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Ask HN: Chances for Restarting a Career in CS at 30+?

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I have never been to college to study, but I self-learnt a bit about HTML,CSS, JAVASCRIPT. I tried to build websites using CSS framework bootstrap, zurb foundation, WordPress.

I don't have any job.

Do you think, it makes sense to study computer science at the age of 31? or is it too late? do you have some experience with that? or do you work at a human resources department and can tell me if there is a chance for those kind of people?

5 comments

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[dead] barneythedino
Its never too late, I didn't graduate with a degree until I was 33 and had no problems getting a job. You may find you are one of the oldest at college but that can be a plus.
jiveturkey
It's very possible at 31. Many people in the early days were self-taught. There's so much information available freely online that you don't need to go to college to learn it (you go to college for other reasons).

The fact that you haven't done some really basic stuff on your own though, before coming here, tells me you are not much of a self-starter. So I have my doubts.

Python is easy to approach. Take the codeacademy python course, I think it's free. See if you take a liking to it. If so, find the syllabus for the first 2 years of a compsci program and learn those things. By 1 year into it, you should be able to make a useful nodejs program. Demo it here and go from there.

itamarst
You have almost zero context about the resources available to the original poster. "I have my doubts" is discouraging, and for no reason.
stephen82
As a Computer Scientist myself, allow me to share my story.

I'm currently 36 and I have 11 years of professional experience as a _generalist_, not a specialist in any way.

This means I can solve any problem of yours, but I'm not your guy for a specific niche your business is in.

Does this mean I'm not your guy for solving your issues? No, it means I am the guy who can help you _find multiple solution(s)_ to your existing problem(s), but...tell that to employers that want to hire x10 programmers.

This lack of specialization limits me from other candidates for so many reasons:

  * In tech industry, at the age of 36 I'm considered old, a.k.a useless anymore.
  * I know a bit of everything, whereas fresh grads come in the game as fresh, vibrant, energetic
    humanoids that bring with them their newly acquired knowledge with an attitude of 
    "I do whatever my managers tell me for the sake of initial experience".
  * I work in a considerable "slow" pace, until I check everything it works as expected, in contrast to 
    youngsters that "just ship, fix the chaos later".
That lack of expertise causes me nothing but trouble; an extra issue it had caused me is self-doubt.

I never had this type of issue before.

Now, what should you do? Should you study or should you continue with your own self-learning process?

My suggestion would be "yes" _if_ and only _IF_ you plan to get a masters or a PhD degree and you can work for academia or research.

If that's not the case, you don't need the degree.

You should continue with your self-learnt pace, dive in deep waters without the slightest fear, and don't be afraid to ask countless questions, no matter what kind of questions might be or how silly or goofy might sound!

Learn as many languages as possible that intrigue you.

Don't be afraid of learning languages that look obscure to you.

I used to afraid of Perl due to its cryptic nature until I started learning it myself; now it makes perfectly sense.

I hope this helped a bit.