Can You Still Become A Software Engineer At The Age of 30?
A story on how a friend asked if programming could be a good career switch
It wasn’t until during my university years that I got myself involved in some serious programming. Sure, at a much younger age I’ve built some websites for small business owners here and there like most professional developers nowadays probably have done.
But this was definitely nothing in comparison to what I’ve encountered during a minor called “Software Development and Design”. During that half-year, hours and hours of studying Java, programming patterns, building and breaking stuff in C++, and learning the basics on (proper) website development and databases went by.
I’ve plowed to endless coding assignments, with emotions ranging from being very frustrated to sheer happiness when things worked out and having the feeling to be the master of my own universe. Heck, I even tried programming a robot in the early days and miserably failed whilst doing so. But it was fun!
And that’s how a fascination for the computer science world for me personally was born. As you’ve might have guessed by now whilst being a student, I’ve made quite the career switch myself.
Whilst being a student, I’ve made quite the career switch myself.
Not that I disliked learning about Industrial Design Engineering though, the direction I’ve initially chosen. Things just went different at that time and software allured me. And even so, who knows with absolute certainty what he wants in life at 20 years old anyway, right? Besides wanting to be a student forever.
Is it possible to shift gears later in life and start coding?
The statistics are against you but fear not
A recent survey from StackOverflow shows that most developers are aged 25 to 34 years old, with 48.42% of the grand total. After that, the numbers quickly decrease. If you combine things, a staggering 68.06% of all professional developers are aged below 34 years old.
Does this mean you don’t stand a chance starting a successful career in software development, being in your 30s? It depends on many factors, but when you look strictly at the age statistics you may think it’s not.
But remember that software development is actually a very young profession compared to others. Whereas the first serious programs were already written during the sixties, coding itself only became mainstream until the late 80s and beginning 90s with the introduction of affordable personal computers and the internet. Let alone people having internet access at that time. Later when corporations like Google, Facebook and Apple, the giants of our time, entered the picture and online learning platforms appeared, things got gigantic.
Nowadays, everyone from any cultural or ethnic background, gender, race, a former education, and for this matter most importantly age, can learn how to code. So this clarifies for a big part why there are fewer developers aged 34 or older. Maybe in twenty or thirty years from now, we’ll see those numbers shifting and flattening out as the industry gets older too.
Also like many things, it doesn’t always come down to age. Then are many other reasons to believe why you can certainly succeed. The basics among other things are having a solid strategy combined with a general interest, motivation and sheer passion.
How can you begin your software endeavors?
Some of the advice I gave to my friend
I felt a decent amount of honor and pride when the question was asked to me. Being in the programming field for 8 years and having made the shift in direction myself, I felt confident enough to answer him.
To begin with, as I will address more in the closing thoughts of this article, your baseline should always be a general interest in computer science. Obviously in the field of programming because that’s the subject of this matter.
Your base line should always be a general interest in computer science.
Are you interested purely in the prospect of a high salary? Or were you tempted by the many coding boot camp advertisements but never ever before opened an IDE? Then maybe this is not for you.
Do you however enjoy coding and want to take things to a professional level? Well, then it boils down to a couple of things.
Tip 1 — If possible apply for a paid traineeship to learn the tricks of the trade at duty
There are a number of companies that can provide newcomers who are eager enough, an extensive learning program. Try to enroll in one with proper preparation meaning you should at least know some basics and a small portfolio. There’s no need for endless hours of learning, following tutorials, or trying to build an impressive tool beforehand. This will give you some advantage, but coding is learned by doing. And what’s better than to get paid whilst learning.
Tip 2 — Focus on either front-end or back-end development first
In the beginning, the software landscape can appear a bit daunting with its many languages, frameworks, tools, and peripheral matters. There’s no need to learn all of them. Just focus on a few topics, experiment, and try to become a specialist in a couple of fields.
Tip 3 — Try to seek a role model, industry, or technology you really like
Learning and growing are all about setting goals. Try to think about where you want to be in the next 5 to 10 years. What companies would you like to work for? Are there specific topics you find interesting? Discover this for yourself early enough and chances are you’ll become successful early on.
Tip 4 — Develop, develop, develop
There’s an absolute certainty in programming and that has everything to do with learn-by-doing. There’s an endless stream of tutorials, documentation, books, and YouTube videos but, you have to touch the keyboard yourself at least 75% of the time yourself because practical experience is key.
Tip 5 — Apply the skills you’ve learned from previous jobs.
Writing code isn’t just all about learning about recursive functions, polymorphism, for-loops, type safety, immutability, etc. It’s just as well about creating concepts, having the ability of abstract thinking, organize things, and architecture.
These are traits that can be found in many other fields of work as well, probably some of which you already have developed. Take advantage of the things you know which are applicable to programming.
For example, a former chef probably knows how to create a good recipe and as a matter of fact, a well-written program has many similarities with it. If you were once an architect or perhaps mechanical engineer you have the ability to design. Hence the term software design, as many concepts from this domain are true to programming as well.
Take advantage of the things you know which are applicable to programming.
Closing thoughts.
Now, let’s be realistic. The bottom line, to begin with, is that you got to have a general interest in programming. As I mentioned before, for me it started with building websites for relatives. Followed by a software minor whilst studying and applying for a programming gig after completing my bachelor’s.
For you, it could be fumbling around with an Arduino or Raspberry Pi or creating driver software to control a 3d printer you’ve built. It has to be anything remotely related to coding. If there was no real interest on your behalf when you were younger or there is now, I strongly recommend you to think twice before jumping in headfirst.
If there was no real interest on your behalf when you were younger or there is now, I strongly recommend you to think twice before jumping in head first.
Also bear in mind the chance of scenery, different kinds of colleagues and possibly a temporary drop in income. Try to speak to someone who’s in the industry long enough to give solid advice and some direction.
But above all, if you are willing and motivated just take the shot because this is the era of software development!
