| It's never too late. What matters most is that you are good at the work and can produce results. For me, I went back to school about 5 years after a liberal arts undergrad to get a BS in computer science, and it has worked out. I was about 27, but there were numerous men and women in my classes in their late 30's and early 40's, all making the switch to CS to keep their skills sharp and better support their families. Some had been lawyers, accountants, and other white collar jobs--and they decided to make the change anyway. So, yes, it's common, and employers understand that people are coming to programming from many different paths/backgrounds these days. (At least the ones who aren't snobbish.) Most importantly: use what you perceive as your weaknesses as your strengths. You know a ton about accounting. Use that! Doing programming work that overlaps with your previous career will probably yield the highest immediate pay, since you have domain knowledge in that area already. (And why waste it?) That would be my angle to get into programming: find a company that programs accounting systems/financial software of some sort and offer your skills. Their end-users are accountants who have the same problems/frustrations as you. Why not discuss with them and help solve those problems directly? Offer them what they don't have yet, and only you do. |
And there's a LOT to be said for bringing the knowledge you have, and making something useful with it.
In my opinion, if you decide to switch, the best thing you can do is start practicing. Whether you learn from online courses, school, friends, or books matters less than how much time you spend practicing. Preferably, put as much of your own work as you can in a public repository (somewhere like github.com) so that people can see that you get things done.