[lacker]

Can you code or are you looking for a non-coding role?

If you can code, the path back into tech from a lost decade is pretty straightforward - practice up on coding interviews, spam enough companies with resumes to get interviews, then do well on the interviews. If you can ace a coding interview then people will overlook time in your past that you spent unemployed or working for failed companies.

If you can't code and don't want to then I'm not really sure what to advise. It depends on what sort of job you want, exactly.

[dezeiner]

I can't code, unfortunately.

My goal from the very start has been to be a self-starting product builder. I worry it's too late at this point as I don't know who'll take me under their wing at this age.

[readonthegoapp]

Not sure what coding has to do with product management -- unless you are planning on building an IDE or some very developer-specific tool or something.

I went thru at least one of the product mgmt courses on linkedin and i thought it was great-ish. two guys. one guy was hella funny. i figure if you can go thru that and understand the gist of what they're talking about, and can talk about how prod mgmt can or should be done, just the high-level concepts, then you're good to go -- go get a job.

product mgr. product owner. junior. product analyst. etc.

and, i thought i heard 'Prof G' give some good advice the other day -- he told some older woman who was concerned about getting a job while older -- "well, go get a job -- if you can get a job, then that's the proof, just like it is proof if you can _not_ get a job." -- i.e. don't worry about x y z -- just go get a job.

my biggest problem as a wantrepreneur is i just don't want to do product management for anybody else but myself anymore. :-)

i also think finding a mentor is a great idea. and just like-minded idea-y/imagineer-y/startup-y-type folks -- entrepreneur meetups, etc.