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Not OP but I would like to give my own version of it, if you don't mind. I changed careers at 30. Before that, I was a "Mechatronics Technologist" which means basically that I worked on automated machinery. I loved that job and did it for 8 years, and I was pretty good too... and I was actually happy with the money... but in that area of work, when you're pretty good, you tend to stay right where you are for the rest of your life. My peers had been doing the same thing I was doing for 25 years. I just couldn't see myself doing that. Mechatronics includes a little electricity/electronics, mechanics and a lot of software... and software was always my stronger point, so I decided to become a software engineer. I changed to the night shift and went to university during the day. It was extremely tough, but I was so glad anyway!! I just loved being in the university again, this time as the older guy rather than the clueless teenager. Took classes very seriously, learned a hell of a lot. Left my job in the last year to start an aprenticeship (yep, they do have those for programmers, just look for it)... getting 1/4th of my old salary , but at this point I needed very little money anyway. After graduation, I quickly got a high paying job and loved every moment of it... after a few years there was some challenges, like working in shit places with shit people, unfortunately, but after moving around a bit I settled at a small company that has really nice people and who absolutely respect me for what I know and the effort I put into learning and teaching others... they recently gave me the pay rise of my life, over 25% , after I had alreay settled at the usual 4% with my manager :D. Just because they wanted to make sure I won't leave (after 6 years at this company, almost any developer would be thinking about leaving, and they're not wrong, even if I am happy, we tend to want to expand our horizons every few years). Anyway, I am really happy working with software, I work on my own software even on my spare time because I just can't stop :D and it's really fun for me. Now that I am getting quite a lot more than on my old career, I am really happy just where I am (and I am not in management or anything , but what makes me happy is that I basically don't report to anyone: they trust me a lot and let me do whatever I want, which is great). I am well aware that finding a job like this is not easy and it took me many years to get it... but I thought that if you needed inspiration, this story might help you. Good luck to anyone reading and just thinking of starting a career change now! It's worth it! |