a programmers certificate at a local college as opposed to a full on CS degree. It will focus you entirely on programming and not put you through all that other stuff you don’t care about.

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Known_Unknkown@reddit

36, second year CS major and holding a full time job also… I needed this. Math is trying to kill me also but we have it. Keep your head up and keep pushing. It’ll be worth it in the end.

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forhisglory85@reddit (OP)

Predator handshake We got this!

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KiloEko@reddit

I’m doing a bachelors in cybersecurity with a lot of development classes. No matter the outcome, I will have done it for me. It should improve my career, but there is no guarantee. I’m 1 year in and 41.

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RexDraco@reddit

I don't want to be discouraging, but my biggest regret was going to a University for a CS degree. College isn't for everyone. I finished all my classes except for Geology, other miscellaneous classes, and a handful of CS classes. Not all Universities are equal, mine has a reputation of intentionally making their Assembly class overly complicated. Basically, their homework assignments doesn't include stuff from the book and they never go over in class all that well how to solve homework because they don't want people cheating in the next semester since they re-use the same homework. So here I am, a senior, and forced to drop out since while I had a mildly good understanding on how Assembly works, it's very hard to troubleshoot blind like I was so a lot of problems required trial and erroring which is frustrating with how little time they gave for, in my opinion, relatively large homework assignments. So I struggled, literally cried a handful of times knowing my world is falling apart (I don't even remember crying before, I think college was my only time I've cried as an adult).

I didn't learn until it was too late, but programming bootcamps are a thing. I was very impressed with how they do things and I always resented how I ruined my life going to a university over a bootcamp. There's also trade schooling, I never looked into it but people swear by it. Another point is how a lot of people get jobs without education, a portfolio is all that's important. Top it off, it's the elephant in the room that needs to be said, but silicone valley is shutting down a lot. There have been too many CS graduates for years now before AI. Now, a lot of jobs are in situations like my friend, he is seeing Chat GPT being pushed to create code so all people do is review and polish code rather than make from scratch. Chat GPT. Chat GPT isn't even made for programming, it's merely just capable. When an AI model built around specific programming languages happens, the industry is going to see a huge crash. Politics isn't stopping this issue, so companies will have full authority to lay off anyone.

So nothing wrong with wanting to learn CS. It's an excellent subject, everyone interested should learn it. However, maybe not for profit. Considering profit a bonus more than an expectation. Maybe take a different major in college that will guarantee jobs if you are looking for a money making career.

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memorable_zebra@reddit

The software industry doesn't give a single shit about certifications or degrees. Every job you'll ever hold as an IC will involve you having to prove and re-prove to every interviewer that you know how to code with some form of a coding challenge (often poorly conceived, but so are many things in life).

If you want to be a professional developer, I think going through the trouble of getting a 4 year degree is probably not worth it. Especially given that you aren't just doing a 4 year degree as a matter of course the way a recent high school grad might.

At least half my colleagues have been code camp graduates and they were all just as good at their jobs as the CS grads. CS from a university doesn't really teach the things that you'll use professionally. Realistically the only courses that will help you will be intro to OOP, functional programming, and a course on software development if they even offer such a thing. Some school with game development sub-schools offer a few more things pertinent to your interests, but it's unlikely they'll cover anything you can't easily teach yourself during/after a coding bootcamp.

You getting your first job will come down entirely to mock games you've thrown together and put on a personal profile website.

Do what you will with this info and best of luck to ya.

PS: Use modern LLMs to help you work through new concepts. They don't know everything, and know specifics even less. But they're a great assist in helping explain things to you in a manner more digestible than many text books.

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JournalistTall6374@reddit

Is your goal to get a job at the end of a CS degree? If so, why do you need to learn programming now? As in right this minute…

You can take a programming course as part of your degree and supplement it later. Seems like you are maybe a bit strapped for time at the moment.

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forhisglory85@reddit (OP)

Ideally yes. I guess I wanted to jump right into it and start tapping into my creative side (game development). Started self taught until decided to go to school (free tuition at NYU).

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ericjmorey@reddit

It's ruff to put the brakes on what motivated you to get a degree in the first place. But with your limited time, you have to trust the path provided by the school to get a degree is ultimately the better path, as it's what you've chosen. Ultimately, you'll be better off with a curated curriculum. Keep an open mind on the challenges each course presents. You've already made a good choice, don't second guess it.

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JournalistTall6374@reddit

Free tuition?? Awesome.

So are you interested in game dev professionally, then?

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forhisglory85@reddit (OP)

Eventually yes that's the goal. Not the greatest time to get into the market right now it seems.

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Famous_Future2721@reddit

Learning to look for resources outside of what your school offers is key, not just in school but as a programmer. I was in a similar predicament as you, and hit a wall hard during Calc I, partly because of the subject matter and partly because I did not mesh well with the teachers lecturing style. I found Professor Leonard on YT, which saved my semester, I have not gone through his precalc stuff but I am sure it is just as good as his other stuff.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9OOrhA2iKak&list=PLDesaqWTN6ESsmwELdrzhcGiRhk5DjwLP

Also it's hard not to but I wouldn't stress about your age too much. I started college at 32 and it was tough at first, but relative to the younger students - I had a significantly higher stress tolerance and was often way better prepared. The time is gonna pass anyway, you might as well use it working towards something you want.

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ASteeezy@reddit

I usually don’t shill for people but Professor Leonard is the real deal.

I wish I found him before Calc 3 but he single-handily got me through with an A+

It’s insane how well his videos hold up!

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good_names_disappear@reddit

Math was my weak spot when I did college at 35. I had the same problem. Khan academy was my extra uncredited class - after work and other classes I was watching videos and learning all the stuff I'd forgotten. Happy to say I made it through, and I'm sure you will too.

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rdditfilter@reddit

If you can get past the calculus, it gets easier.

I almost failed out my first semester as an adult student because of calculus, as well, for the same reasons. I've still never worked that hard at anything in my whole life and I worked at a startup after that. Calculus 2 was easier.

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101Alexander@reddit

I'm in a similar situation. But I might have a plan that works for you too.

I'm at the calculus level, but its still very challenging. You're competing for class space with almost all other science and even certain liberal arts majors. The quality of teachers can vary wildy to the point where if you don't fit the mold of what the teacher wants, you wont get anywhere. Your schedule is probably the least flexible for choosing classes.

My plan right now is to learn the calculus on my own and see if I can take a placement test to qualify instead. I still need the two physics courses, but I might do something similar for that as well.

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misplaced_my_pants@reddit

https://www.mathacademy.com/ is great if you can afford it. It does everything for you if you keep showing up and doing the work.

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misplaced_my_pants@reddit

https://www.mathacademy.com/ is great if you can afford it. It does everything for you if you keep showing up and doing the work.

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habanero-sunset@reddit

I gave up community college in my mid twenties. But by that time, I had taken a lot of high level prerequisites (calculus, chemistry, physics) without having finished the series. Something like five years later I came back to try and get my four year degree.

I spent a half year auditing prerequisites and studying the material that I once had a grasp on, because there was no way I was ready to take on Calc II, Chem and Physics after 5 years of not thinking about it. And it took up a lot of my time because I was working at the same time. However, after Spring and Summer semesters were over, I felt more comfortable, and I registered to take on the courses that I once gave up on.

I did well finishing Calculus and Chemistry, but I passed the Physics series by the skin of my teeth. Beyond that, there were other math classes like, statistics, and discrete, etc.

I will say this, the whole time I felt it was impossible. I felt it was all beyond my mental capacity, and that maybe I was too dumb to get through all of it. However, I took on a do or die mentality, and said I wouldn't just try my best even if it looked like I was going to fail. And you would be surprised what trying consistently will get you. I thought I was fucked in Physics because I had a 45%. Turns out, everyone else was struggling too, and the professor changed 45% to a C-.

As for programming, you will get a lot of that from other classes. And try to learn one language well, but don't get too attached. I've started a few courses where the programs were supposed to be written in a language I'd never touched before, so... I think as long as you can get yourself to learn, and you stay consistent, you will be fine.

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auto1000ninja@reddit

CS is a math degree.

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dlm2137@reddit

Knowing reddit I'll get downvoted like hell for this but whatever -- This is exactly why I went to a bootcamp instead of going back to school for CS. Got a programming job in a few months instead of years, and now I can learn CS at my leisure after I've increased my salary.

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Mad_Eon@reddit

Just had a similar path where I had to go Pre-calc -> Programming 1 (C++) -> Calculus -> Programming 2 (Data Structures and Algorithms)

It’s a slog and I won’t pretend it wasn’t working full time while doing this. But it’s such an important foundation that you’ll be thankful you went through it. Now I’m in Discrete Structures and all that Intro Math is really helping so much, even though I lost a lot of time watching tv or playing video games I don’t regret it for a moment.

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forhisglory85@reddit (OP)

For sure. Might be under estimating the value of the foundations.

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LookAtYourEyes@reddit

It's all part of programming. It will come in handy.

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No-Nebula4187@reddit

Don’t worry abt the coding. That is the easy part. Make sure you do well in math

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effortissues@reddit

You're right to be concerned, it will be difficult to find an Internship at 43? 44? When all your competitors are in their twenties and so are the damn hiring managers. I went through this myself, graduated at 36. They do a 'culture fit' interview to make sure you're a good fit. This usually weeds out anyone too old or too whatever. My advice is to make friends, lots of friends. You work full time? Means you got money, most of your classmates do not. I formed study groups, provided food, solved small problems for some of them, and got a pretty good following and reputation. I had 20 people show up to my calc2 study session in year 3. With that reputation, I was picked to do cool projects for professors research papers and junk, one such partnered with a local tech company, which allowed me to make contacts and get an internship. Witch lead to a job, then another job and so on....that is....til the layoffs, now hardly any of us are working. As far as finding the time, I only took 3 classes a semester, it took me 6 years to get a 4 year degree. Good luck man!

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dropbearROO@reddit

Unironically try doing Leetcode.

At your level most Leetcode Easies should be no more difficult than a moderately complex sudoku.

Try doing one every day or so.

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ScottHA@reddit

I feel you. I just hit 37 and started working on my Gen Ed's and working full time im averaging 2 classes a month currently. Should be able to transfer about 10-12 classes to an online school in Feb-March and now just trying to decide what degree I should even go for now.

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RareAnxiety2@reddit

Focus on the course, get the grade. After the degree is done or you aren't in class focus on coding. When you have all the pre-reqs from school you can start applying them to leetcode and projects. You aren't going to remember what coding you did 1-3 years before graduating anyways.

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ajfoucault@reddit

What about a Post-Baccalaureate? or a Master's in Comp Sci tailored to people that have a Bachelor's in another field and are aiming for a career change?

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Specialist-Author-23@reddit

I’m 34 and I’m doing the same thing… except now I’ve dropped out of work to have more time in school and still I’m unmotivated to push through.

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EdwardElric69@reddit

I'm 30, went back to full time education at 28 so my 3rd year now.

I also work 30 hrs a week.

I'm lucky that in my job I can do a lot of my college work. If that wasn't the case I wouldn't have made it this far.

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Froesiie@reddit

Oh one I can kind of help with! Cause I'm in the same boat,except 10 years younger. Someone else said "CS" != Programming, which is very true. In a University setting, they try and get you well rounded, is there a lot of math in programming a simple app? No. Is there a lot of math when working on an LLM? YUP. do I really need to learn about the Iliad and the downfall of Troy? Probably not but writing more and more does improve my communication. Does taking a Biology class help? No but it's kinda neat seeing how I can implement an object oriented way of thinking when it comes to certain things about it. Take it slow, and do your best. When you get into higher years, you can focus more on the programming aspect. You also have a different perspective on things, you're there to learn not just be there because it's expected of you, like probably 85% of the kids in your classes. Use that to your advantage and work with the profs.

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forhisglory85@reddit (OP)

That's a great perspective thank you. Well rounded.

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I_AMA_Loser67@reddit

Theres people that go back to school at 60. All that matters is that you get it eventually. The time will pass anyway so you might as well have that paper in your hand.

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jericho1050@reddit

'CS' != 'programming' sir.

sht is so broad af