Ask HN: At what age is “too old” to work in tech as a software engineer?

Re:Ask HN: At what age is “too old” to work in tech as a sof... by crate_barre on Tuesday December 28, 2021 @08:10AM (#29713418)

Eh, why not? You don’t seem like too serious of a person anyway. You just made it all the way to 28 pursuing medicine and didn’t realize the commitment necessary for it until a decade in. Okay, fine, mistakes happens. Sure, waltz into software development too, get you a bootcamp seat, take some Courseras. You’ll face the same level of competition in this field too, everyone’s jacked up on Adderral, just like in med school. It’s not a cake walk anywhere you go.

But you don’t seem serious, so this is about as serious as an answer I’m willing to give. There’s 100 other egotistical people swapping over to this profession mid career too, it’s just as cut throat. Trust me on this. Ageism is the last of your concerns. There’s probably someone older than you that’ll wipe the floor with you if you think this is an easy way out.

You’ll be back here in two years lamenting about how hard Leetcode is.

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Re:Ask HN: At what age is “too old” to work in tech as a sof... by LEDThereBeLight on Tuesday December 28, 2021 @03:10PM (#29717505)

What a dismissive comment. Everyone competitive or with ambitious goals has moments where they feel overwhelmed and their mind screams and looks for a way out, and the question is whether you should trust that feeling and look for something that would make you happier or find a way to pull your head up and remind yourself why you chose this situation in the first place. It's totally reasonable to look for advice when this happens, and doesn't show a lack of "planning" - it always feels different when you're in the middle of it from how you saw something originally.

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Re:Ask HN: At what age is “too old” to work in tech as a sof... by crate_barre on Tuesday December 28, 2021 @04:29PM (#29718464)

You are just validating my general tone then of ‘snap the fuck out of it, are you crazy?’.

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Re:Ask HN: At what age is “too old” to work in tech as a sof... by pookietuesdays on Tuesday December 28, 2021 @12:24PM (#29715793)

I never really said it was easy. I pursued medicine in part because of pressure from family. I am not looking for an out, just trying to pursue an interest and see what it’s like professionally, which is why I asked here. You make a lot of assumptions which are very wrong.

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