[vmsmith]

I'm 62. Although I've dabbled in programming since 1977 when I took a CS course as an undergrad (FORTRAN on a main frame), my entire life was basically in other areas: 20+ years as a U.S. Naval officer, followed by 12 years as an IT project manager.

And yet at 62 I am jumping in feet first. Starting early last year I immersed myself in Python and online introductory statistics, and this year I actually have several real-world Python projects I'm doing (while concurrently I've upped the ante in statistics and started an MS program in Applied Statistics).

I fully expect that by the end of 2015 I'll be happily ensconced in a well paying, full time job doing some combination of programming and data analysis.

Although in many ways my situation differs from yours -- I probably have more financial resources to buffer the time off I took to shift gears, and I have a lifetime's worth of associates who are helping me in ways large and small -- the larger point is that it's never too late to learn something new and start applying it. Never.

As Henry David Thoreau said in Walden, "If a man advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to life the life he has imagined, he will meet a success unexpected in common hours."

That's another way of saying, "Go for it!"

Good luck.