Profession programmer. What time is it late?

I just didn't know that I was late for the train, so I went

When I first thought about changing my profession, my youth, alas, had already passed. Not that it’s been a critically long time, but the number indicating the number of years lived began with three, and this, as you probably know, is a very advanced age, if you go by the measures of HR managers in the information technology sector. However, I had no idea about my pre-retirement status. It didn’t even occur to me to ask myself “isn’t it too late?” I think this frivolity saved me. If at the first stage of my studies I had come across motivational articles from the series “It’s never too late, even at your gray-haired 29!”, I would have gotten worried and decided that I probably didn’t understand something important about programming. Let’s say that this activity requires the nutrition of brain cells characteristic of young people, but at 26 an irreversible mutation begins - and that’s it, drain the water, turn off the light. Either quit the idea, or do radical brain surgery. This is sort of what they did with the treble boys in order to preserve their unique voices before they became coarse. Or, here, artistic gymnastics. Due to the peculiarities of muscle development for these athletes, everything ends in their twenties, and they will not be accepted into the professional section at the age of eight. Moreover, for the first time in my life I will be called an old man. I have not directly encountered such “young” industries. I studied mathematics, studied science for a while, and then went to teach at the lyceum. High school (even specialized school) is the last place where you will hear the phrases “How? You <substitute any number from 18 to 105> years old! You won’t be able to become a teacher, it’s too late (too early)” or “You have no inclination for teaching at all.” There they will tear off hands and feet anyone who expresses even a fleeting desire to sow rational, good, eternal things in the minds of our youth. They won’t even specifically check for professional suitability. If only there was no criminal record (and who knows...). I have never heard of strict age restrictions for mathematicians or non-programming engineers. So I decided that I had to do something, because at some point I realized: if I stayed at school, I would end up on a full social package somewhere in Kashchenko. Or I just won’t last long. When I decided to change my profession, I still loved mathematics, treated children for the most part with quiet neutral hatred , and my salary with slight bewilderment, given the number of those who died in the unequal struggle with young creatures of nerve cells. Okay, leaving school is an idea. Where should I go? At the institute I liked solving programming problems. True, there were few of them, and I had already forgotten everything. Nevertheless, I made up my mind. I had no idea that I was late for this train, so I just got on it and went .

How I learned to program (very briefly)

1. Learned Pascal quite a bit at school
2. Studied a little C and Java at the institute
3. I tried full-time courses in Java but gave up (10 years after graduation)
4. I came to JavaRush (a year after I quit the full-time courses) - I liked it, but I quickly “flew”, there was not enough time to go deeper.
5. Then I decided to take it seriously. I left school, taking with me several students for tutoring (by the way, if you prove yourself well, in this field you can earn twice as much as at school with four times less time spent (I won’t say anything about saving nerve cells). Continued to study at JavaRush , sometimes tormented a programmer friend with questions, read books, looked for answers on the Internet - classic!
6. I went for an internship at the company and completed it.

At some point, I actually encountered a number of “age-related” problems, some of them directly, others I studied on forums or in communication with “colleagues in happiness,” future thirty-year-old juniors. However, are these problems real? Are they related to physiological age, as in the gymnasts mentioned above, or are they of a socio-psychological nature? I will describe these factors below. And I will expose them, although I will not claim that “just about anyone” can become a programmer.

Factor number one. Psychological barrier or “the clock is ticking...”

It was only when I was studying at the 20th level of JavaRush, and was already starting to think about getting a job, that I felt a little uneasy and began to suspect that I was not at all the young and promising person I felt (and feel) like. And not because I did anything worse than 17-year-old Ivan or 23-year-old Kirill, with whom I communicated on the forum. But because they always wished me good luck, because it is so difficult to study after 30. And even to get a job as a “junior” - even at all! They won’t take it, but if they take it... it’s a shame for the boys to obey. And also because I kept coming across articles “It’s never too late” and understood that since such a question was asked, it means that someone was asking it . And one day my good friend, a programmer, said, “Hurry up, otherwise things won’t work, your resume won’t be considered at all.” Here I completely wilted... And I realized how girls feel when they are constantly being pushed towards marriage and childbearing with rude hints. Remember the caustic phrase, veiled as concern: “the clock is ticking.” I was completely stuck and couldn’t solve a single problem. I opened IDEA, but could not type a single line: instead of my heart rhythm, I heard these very “ticking clocks”, and their ticking was not a ticking at all, but a chime, menacing and loud, like the Kremlin Chimes. Frankly, for some time the Chimes in my head put me out of action. I decided I was just wasting my time. That programming for a thirty-something year old beginner is at most a hobby, and I won’t become a professional. At the age of 22, I started learning to play the guitar and went to swing dancing. Only guitar and dancing took much less time and I had no hopes of becoming a dancer or professional guitarist. And then what to expect?... Fortunately, this self-criticism did not last long. The logician turned on. And this logician said that this is all just an ordinary escalation. That I just have a psychological problem, they say, there are “23-year-old seniors”, and here is such a guy - and he’s not even a junior and I’ll never keep up with them. “Why chase? “I asked myself, “wouldn’t it be better to just continue my studies honestly and see what comes of it?” And I safely continued writing code. And the more I wrote, the better I did it. It's logical, isn't it?

Factor two: are adults worse at studying?

It’s true that adults don’t always have an easy time studying. But this is not because their brains dry out automatically at the age of 28, no matter what a 28-year-old person does in life. In fact, the reason is that many adults are simply unaccustomed to regular study. It's like a gym. If you walk, at least you stay in good shape or strengthen your muscles; if you don’t walk, all your indicators slowly drop. As in the wonderful, albeit hackneyed phrase from “Alice Through the Looking Glass” that you need to run very fast to stand still, and run twice as fast to move forward . So, if you are 30 or older, but you regularly occupied your brain with studies in a broad sense (read, wrote, studied a foreign language, mastered a musical instrument or aircraft modeling) - it will not be more difficult for you to study than it was for you at 20. Only here is it important one point: you did something regularly. I studied constantly. There were mathematical studies, then I learned how to teach (in all seriousness - I studied child psychology, thought through how to convey mathematical information to unprepared minds, wrote notes, and so on), and also English, dancing and guitar. And more recently - boxing. I taught for several years, and I declare with all responsibility: children's age is extremely overrated. I have met incredibly, incredibly stupid children, forgive me for the rude wording. They sat in class like ninety-year-old elders, or not, like opium smokers. In eighth grade, they were unable to add simple fractions, and some had only the vaguest understanding of multiplication. But I also met extremely weak children who began to study and developed their abilities. I have seen very gifted children, and I am sure that unless something very bad happens, they will become equally gifted adults. In the same way, I met my adult classmate who had a chronic “C for pity” in English. At the age of 29, she took up English, studied the language and now works with translations, and at the same time she trained me. Yes, there are some things that children really can do better. But this is not programming, believe me. If you have become unaccustomed to the process of studying, it is important to try to get used to it again, to give yourself time to do just that, to form a habit. Perhaps those who are “out of the habit” should take full-time courses (not even necessarily programming), and then start JavaRush or study programming on their own. If you are not ready or do not want to study a lot, then yes. It's really too late for you. Even if you are 20 .

Factor three: lack of time

I encountered this issue at the beginning of my attempts. For schoolchildren and students, two-thirds of their active time is devoted to study in any sense. Therefore, the appearance of another academic subject for them is not so noticeable and critical if the processes are structured correctly. Half of my time was spent on work, another part on my personal life, I spent an hour a day on hobbies, and part on rest (but most often I checked my tired homework). Well, I slept sometimes. With my schedule, even with a complete abandonment of hobbies, I did not have enough time for serious, brain-intensive study. I was too tired at work. This is perhaps a very difficult question for most people. You need to coordinate the time of studying with your loved ones, refuse some kind of entertainment, think over a system of classes and not be a philanderer, regardless of fatigue. I quit easily because, firstly, I had thought out ways of income in advance (tutoring), and secondly, I knew that I could always return to school for the reasons described above. So here I won’t shout “it’s easy, just do it.” This is wrong. Especially when there is a family. But in most cases you can figure out a way. A family friend of mine, for example, has reduced the number of smoking breaks and chatting with colleagues at work. After doing the math, she realized that it took about two hours of working time. She began to work more intensely and freed up another hour. As a result, she managed to do everything and spent the free two or three hours on JavaRush. By the way, it was she who brought me to this site. And yes, she is already Middle. And yes, she is my age. The bottom line is: the problem is serious, but in many cases there is a solution. Radical, like mine, or rationalization, like my friend’s, or something else. At least try to look for him.

Factor four: someone’s janitor complex or “oh, that HR girl...”

I have always easily communicated with people who are much older or much younger than me. But after analyzing my acquaintances, I realized that this is not always the case, that I am quite unusual in this regard. I don’t know why this happened, but this needs to change. Both in IT and simply in life. Although all IT forums trumpet that “age is not important, knowledge is important,” in fact, age often influences the selection of resumes. Especially when it comes to internships with companies. An acquaintance of mine went to some good paid in-person programming courses and said that they had the smartest guy in the group - my age; their teacher constantly praised him. The teacher, by the way, is an excellent, active programmer, Java Senior (before selecting for the internship for which I entered and completed, I took several invaluable consultations from him). There were also two university students in this teacher’s group. One is “good”, the second is “zero”. So, the guys from this group applied for an internship (not the one I completed, another one) after completing their studies in the “Java Enterprise, Spring, Hibernate” course. Out of the entire group, two people entered, who do you think? That's right, two students. Even the “zero” one. True, he quickly dropped out of that internship, but this changes things: he was given a chance solely because of his age, just like the most promising person from this group was not given a chance, also because of his age. As a result, the “promising” one became a programmer, but he, the “old man,” had to work hard. I didn’t receive a single response to my resume with my date of birth, and as soon as I removed it, things went well. No, really, HR managers, are you serious? Another thing is that when I already came to the interview and was able to win people over, then age really plays a lesser role, and knowledge and the ability to communicate really come to the fore. So my advice to you: remove your date of birth, and remove information that says about your age from social networks (HR managers sometimes look at them). Don't be judged by your age. To be fair, I note that there are excellent HR managers who do not screen out “over-aged” resumes.

conclusions

1. Programming is not ballet. Not singing in treble. Not gymnastics. Here age-related changes in themselves do not play a fatal role. Lifestyle is more important.

2. It is important to overcome the psychological barrier. Young guys in higher positions? Just think, why are you even comparing yourself to them? Stop comparing yourself to potential positions. Measure yourself later. Is it too late to become a pro in a new activity? Well, ok, maybe you won’t become such a programming virtuoso as you would have become if you started at 17 (and that’s not a fact), but decent average students on Java projects are needed no less than “stars”, if not more. If you like programming or you know how to think logically, and you are determined to go into a field that pays well, feel free to take the first step.

3. Время для регулярной учёбы нужно выделить обязательно. Это действительно проблема для взрослого человека, обременённого работой и семьёй, но во многих случаях решаема, если хорошо поискать. Проанализируйте, чем вы занимаетесь в течение рабочих дней и на выходных, подумайте, от чего можете отказаться, что поддаётся реорганизации — и вперёд.

4. Учиться никогда не поздно, сказал тот, кто никогда не прекращал учёбу. Если же у вас перерыв десять лет or больше, будет действительно сложно. Возможно, стоит выделить пару месяцев на Howое-то более простое хобби or пойти на курсы – просто чтобы попытаться привыкнуть к процессу учёбы. Если же вы и так учorсь (чему-нибудь и How-нибудь), тогда изучение программирования для вас не проблема, по крайней мере – не возрастная.

5. Пункты 2-4 для вас решаемы? Значит, вам не поздно быть программистом. И я не спрашиваю, сколько вам лет=).

6. Недалёкий HR-менеджер — это серьезная преграда для взрослого соискателя, но её можно преодолеть. Когда рассылаете резюме, всё-таки отгородите незнакомцев от информации о своём возрасте. Пусть смотрят на стек технологий и ваше умение общаться.

7. Поздно — только если вам лень учиться и вертеться, если вы не готовы ничем пожертвовать в угоду учёбе и ниHow не можете выделить время. Причём в этом случае поздно даже если вам 19.