I've been meaning to start a blog/YouTube/podcast/something for a good while now, as a way to start documenting my programming journey.
A little about me, I'm 42, have a wife, kid, 2 dogs and a cat, and have (mostly) worked bs jobs in order to make ends meet.
I'm sure there's a lot of people in my shoes, trying to get a start in a new career, and coming to software development later than most, so I'm hoping maybe this might help some people who are in the same boat.
Honestly, I've been trying to learn to code on and off since 2016-2017. I've learned some basics, but I've struggled to retain things in the past. I hopped around a bunch, got stuck in Udemy Course Hell(more on that later), had a child, a couple of major deaths in the family, and a huge cross country move plus a bunch of other stuff that threw me off track.
So here I am, 2ish years later making another go of it.
Why?
For one, I'm a creative person. Programming is, in a lot of ways, the ultimate creative experience. For two, I want to do something I love for a living. I've done mostly career-dead jobs. I want something more. For three, I want to be home more. I took a job in the oil field in texas, because good jobs where I live in Arkansas are scarce. It pays decent, but I'm away for over a month at a time, with maybe a week off in between. My son is almost 4, and I'm missing a lot of his life.
What am I learning? I'm currently going through Tim Buchalca's insanely huge Java Master Class for Developers. It's a 75+ hour long course jam packed with everything a person would need to learn Java. I'm saying that as someone who has bought and tried more courses than I should have, but if I figured out one thing doing that, it is how I learn and what I needed to do to progress.
This is getting kind of long, so I'll continue in the next one.
Oldest comments (37)
Go for it. Age and life stage don’t matter for this. Make an app - that’s the best way to learn, even if you’re adapting from a tutorial. Then make another one. Keep at it!
Thanks. I will definitely do that eventually. I have an idea for an app that ai plan on starting once I finish the basics of this course.
Thank you! Working in the oil field, I do get plenty of spare time, fortunately, so I've been pouring that into learning over the last 54 days (currently doing the 100 days of code thing on tweeter). I usually do 2 hours a day and then on slow days I fit in maybe another 3-4.
Good luck! Anything is possible if you put ur mind to it!
It is definitely not easy being a nerd in Arkansas, lol. Most of the dev community seems focused around Fayetteville/Little Rock, but of course I live in a smallish town (Mountain Home, was in an even smaller one a couple months ago). Learning Java has been a ton of fun so far, and it's really sticking thanks to all the practice I'm getting. Awesome to hear from another Arkansan.
Nice! What are you studying? Wish I could afford to quit, but at least I have the spare time to learn in.
Sounds great! All the best on your journey!
If you have a passion, it's never late man.
In my personal opinion, it's never late for 2 things: coding and riding to bike.
Both hard but when you done, you will have different view to the world.
I would add a few more: to learn playing a musical instrument and start sport activities.
Never too late for those either!
Very cool. Which bootcamp is it?
It is only too late to start something new only after a person has already died!
So, just go for it!
Don't hold back!
Keep on trying, making mistakes, but go for it!
Good luck! đź‘Ť
I'm not dead yet, thankfully :D I appreciate it. How are developer jobs in Russia? Plentiful?
Developers market in Russia is big. However, it is hard to find a remote job :D
Other aspects are more or less the same as everywhere.
I wonder why remote jobs are difficult there? They seem really plentiful in the US.
I believe that it is due to the high inertia of the local market and/or employers' mindset.
Another reason is that there no legal base and total lack of a culture of work of the distributed team.
I am 34 and I am a government employee. But I do not like 9-5 jobs and I love to work at home. Learning to code now.
My ultimate goal is working from home at least part of the time. Eventually I want to get into android also. What are you studying?
I study HTML CSS and Javascript these days.