Ask HN: Is 25 too late to become a proficient developer?

Sorry to disappoint you, but the answer is a simple no. Matter of fact, there are very few things that you can't start at 25 and become proficient at.

There is a fancy indicator for when it is too late to start something and advance towards being proficient. It is called death (maybe not that fancy).

No. Especially if you already have some programming skills. It means you're starting with a knowledge (or at least familiarity) of programming concepts.

Not sure where this ageism comes from (someone please explain). To me it seems like either you get it or you don't. As long as you get it, have a mind for problem solving, and have the willingness/ability to adapt to new tech and best practices, the age you start doesn't make a difference.

Your age is only one factor among many other factors. Especially on the internet - how would anybody even know how old you are.

Age is irrelevant. It's all about what you know and what you're willing to know that determines whether or not you're good at something. I've worked with web developers twice my age in their 50's. Some of them started programming in their late 30's. It sounds like you're proficient enough, so you'll be fine. It's all in your head my friend.

I often worry that being 25 myself is a cause for concern because non of my startup ideas have taken off, but I figure I've got my whole life to try and make a startup work.

There are always going to be people better than you and worse than you. I think if you have the ability to teach yourself, you will be fine no matter what your age is.I am 33 now and I constantly try and stay on top of things. It is impossible to stay on top of anything for very long in this business, but it is important that you keep trying. I would not be discouraged about that particular age, since that is exactly when I turned mine around. Doubt is your worst enemy.

25 is still pretty young. Take Berkeley's SaaS classes-it will teach you advanced Ruby on Rails.

Wha-huh? Of course not. Neither is 35, 45, 55... I plan to work until I'm at least 80, if I live that long. I was still playing in the Army at 25. Take a look at MIT's Open Course Wear videos for Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs - half the class looks past 30 and some have gray hair. Go for it.

Though I had done some html and css before I turned 30, I didn't start programming until I was 33, and now it's my full time gig, so no. At 25, you're still just a pup.

Also, from what I understand, it isn't rare for CS students to be somewhat overwhelmed when starting programming in the real world. In the real world, the technology stack moves very quickly, while most universities are still focused on things like Java. Possibly because these languages are better at teaching you skills that get you into good habits, but I'm not sure.

A word of advice, don't get caught up in chasing every new language, framework and technology. Choose wisely and learn what you're going to need for the next 5 years. Ruby is very much in demand at the moment, and javascript is growing considerably, both because of client side and node.

Nothing is too late in life. Stop procrastinating.

thank you all very much for your advise. I'm starting today. As far as languages, I picked django because I know python. I hope the future for that language is somewhat bright.

no

Absolutely not.

One of the guys in my CS class was 27 when he first started programming. Not only did he end up in the top of the class, he landed a good job at a huge consultancy firm and became a senior member of staff within about two years of being there.

If you want to be a developer then start developing!

ABSOLUTELY NOT!

I will be 38 next month. I completed my thesis for grad school in 2010 (35 y.o.). I started taking prerequisites for CS school back in 2000 (25 y.o.) because I had a Bachelors in something totally unrelated to CS. I liked programming when I did a bit in HS but never pursued it until I took a CS101 programming course using C++.

I'm nothing special but I am proud of what I can do. It is never too late, sure as hell not at 22 or 25 or even much later.

To be fair you probably won't grow up to be Linus Torvalds, Bjarne Stroustrup or James Gosling, but then again how many of us will be? I'm still gainfully employed, I'm doing ok, started learning Rails on my own 18 months ago, working on other web based mobile frameworks. It is never too late. And depending on how much time you spend on it maybe you could be another one of these guys, who the hell is anyone to say?

The one thing you have to be when learning anything with programming is you need to be persistent. I hit the wall more times than I can count. You need to reach out and ask for help without worrying about looking stupid. Some of the assholes will insult you or look down at you ("you couldn't figure it out yourself? loser...") but the hell with those people.

Mobile dev is probably not 5 years (feel free to correct me) meaning if you know nothing right now the experts really don't know that much more than you do now. I've heard of 40+ year olds going back to school to be a doctor. Being a doctor takes an awful lot more time than being a good coder, and it wasn't too late for them and it sure as hell aint too late for you. If you are persistent, curious and some level of intelligence is enough to do well.

One thing though - as far as the age thing, some code shops might stay away from the older folks because they want cheap talent with no life or responsibilities. Those opportunities may not work out for you but you don't want them.

Who ever told gave you the impression that youth is so important to be a good coder does not know what they are taking about. Carpe Diem my friend!

Even if the whole world is against you...continue.

Man. At 25, you are still so incredibly young, you have no idea. I am 30 and still feel incredibly young, but you already have a 5 year jump on me, which is huge. Take advantage of it and don't waste it. You're already on the right path by looking to be a developer, which leaves the world open to you. Maybe you'll get tired of working on other people's stuff when you reach 28 or so, and maybe you'll start a company that you're passionate about and exit by the time you're 30. Then you can spend the rest of your life swimming with sharks, looking through telescopes and learning more about physics, or whatever it is that excites you. 25 is the ideal age to make this transition. Do it.

25 is too late if you want to become a professional athlete perhaps, for anything involving brain skills, you're still a kid.

I hope not. I'm 35 and just started myself... first semester CS course.

Being a developer is not about how old you are when you get started, its about how much you love it.

It's not the olympics, you don't have to be the top 100 in the world to matter.

I started at about 8yo... professionally at 16 and I'm 32 now. I think worrying about things like this is a proxy for accepting one's own aging and mortality.

Starting in my early youth gave me certain advantages, primarily in internalizing the underlying structures but it's the rare exception that has the access and parental support to gain such early life experience. Most of the time, the advantage is in spinning up on new projects - which is a relatively small % of the time spent working on projects.

I really think that being industrious will compensate for any advantage very quickly.

That being said, some people say it takes 10,000 hours to gain real expertise in a field and starting at 25 makes that more difficult.

Nope.

It's a lot easier than you think to become a developer who can create products that have value.

OTOH, I've been coding for > 20 years, majored in CS, and I'm still light years away from the C hackers I see often around here.

Just depends on your goals. Keep improving. Web apps aren't difficult to become proficient at creating. Hacking the linux kernel or building realtime trading systems is a lot harder.

>I've read several posts on hacker news whereby people starting out at 22 are somewhat discouraged.

I has some experience but I started my degree at 22 and got my first dev job at 25.

Firms will hire you if you are passionate and knowledgeable about your newly chosen field.