When you're 30+ years old, married with kids, it may seem impossible to change careers into tech without getting a degree and potentially taking on a bunch of debt.
That's exactly what I thought. I was stuck working at factory jobs that treated me subhuman and so were all my friends. I remember a time I asked for a day off for my daughter's birthday, and was literally laughed by the supervisor. I wasn't making a lot of money, I had to take care of my wife and 6 kids, and work tons of overtime on 12 hours shifts. Sometimes I was working 2 jobs. I was miserable.
How I Got Started Learning To Code
One day I was said, "This can't be life, I have to figure this money thing out". From then I started several things, from a YouTube Channel, a cleaning service, and selling t-shirts on Shopify. I was constantly looking for the right skills to learn so I could dig myself out of this hole.
I stumbled across a forum post and everyone was talking about buying Colt Steele's Web Development Course. I looked up what web development was and the pay and I told my wife "In a year to a year and a half, I'm going to get us out of this".
My wife was super excited she said she "just felt" like this was the right move for our family. So after working 12 hour days I would come home and code. My wife sacrificed her time so I could put in the work and I appreciate her for that. I know it wasn't easy. We both had our eyes on the prize.
Building A Community
I know that since I didn't have a degree, I was "old", and my job history was mostly manual labor and call center work. My resume wasn't going to have people beating down my door to hire me. I figured a way for me to stand out was to get to know as many people in tech as possible.
After about 2 months of learning, I started to go to meet-ups(if they were on my off day), volunteered to teach kids to code with my local CoderDojo once a month, mentored at a workshop to teach women Angular, attended the biggest developer conference in my city. I even spoke at a few meet-ups before I got a job.
I would meet people and tell them what I was doing, ask them questions about what they were doing, and try to learn as much as possible. During this time I'm still learning to code before work, and on weekends. I was super tired and exhausted and always felt like I wasn't doing enough.
Building An Online Community
I wanted to have as many job prospects as possible. So in addition to being active in my local community, I was super active on Twitter. I would share everything I was learning on Twitter. I shared everything I was doing offline on Twitter as well. I would update my progress and ask questions. I helped other people with their questions who were learning to code.
I built relationships with developers, I reached to be on a podcast before I had a job. I was blogging things I was learning on Medium. I consistently showed up and I think I really proved that I was willing to work hard.
The Hard Times
It wasn't all fun & games. This process was stressful, I was getting forced to work overtime every week at my old job. I was rejected from job after job, even the ones I got referrals to.
Most jobs wouldn't even call me back. At one point I thought maybe this is what I'm meant to be. Honestly, it hurt thinking I was stuck here and couldn't do more after trying so hard.
Going to work putting powder in boxes 400 times a day really seemed like a waste of my time and potential. I wanted to do more and experience more.
When I was studying I stopped doing anything fun, no TV shows, no video games, no sports, and no Netflix. I think I saw two movies(Avengers). It was just work, code, and reading books. If I wasn't with my family.
I wouldn't recommend this, but I felt like I had to go hard
like I was making up for the lost time.
I remember when I went to New York for CodeLand Conf (I got a free ticker off Twitter), I took a flight there and back. I took one day off of work and I only had one day left to miss from work or I would've been terminated(We could only miss 4 days in a year). So it decided to rain like crazy that day. Brooklyn looked like it was flooded on the News and my flight got delayed.
I WAS STRESSED. I ended up making it home at 3 AM and was at work at 7 AM. Before I went I asked could I get an excused absence if my flight was delayed of course it was declined.
Just got off of work before heading to NYC
Light At The End Of The Tunnel
I met with the co-founder of egghead Joel Hooks over zoom after interacting a bit over Twitter. He invited me to do a few things like teach on egghead or review courses. I was too busy at the time because we decided to sell our house and look for a new one. I felt bad because I felt like I was wasting an opportunity.
Over the course of the next few months even though I was in the middle of moving. I kept posting on Twitter, I kept learning, I kept networking. My wife kept supporting me, even though she was getting tired.
5 months later after our first zoom meeting, I was offered to come to egghead to foster the community and learn Ruby on Rails. It was the biggest sigh of relief I've ever had.
I had visions of that day where I would walk out that factory and never come back. Through work, luck, and sacrifice I made it happen.
Now I spend plenty of time with my family because I work remotely. We found our dream home and life has been good for us. Looking back I would've never thought I would be here.
What's Next
Currently, I'm aiming to get better at Ruby on Rails and React and continue to build new relationships and help others build themselves professional networks.
Thank you for reading! If you would like to keep up with what I'm doing next follow me on Twitter
Latest comments (119)
It’s always nice to hear a heartening story from someone who overcame and achieved their goal. I’m getting moving myself and this is officially the first time I’ve reached out to the community. You’re and inspiration and I hope it all works out just how you hoped!
Awesome story! I just turned 35 recently and have been learning to code for a year or so. I appreciate you writing this. I don't know many my age yet that are just getting into coding.
reading this being at 26 and thinking life is hard, well your story inspires me to even persevere more.
This inspired me. Am presently taking the course and thanks for sharing.
Truly inspiring stuff. A huge congratulations to you - not enough people are still aware that working in the dev sector isn't just for people who fit a certain hiring mold. Having real life experiences is a huge addition to this kind of work, to teams, and is a huge step toward taking down gatekeeping for so many amazing opportunities. I hope your story inspires even more people to make the shift regardless of where they are, if it's what they want!
Inspiring story Will! I feel compelled to point out how important your multi-pronged approach was... learning not just the technical skills, but also building your network in the industry. It's not enough to just learn the technology and then send out hundreds of resumes proclaiming your brilliance. You also need to be part of the community and you have some great tips for doing so! Sure, if you're one of the top 1% absolutely brilliant programmers who hermits in their basement all day, you'll probably get hired for your skill, but that's not most of us. It's important to get out there not only to network, but to also show that you have highly developed EQ (Emotional Quotient) and personal skills, which, let's be honest, will give you a leg up on many other candidates in our software industry.
Thank you Felipe! I appreciate that!
Thank you for sharing your story Will. I'm a flight attendant and my job takes me away from my wife and 6 month old son for up to 7 days at a time, effectively leaving my wife to solo parent which I'm hating. I started to learn to code earlier this year, its something I've been interested in for a while and I decided to use my time downroute in hotels to learn code so I can change my career path and be there for my family more. Reading stories like this keeps me on track and makes me feel like I can make that change. Thank you again Will.
Hey Adam that’s cool you’re using your downtime to learn, do you network at well?
Not networking yet. I’m going to be working on that soon.
This is an inspiring journey! I love to hear these stories. I also have a family and balancing family, career, and learning new skills is incredibly difficult. You rock sir!
Thank you Nikiya, yes the balance is a tough one but if they hang in there it will be worth it
Thanks for sharing will, I have been stuck on what to start with.
I know little of html and css, but javascript just look like an "alien" language to me.
I'm so tired. I want to start with something interesting, something outside javascript that can get me a virtual employment, then I can start javascript gradually as I earn.
Do anyone feel me?
I would say just learn it if those are the opportunities that you have. Go for what’s going to get you the best outcome
Really glad to hear you turned that around. Getting into tech at this point isn't easy. Especially when it feels like there's a new framework every day.
Hope you continue to hussle and do well man!
Thank you! I’m focused on getting better and improved excited for the journey
Thanks for sharing! I like hearing about people who think they are late to the "game" but follow it and get it done!
I took didn't really get into a coding career until my 30s. I went back to school for 2 years (fulltime) so that companies would look at my resume.
Then I got in right out of my 2-year course as an embedded Linux developer and been doing it now for close to 8 years? I have always wanted a full programming career and now I have it.
Thanks for sharing this story Will this is motivational and inspiring.
A lot of people have, unfortunately, similar problems because they're "old" - and this is a story about how to win that battle.
"When I was studying I stopped doing anything fun, no TV shows, no video games, no sports, and no Netflix. I think I saw two movies(Avengers). It was just work, code, and reading books. "
Thanks Derva, weird thing is I have a hard time getting back into these things again. I read business books for fun now. It’s so weird
Beautiful story Will! So glad it worked out for you all.
Changing careers is always difficult and stressful (speaking from experience). Especially when you're surrounded by people with doubts, who think you don't belong here because you don't have the same experience or education as they do.
That's why it's so important to reminisce, to remind yourself how far you've come and enjoy it.
Welcome, and I wish you all the best!
Thanks Filip! You’re right remembering the journey has been quite the experience I’ve been working for about a year and kind of forgot what it took to get here
I am still struggling at 44 after a career change in 2018. I've left my home country to be a developer, and live a better life than the suburbans of a city in a 6m2 room with my husband. I have started in warehouses, and every time a dev job failed I fell back and returned to the hated pick pack work. After losing my last job I'm here again, my bank account empty, and my heart is full of hope. I keep learning, working on side projects, improving my website, my cv, and trying to connect to people like me. However I lost trust in people for letting me down after offering the opportunity to become a full time software developer. I met jelousy thousand times, however there is absolutely no difference among us, it's just that I use the resources I have to improve and I am not willing to spend half of my life in a warehouse doing a job that makes no sense and has no actual value. Wish me luck, I wish you luck too. Keep your head held high and don't tell anyone about your plans. And Will, kudos to the person who hired you, and if you lose your job, just keep going to the next, you might have to do labour during the change, but the next opportunity is always there. Tech is just expanding, and need more and more people, jobs will not decrease in time.
Thank you for your kind word! I hope that you get the job you’re looking for so you can be at peace