Sure hope you're not too old, because I'm 37! I just decided to leave my academic career in astrophysics and get a "real" job instead, mostly because of the sacrifices academic life demands in terms of relocation (the bad pay doesn't help either...) I've done a lot of coding as part of my research and I hope I have enough skills to land a job. It's a good reality check reading YC news and hearing about all these technologies I have no idea about...