Any other 30-somethings learning to code?
Posted by Clean-Return-3733@reddit | learnprogramming | View on Reddit | 56 comments
Hey folks,
I’m in my 30s and teaching myself to code through Codecademy (doing the Full-Stack Engineer path). So far I’ve built a few React apps, Express APIs, done some SQL work, and messed around with Git, Node, and a bit of backend stuff too. The plan is to build from there.
Would love to chat with others doing the same thing — maybe swap progress updates, share tips and the like.
rustyseapants@reddit
How can you teach yourself how to code, if you can't format a reddit post correctly?
/u/Clean-Return-3733
Hey folks,
I’m in my 30s and teaching myself to code through Codecademy (doing the Full-Stack Engineer path). So far I’ve built a few React apps, Express APIs, done some SQL work, and messed around with Git, Node, and a bit of backend stuff too. The plan is to build from there.
Would love to chat with others doing the same thing — maybe swap progress updates, share tips and the like.
Quien_9@reddit
Hey man, am 30 and a half, just started to learn a month ago, but am starting with vanilla C
Clean-Return-3733@reddit (OP)
Awesome, how you finding it? I have started looking at C a little as well as it feels like it's important. Sometimes it's hard to know where to start.
InVultusSolis@reddit
C is very important but there's a long ramp-up until you can build something useful.
Quien_9@reddit
I think this is the best way to put it, am reproducing the behaviour of various functions building them from zero, so to really understand what is happening and why. Print an int variable on console is easy, doing it without printf() and using write() instead is a lot less trivial.
InVultusSolis@reddit
Or using assembly and Linux system calls, that's a good time if you're so inclined.
Quien_9@reddit
I want to have a look into assembly too, but not too deep tbh, just play a bit on it after i have some basics under control. But my priority for not is C and then maybe Python.
InVultusSolis@reddit
Depending upon what you want to do I would actually recommend Ruby over Python, but I will admit that Python is popular among the AI/ML crowd. I mostly do systems stuff so I find Ruby to be the most pleasant "high level" language to work with.
EliSka93@reddit
I prefer strawberry C, but you're never too old to try new flavors or even try for the first time.
neofetzu@reddit
stand proud, you are strong
sandspiegel@reddit
Started with 32 learning Web development (I'm 34 now). Did the Odin Project to learn as much as possible and then build a digital shift planer that we now use at the company I work at (I am a warehouse worker). I also won a company award for it. Also built several mobile Apps for myself with React Native and of course many small projects that were part of Odin Project. Currently building an App that me and a friend of mine plan to turn into a company. All in all I spent almost 3000 hours with programming so far over almost 2 years. I had many highs and many lows in that time. Imo the most important thing is persistence, to sit myself down and do the work even if I don't feel like it has been the most important thing in these 2 years.
Alta_21@reddit
Congrats on achieving actually usable app within your first 2 years of of learning.
Good luck with your current project
sandspiegel@reddit
Thanks a lot. The code wasn't pretty but the app works and at the time I just wanted to prove to myself that I could build something that is useful If I really wanted to.
Remote-Ad-6629@reddit
Stated a CS degree at age 39. I'm now 44 working as a full time java dev, got my own startups up and running and continue to improve every day.
house3331@reddit
Seems impossible to find actual stories of people learning then saying they git hired as developers at blank by doing blank. Either the path is very vague or very detailed but actually not hired anywhere
Alta_21@reddit
Is it?
Need some?
Not hired at Google. But I know quite a few that pulled it through and are now working in the it field.
I went to night classes and now teach there so I'm actually surrounded by people for whom they, at some point, took a turn and ended up achieving a lot
Alta_21@reddit
Well... Surrounded meaning at least 5 people per year gratuating (of off 30ish new student per year)
And at least 10 per year finding a job in it (strangely, lots of them don't actually go through the graduation process once they have a job...)
Alta_21@reddit
Started a bit earlier at 27 here.
Went to night classes.
Found a full-time job.
Graduated.
Now teaching night classes on top of earlier mentioned found job.
Meaning I know a lot of 30/40/+ y.o. managing to go through learning cs and landing a job.
Keep it up and happy learning!
egotripping@reddit
Learned Python on udemy at age 35 after I got laid off in an unrelated field. I'm nearly halfway through a masters in computer science now at age 37. You can do it.
aveen416@reddit
How did you qualify for a masters without a CS background?
egotripping@reddit
I did a bridge program that condenses the most important stuff of a bachelors in CS into 6 courses.
scottywottytotty@reddit
wait which
egotripping@reddit
DePaul in Chicago
NoGarage7989@reddit
What careers are you looking at after you graduate? Are you doing any part-time/freelance work related to this industry? How do you find your CS degree vs that period of self teaching?
I’m kinda starting on a similar path too. Switched to web dev with very little knowledge on programming a couple years ago, am now planning to take a degree in a related field.
Clean-Return-3733@reddit (OP)
Thanks for the encouragement, I've dabbled in a bit of python myself but it's not covered really in the Full Stack course I'm looking at on Codecademy. How you finding the CS masters?
egotripping@reddit
A lot of it is very difficult. Data structures 2, Systems 2, and the Applied Algorithms class I'm currently taking are among the most difficult things I've ever attempted to do, but I find it all very compelling and I'm as engaged with it as I can be, so I think I'm in the right thing.
How are you liking Codecademy? Is your course primarily JS?
scottywottytotty@reddit
what masters program is it? i’m looking for one rn, very similar situation
Whiplash-1-1@reddit
That’s awesome 👏
TR_Idealist@reddit
35 yo here. Started Python, GDscript, and JavaScript. Mostly on Python, have finished the MIT opencourseware course. Currently at the stage of wanting a cert to compliment my IT background since I don’t have much professional Python use.
Fun-Management6215@reddit
I was but stopped when it was clear they are building super computers to solely code. We missed the boat.
immediate_push5464@reddit
In my early 30s on a COMPSCI SWE journey.
carezc0@reddit
r_an00@reddit
Just turned 30 and doing cs50 with The Odin Project. I built a few projects with teammates during my webdev boot camp last year, but I felt like I haven't actually learned so I'm starting again.
Relative-Degree-649@reddit
34 CS Software Engineering With Colorado Tech. shame on the school all you want but I dedicate all my time to learning this stuff, Coursera, Codecademy, freecomputerbooks.com . After spending my 20s early 30s straight pothead in LA. I managed to find a passion which is this. I used to produce music on fruity loops and protools so clickin away all day with a computer program was already ingrained in me. And I was a Warcraft/diablo fanatic so yeah I hope I could get to the proper level and work for big tech that’d be cool.
I try to ignore all of the ads selling courses everyday that I see especially on Facebook . There’s this ad that states “make 300k+ in machine learning, computer vision.” May be true but not gonna get it with that course. So I try to treat my online education as much as possible like a top university curriculum but it’s been slow process for my year 1 I see what’s being done out there and want to try some bigger projects which is technically possible with AI but i don’t want to fall in that category of AI reliant. Though I do use AI for questions daily.
Relative-Degree-649@reddit
And I swim 3 hours a week so I don’t get computer geek posture I would hate to be seen as that .
Byzant1n3@reddit
Yep, I'm in my early 30s. I work in IT but have begun to loathe the "run around and fix it" kind of work, and hardware stuff in general. I just started in the last year or so as both a practical means to problem solve at work, and to see if I can figure out how to move away from traditional hardware IT, and into something more software-oriented. Unfortunately, it seems like I've picked the worst time ever to try to do this, but, hey, not doing it is the only way to ensure that it never happens.
All I can do is try.
I've been bouncing between a bunch of different things as far as my learning goes, which is pretty typical with my adult ADD behavior, so I really need to just pick one thing or curriculum to hunker down on and complete.
Low-Drawing7233@reddit
I'm 49, and I spent three years studying web development and gradually built an app in vanilla JS with a backend in NestJS and MongoDB.
It's an app for creating electronic wedding invitations.
It features authorization, a custom captcha, photo and video uploads, map installation, surveys, and a personal account with response previews
rustyseapants@reddit
You you want to learn to code but you can't even format a Reddit post correctly?
Catadox@reddit
I went back for a second BS in CS at 31. Now I’m 41 and back in school working on an MS in CS.
grrrfreak@reddit
35, learning cpp for unreal.
Babyskoll@reddit
I’m starting my journey at 34 with Python. No starch press books have been a life saver for me. I love them. Same with Allen Downey’s books. CS50 on YouTube has been fantastic. The biggest issue I’ve come across is what to do when starting from a blank page. The first thing I have to do is write out a general structure in comments to make the bones of the thing. Then I can take it piece by piece starting with what I remember. Idk if that’s something that people generally struggle with, though.
Every_Baker3206@reddit
Me 31 and starting on free code camp soon I’m gonna start a project for my gf soon! I’m not as far as you but I am having a blast with coding and mostly understanding stuff to a deep level!! It’s satisfying to know how stuff really works!! Anyway feel free to dm if you want!! I’m open to cool ideas where I can contribute!
themanegreat@reddit
start with python by bro code and dont quit till its completed and never quit it for day you go back to same page , build nuroplasticity and dont try to remember anything try understand and implement only just like physics.
kaibanzero@reddit
34 and just started the FreeCodeCamp full stack developer course! About to finish HTML and then next module is CSS! No idea what I'm going to do specifically but heard it's just great to go through
bingbing0523@reddit
On Day 2 of my Python course and also plodding away through SQL, 31. Deliberating a CS masters but not sure yet. This stuff is hard. But feeling stuck professionally is far harder.
nowTheresNoWay@reddit
I’m in my 30’s with over 10 years of SWE experience and I’m still learning too.
Clean-Return-3733@reddit (OP)
Amazing!
What kind of stuff have you specialised in over the years?
Any tips for someone still fairly new to the discipline?
nowTheresNoWay@reddit
I’ve done a lot of stuff mostly Web, Application and Cloud development. I’ve also done some Data science projects when I worked at a smaller company that someone who knew graduate level probability and statistics to help with certain projects. I had a job doing algorithm optimization as well, but that’s more math than CS.
You’ll never be done learning though because there’s always new technologies and better ways to do things coming out all the time and you’ll have to learn that stuff as well if you want to stay relevant in the workforce.
callmejenkins@reddit
29 and started learning about 9 months ago. Pretty deep into the interview process for a SWE position, with an offer likely (according to the recruiting company) assuming I don't somehow bomb a behavioral interview, haha.
ShrimpHeavenNow@reddit
I also started fairly late! I had done a little off and on when I was a kid (myspace and neopet store HTML, good lord), but never really learned in earnest until the covid shutdown at 32 years old.
I haven't quit my job and become a software engineer, but I know enough to make little tools I pull out to automate some tasks at work.
Weirdly, advent of code was what drove me to get better. Having progressively harder challenges is a good motivator, not to mention the huge amount of people also doing it so you can learn from other peoples solutions.
That being said, my father had a doctorate in artificial intelligence, so I, the artsy kid, was able to turn to him whenever I had a question
Clean-Return-3733@reddit (OP)
Wow, having an AI doctorate in the family isn’t a bad resource to lean on.
Sounds like you already have a great base of knowledge! What’s your day job when you’re not coding?
I’ve been thinking about giving Advent of Code a shot this year, seems like a great way to test myself.
ShrimpHeavenNow@reddit
I'm a draftsman for a company that builds scenery for awards and game shows. Like we'll get a 3d model from a set designer and I figure out how to actually build it.
The thing most used thing I've programmed is a tool that calculated linear feet of stuff. I input a a ton of measurements (either by typing them or having it read a .txt file) and it adds it all together and spits it back out in inches and feet. Not at all complicated, but incredibly handy.
Occasionally I'll have to program LEDs and or servos via an arduino for some little gimmicks.
No_Excitement8233@reddit
I am trying learn too, feels like its not going in my head
zetabyte00@reddit
I've studied trying to recreate the front-end of a game site, that way I go learn more about front-end in building UIs. Mainly, about CSS.
Yesterday, I was trying to replicate a main progress bar of the site. Googled here and there, and then asking here on Reddit I found out that it's not possible. Because there's no way to accurately measure the site loading progress by Javascript. And that the most web developers and web designers simply put a random progress animated gif for simulating a real loading progress monitoring.
At the beast, what I'd do is measure the loading time from all images, videos, and audio files. Simulating a pretty real progress bar for the site itself.
Today, I'd back to code in this project again.
Anyone else got used to use that same strategy for leveling up your skillset? Mainly on the front-end part.
saki-22@reddit
aaaxya@reddit
Im just starting again at 33 after learning on and off for years. Last times it was enjoyable but things didnt really click due to the lack of independent projects. Im learning fullstackopen now and plan to make sth proper in a few months!