I'm almost 29 and only have finished high school. I never new what I wanted to do until 7 years ago. Software engineering and development.

It took me a little while an some effort to find a employer who sees my potentials and is willing to invest in me.

Two weeks ago I decided to finally go back to school again (self study). Last week my boss told me he is proud and willing to share the costs.
Today my books arrived.

I am so excited and nervous!! November 5th (also my birthday) will be the first day of school.

Good luck! Nice to hear that some people are still trying hard to be lucky with their future!

Congratulations, happy birthday and good luck. Thankd for sharing with the community, it will inspire lot of people, and may be we will hear the whole story on devrant podcast.

I'm 29 too! And I'm planning to go to a bootcamp next year.

Thnx guys, this motivates me even more!
@burswag just do it. It will be fun!

I'm 23 and slowly discovered that development is something I'm passionate about. I was going to get a CS degree but feel like it will drain me financially and mentally. I learn best on my own hands down and decided to instead get a 2 year certification, which is shorter and pertains entirely to the development world. So I can completely empathize with you; It's just a 6 year difference.

Good on you. Never too late to learn

Learning at any age is a beautiful thing. Jeff Barr, Chief Evangelist at AWS, continues his studies at the University of Washington, even at his ripe age. I'm sure there are countless other examples.

Good luck man! Best wishes

22/chicago here, what advice do you have for someone--without a CS degree and who's only "relevant" work history is in pc repair? But who's passion is PROgramming, 98% self taught and _really_ knows their shit---who is looking to get a job as a dev?

For the past year I've been doing OpenSource, GitHub everydayyyy. I figure if the interviewer/recruiter actually knows something about programming and looks at my profile will hopefully my true measure.

so yeah. any pointers?

What a coincidence! I'm 27 and my birthday is also 5th November 😊 Best of luck to you!

@rozzzly wow, have you tried interviewing for any companies yet? By looking at your credentials and reading that you "write too much documentation" I would have to assume you are more than qualified to start a career in Software development. I would say if you haven't applied yet to just go for it. You could use your documentation as proof of your competence, but be prepared to be able to fully explain and break down any other source code you have written because most likely they will look for communication skills that are valuable when working with people.

@rozzzly make sure you have all your experiences written on your résumé, especially your open source projects.
Be prepared to start with a low salary. Small companies are more willing to hire you with few "work"experience.

And also.... NEVER give up!

@adli89 I will remember you. Watch devRant closely on the 5th ;)

@BikerMouse i will. I watch devRant closely everyday anyways 😂

Good luck!

I've been there, not knowing what to do with my life until I realised I spent most of my time on my computers and so, I've learned how to code, got a job, and noragrets since then.
Good luck man, keep going, it's gonna be hard but you gonna make it through, I'm sure of that. 😊

Same here. Left the army with 28y and had no job education. Started programming a year before leaving and now am an apprentice software engineer. Thanks code for giving me chances!

Nice bro. I am happy for you.

Really inspiring story brah

@rozzzly I need a frontend developer on my team, if you are willing to go to the Netherlands. :)

@veslav trying to pay for relocation? 🤔

@rozzzly I'm the backend developer in a start-up which consists of 4 people now. I don't think this company is the best for you in terms of money. We have to figure some things out still. Other than that there are alot of companies looking for talent in my country. But if you are really interested we can talk further to see if it's anything for you.

@rozzzly we should at least talk on Skype or smth sometime, I think I can be resourceful for your situation.