Learning programming has no age limit
Published: 2020-05-17 04:41:42

I didn’t go to college for a degree in Computer Science or Software Engineering. My first career was in helping people do well on standardized tests and get admitted to the universities and graduate programs they wanted. I specialized in getting people into medical school.

However, I was not in a position to balance an entrepreneurial life and raising three children on a single income. So, last year, when my family and I moved to the United States, I attended a coding boot camp and got a job in IT.

Now, I do DevOps in one of the top 20 Fortune 500 companies.

Like you, I began my IT career at age 27. Now, we all are different; my story isn’t your story and it’s not my place to tell you what to do, but I can share a few things that might be of some help:

The computer doesn’t know how old you are. If you type in the right code, the right things happen; if you type in the wrong code, the wrong things happen.
Since you’re 27, you’re probably at a stage in life where you have more responsibility than you did when you were 18. You have things to take care of, and the kids have nothing but time. There’s nothing you can do about that necessarily, but you can make the most of the time you have by not wasting it frivolously like most college students do.
Understanding the basics of electronic computing is something that most people just don’t “get.” If you can get through  and , both of which are completely free, you will have a much better background in programming than most people graduating college with a relevant degree. Sure, they might have taken the systems class or the algorithms class, but you just figured out the basics all by yourself.
Once you get the basics down, you can learn a marketable skill. A good entry point is to be a “Full Stack Web Developer,” which means that you write both code that runs in the web browser as well as code that runs on a server. You can learn a lot about this by trying projects after learning the basics first!
Keep on learning; many people just study to get that first job and then put on the cruise control. If you’re going to do that, get out of the IT field now; If you actually care about continued learning and are willing to prioritize it outside of work, then go for it and you’ll likely make it!
Focus on problem-solving. IT is a field that is problem-solving where a lot of the solutions just happen to use code. Never lose sight of the bigger picture.
Learn architecture from people who are actually good at it. If you do, your solutions will be amazing; if you don’t, your solutions will be bad.
Once the computer stuff becomes easier (and it will with time), you’ll be able to get both the computer and your fellow employees to do what needs to be done. At that point, you will be a solid candidate for promotions, raises, and so-on.

Good luck!

I didn’t go to college for a degree in Computer Science or Software Engineering. My first career was in helping people do well on standardized tests and get admitted to the universities and graduate programs they wanted. I specialized in getting people into medical school.

However, I was not in a position to balance an entrepreneurial life and raising three children on a single income. So, last year, when my family and I moved to the United States, I attended a coding boot camp and got a job in IT.

Now, I do DevOps in one of the top 20 Fortune 500 companies.

Like you, I began my IT career at age 27. Now, we all are different; my story isn’t your story and it’s not my place to tell you what to do, but I can share a few things that might be of some help:

The computer doesn’t know how old you are. If you type in the right code, the right things happen; if you type in the wrong code, the wrong things happen.
Since you’re 27, you’re probably at a stage in life where you have more responsibility than you did when you were 18. You have things to take care of, and the kids have nothing but time. There’s nothing you can do about that necessarily, but you can make the most of the time you have by not wasting it frivolously like most college students do.
Understanding the basics of electronic computing is something that most people just don’t “get.” If you can get through  and , both of which are completely free, you will have a much better background in programming than most people graduating college with a relevant degree. Sure, they might have taken the systems class or the algorithms class, but you just figured out the basics all by yourself.
Once you get the basics down, you can learn a marketable skill. A good entry point is to be a “Full Stack Web Developer,” which means that you write both code that runs in the web browser as well as code that runs on a server. You can learn a lot about this by trying projects after learning the basics first!
Keep on learning; many people just study to get that first job and then put on the cruise control. If you’re going to do that, get out of the IT field now; If you actually care about continued learning and are willing to prioritize it outside of work, then go for it and you’ll likely make it!
Focus on problem-solving. IT is a field that is problem-solving where a lot of the solutions just happen to use code. Never lose sight of the bigger picture.
Learn architecture from people who are actually good at it. If you do, your solutions will be amazing; if you don’t, your solutions will be bad.
Once the computer stuff becomes easier (and it will with time), you’ll be able to get both the computer and your fellow employees to do what needs to be done. At that point, you will be a solid candidate for promotions, raises, and so-on.

Good luck!

I didn’t go to college for a degree in Computer Science or Software Engineering. My first career was in helping people do well on standardized tests and get admitted to the universities and graduate programs they wanted. I specialized in getting people into medical school.

However, I was not in a position to balance an entrepreneurial life and raising three children on a single income. So, last year, when my family and I moved to the United States, I attended a coding boot camp and got a job in IT.

Now, I do DevOps in one of the top 20 Fortune 500 companies.

Like you, I began my IT career at age 27. Now, we all are different; my story isn’t your story and it’s not my place to tell you what to do, but I can share a few things that might be of some help:

The computer doesn’t know how old you are. If you type in the right code, the right things happen; if you type in the wrong code, the wrong things happen.
Since you’re 27, you’re probably at a stage in life where you have more responsibility than you did when you were 18. You have things to take care of, and the kids have nothing but time. There’s nothing you can do about that necessarily, but you can make the most of the time you have by not wasting it frivolously like most college students do.
Understanding the basics of electronic computing is something that most people just don’t “get.” If you can get through  and , both of which are completely free, you will have a much better background in programming than most people graduating college with a relevant degree. Sure, they might have taken the systems class or the algorithms class, but you just figured out the basics all by yourself.
Once you get the basics down, you can learn a marketable skill. A good entry point is to be a “Full Stack Web Developer,” which means that you write both code that runs in the web browser as well as code that runs on a server. You can learn a lot about this by trying projects after learning the basics first!
Keep on learning; many people just study to get that first job and then put on the cruise control. If you’re going to do that, get out of the IT field now; If you actually care about continued learning and are willing to prioritize it outside of work, then go for it and you’ll likely make it!
Focus on problem-solving. IT is a field that is problem-solving where a lot of the solutions just happen to use code. Never lose sight of the bigger picture.
Learn architecture from people who are actually good at it. If you do, your solutions will be amazing; if you don’t, your solutions will be bad.
Once the computer stuff becomes easier (and it will with time), you’ll be able to get both the computer and your fellow employees to do what needs to be done. At that point, you will be a solid candidate for promotions, raises, and so-on.

Good luck!

I didn’t go to college for a degree in Computer Science or Software Engineering. My first career was in helping people do well on standardized tests and get admitted to the universities and graduate programs they wanted. I specialized in getting people into medical school.

However, I was not in a position to balance an entrepreneurial life and raising three children on a single income. So, last year, when my family and I moved to the United States, I attended a coding boot camp and got a job in IT.

Now, I do DevOps in one of the top 20 Fortune 500 companies.

Like you, I began my IT career at age 27. Now, we all are different; my story isn’t your story and it’s not my place to tell you what to do, but I can share a few things that might be of some help:

The computer doesn’t know how old you are. If you type in the right code, the right things happen; if you type in the wrong code, the wrong things happen.
Since you’re 27, you’re probably at a stage in life where you have more responsibility than you did when you were 18. You have things to take care of, and the kids have nothing but time. There’s nothing you can do about that necessarily, but you can make the most of the time you have by not wasting it frivolously like most college students do.
Understanding the basics of electronic computing is something that most people just don’t “get.” If you can get through  and , both of which are completely free, you will have a much better background in programming than most people graduating college with a relevant degree. Sure, they might have taken the systems class or the algorithms class, but you just figured out the basics all by yourself.
Once you get the basics down, you can learn a marketable skill. A good entry point is to be a “Full Stack Web Developer,” which means that you write both code that runs in the web browser as well as code that runs on a server. You can learn a lot about this by trying projects after learning the basics first!
Keep on learning; many people just study to get that first job and then put on the cruise control. If you’re going to do that, get out of the IT field now; If you actually care about continued learning and are willing to prioritize it outside of work, then go for it and you’ll likely make it!
Focus on problem-solving. IT is a field that is problem-solving where a lot of the solutions just happen to use code. Never lose sight of the bigger picture.
Learn architecture from people who are actually good at it. If you do, your solutions will be amazing; if you don’t, your solutions will be bad.
Once the computer stuff becomes easier (and it will with time), you’ll be able to get both the computer and your fellow employees to do what needs to be done. At that point, you will be a solid candidate for promotions, raises, and so-on.

Good luck!