Is it just me? I hate feeling like I'm too old (35) to begin a tech career. I love programming, but get the sense that I missed the boat on learning enough to be a "successful" programmer. I'm crazy to think everyone getting hired in this field is younger, right?

You are never too old to learn something, as long as you are motivated!

I'm 28 and even tho I'm a programmer I feel the same way (miss the boat) because I started at 25 ☹️

Guess it doesn't really matter. There will always be someone who started earlier and someone who started later

I feel sometimes similiar feelings.
I am 22 years old and started programming less than a year ago, aftet 3 years of sysadmining, while my freelance dev friends started 5 or 6 years ago when they were in high school.

Never stop believing in yourself and your abilities, do what you enjoy doing and don't comoare yourself to others too much.

The only significance I can see of your age is that you'll probably have a harder time finding jobs. But you could always be a freelancer

years come with wisdom. you can better mitigate procrastination and learn more efficiently by making more informed decisions about how you educate yourself

AFAIK it's only actually easier to learn stuff when you're younger than five. So stop with the excuses and just start studying.

I don't think that has anything to do with age. Devs are in demand in so many countries.

Hell no, I'm 47 and has been a payed programmer since 20...

I still learn new stuff every day, thats what makes this such a great job!!

We can't all be s protagonist child that learned c & assembly at the age of 5...

You're never to old to keep learning and hiring, well it highly depends on the company in question, no harm in taking internships though.

Ganbare!.. I mean, you can do it!

If you're motivated enough, it won't take you much time(some months maybe) to reach the same level as guys who just finished high school. Autodidacts is a really good point on your CV too. You may need to put more effort showing what you can do to get a job, but that's worth it :p

Same age here, still trying to land on the first dev job. It's true there is some age discrimination, but if you have the basic skillset, you can get one.

@jAsE I meant devs are economically in demand in many countries. There are more positions than available devs.

It's absolutely not too late.

This industry has a general "first mover's advantage". Meaning that if you start now, you can simply pick up the latest and the hottest tech stack to learn. The developers who have been doing this for longer are getting too tired to pick up all this new stuff constantly when they've hardly had enough time to even master the previous generation stuff.

Moreover, the skill to do programming is the skill of building. You don't necessarily need to compete with pure development skills. Build something meaningful and useful with your skills and that becomes what you're known and respected for. People will know you as "the guy who invented XXXX" instead of "the best programmer out there". The latter is arguably harder and definitely more dull.

It's never too late, just go for it!

@jAsE you sure you're 32? Well, it doesn't look like the way you post rants here. Well, trolling does make you look younger. =D

Anyways, age really does not matter as long as you are motivated and determined to finish a program. I started programming at 14, and stopped due to some circumstances. Now, I've been working as a developer for almost 3 years and counting and would like to learn more.

Hoping laziness won't stop me, though. >_<

@jAsE not hearing you though.

I don't think you're ever too old to start learning. Getting hired is more about experience and skills than age.

Plus you have the benefit of other developed skills that youngsters fresh out of college/university don't have. People skills/planning skills etc

By the way I'm 34 and to hear 35 being described as old makes me die a bit inside!

Off topic but mother of God you're all making me feel young 😥

@theScientist cheers, mate!

@jAsE :p