[antibland]

I want to share a little story with you. I recently attended a GraphQL meetup. The host presented the app he is building and was very knowledgeable, answering 90% of the questions thrown at him without any hesitation. So far, nothing about the meetup was remarkable. That is, until later that night, when I spoke with the host in greater depth.

In his early 30s, he decided to leave the public school space and pursue software development. He found specific things in the field that interested him and aggressively consumed information about those things. He read about and tinkered with code on his lengthy bus ride to work each day. He began presenting little things he was building at local meetups.

One night, after presenting at a meetup, a developer approached him and asked if he might be interested in interviewing for a new position which hadn't even been publicly posted. He agreed to interview and was hired shortly thereafter. All of this happened within a year's time.

You're definitely not too old to start! I would recommend you follow your curiousness and not simply follow where the money is at some given point in the industry cycle. Curious people go far and are less likely to quit. People into the idea of software development typically become overwhelmed and try something else because they lack a sturdy base.