[oweiler]

I've started learning to code when I was 26 and people told me I was too old and should stay with my shitty job.

Fast forward ten years and I'm a senior software engineer which gives trainings on Spring Boot and Microservices and helps companies implementing Continuous Delivery and Microservice architectures.

You may think I'm gifted but I'm actually not. I'm a very slow learner and bad at Math. I mostly program from 9 - 5 and only work on side projects when I'm feeling to (which sometimes means not doing any commits for months).

But I like what I'm doing and work hard to improve.

[overcast]

People told you at 26, that you're too old, and should be complacent? I guess maybe if you're trying to be a professional athlete, and this is your first time picking up a ball. But learning to code? That's the dumbest thing I've ever read. Most people don't learn to code until college to begin with, so what, you're a few years behind? That's just silly.

[richardknop]

26 is still young! I would understand if people would tell this somebody who is 56 (9 years from retirement), there might not be enough upside to changing career at such late point. But even then I'd say it might be worth it.

But 26 is still a blank canvas you can learn anything easily. I think there might be a bias as many hackers started learning programming when they were 15 years or younger so they assume it has to be like that for everybody.

[NotSammyHagar]

Yeah, that's bull shit, 26 is not too old. I'm 50+, just quit my last job where I was a principal software engineer, did 4 interviews, got 4 offers, took the one that made me director of a project (I have previous management experience too). If you keep coding and don't become just a manager, the world is open to you in software.

I have many years of experience and built up expertise, but I was in grad school until I was almost 30!