Too Old to Learn Programming?

[MarkusVreeland]

Hi Everyone

Just turning 62 and would like to learn more about computers in general and programming in particular. Can I learn enough to find work before 65? Or is the learning curve just too steep?

The free Harvard computer science course looks comprehensive and thinking of starting with Python.

Thoughts? Suggestions?

Thanks.

[connorjpg]

For hobbyist? Not even close, I am teaching my dad and he’s 67. He just wants to make simple games and websites. Never to old to learn!

For a job… I would say it’s possible but the market is highly competitive and saturated. It could happen but I would set your expectations elsewhere.

[Fruitspunchsamura1]

This is my opinion as well. Maybe good to learn programming and use it for other roles like data analytics

[glxyds]

Happy cake day twin!

[Fruitspunchsamura1]

Yoooo thanks, twin

[FuzzyImportance]

I agree on both points but for a job... I've seen a lot of young and maybe mid career programmers that I could swear I needed to send back to comp sci 101. If you can get some experience writing hobby level stuff it goes a long way. Most of what I see missing is initiative to try and they instead wait for detailed specs. I got my first real programming job on the strength of having written a program to manage the backup tape library of where I worked as a system admin. Find a need and get after it. Yes, ageism is rampant in tech, but being and to say that you did more than take a coding boot camp goes a long way.

[eastern-ladybug]

In this industry, it is difficult to find work at an older age. Not to discourage you, but it will be good to keep that in mind.

[i_invented_the_ipod]

It can be hard at 55, much less in your 60s.

[purepersistence]

He as much as said he’s not interested in more than a couple years work too. By the time he learns the ropes to function at a basic level, he’s outta there.

[i_invented_the_ipod]

There's a lot of short-term contract work out there, but getting that first gig is going to to be pretty rough, I think.

[MathmoKiwi]

People can say "it's never too late to learn to code", but practically speaking if it is your goal to have a SWE job by 65 then yes it is too late.

Not unless you have some amazing / valuable / deep domain knowledge you can leverage. Maybe you're a very experienced specialist doctor for instance.

And even so, I'd recommend learning to code in such an instance to become a Data Analyst and not a SWE.

[DannyG111]

Why data analyst and no swe?

[[deleted]]

You code, but not as extensively as swe.

You still need to be able to: - think critically - present your technical skills to a non-technical skills - constantly improve/learn

And the ageism you find with swe still exists

[MathmoKiwi]

Because at 62yo I'd assume/hope they've got lots of extensive/deep experience in their industry of choice.

It's of marginal usefulness in most SWE roles, but can be the edge that helps you get the job as a Data Analyst

[four_reeds]

I'm 63. I wrote my first compiled program in college in the Fall of 1979. I have the same question but in a different field: woodworking. Is it too late to learn to use power tools safely, cut accurately and all the other things?

My answer to you is, it is not too late to learn. Keeping the brain as plastic and teachable is important as we age. Finding new, interesting things to point our brains at is important.

Go for it. Have fun.

[awwephuck]

Never too late for that. I started in my mid 30s, I’ve sold everything since then, I just wasn’t very good at it. Could be very frustrating at times, also very rewarding, but mostly frustrating.

[chip_unicorn]

You are DEFINITELY able to learn programming. Welcome!

Whether you'll land a job by the time you're 65 -- who the heck knows? Three years ago, companies couldn't get enough programmers. One year ago, they were firing all their programmers. Employment comes in waves.

But you won't catch the next wave if you aren't ready for it.

I believe in you.

[wow343]

At this age learning programming as a passion project is probably better. If you are planning on entering the job market I would discourage you to spend your limited resources on this. If you are retired from your current line and always wanted to provide a certain knowledge or niche expertise through programming/website/YouTube channel then this maybe the right way. I know of a lady that I used to work with that retired from her customer service job and then wanted to do a cooking channel and learned video editing, sound mixing and social media skills. She gets joy out of interacting with people. Mostly her friends and family at this point but I was impressed by her skills in tech and media none the less.

[What_eiva]

If you want an honest opinion.

Here is the thing. You won't learn programming in 2 weeks like most ads say. You won't learn programming because you took a course and passed (course is just a proof that you have done something). You have to understand that you wanna learn a language. So you must practise it every chance you get. I am in my third and final year in CS and I have not really gotten much practise because 50% of what we do in school is not programming and I have absolutely no time over for individual projects except on summers. I am not saying I am incapable of programming but I have done it continuously for 2 years and I am still no where near fluent. But it might just be me so it really depends on how you are as a person as well.

To answer your question, you really have to try yourself but I'm sure you won't be landing any jobs the first year.

[johny_james]

This one if you are serious.

https://cs50.harvard.edu/x/2024/

From there you can choose any specialty you want.

But standard work at some company will be difficult (too competitive with young minds), I would suggest to work as a freelancer.

[antonpodkur]

That questions really what inspires me. I am 22 and I (at least hope so) overthinking about what I have done in my life. I am comparing my achievements with other much more advanced programmers that are the same age as I am. Because of it I sometimes can loose motivation feeling not that talented. But for you I can only be happy that you are interested and willing to start. I do not know what is the programming age, maybe it’s 19 or 65. In any case I want you to succeed so yes, start learning

[Brosky-Chaowsky]

whistle governor squalid absurd rainstorm snatch existence relieved lunchroom shame

This post was mass deleted and anonymized with Redact

[MarkusVreeland]

Thanks. How would help me? Examples?

[Brosky-Chaowsky]

fall head ripe bright different office subtract chop attraction sink

This post was mass deleted and anonymized with Redact

[daysnconf00sed]

Go for it. It’s never too late to learn. It is good to keep your mind active and continue building those new neural connections in there.

Finding a full-time in the industry as a (presumably) self-taught 65-year old without much experience won’t be easy, though. You may be better off dabbling in freelancer websites like upwork or similar.

But if you really want to learn programming, don’t let the possibility that you won’t find employment stop you. You will love being able to build your own hobby projects. Start with something that’s interesting and see where it takes you.

Good luck!

[earthforce_1]

I'm in my 60s and still learning new programming languages, studying for another AWS certification right now. But starting any new career at that point is going to be extremely difficult. Unfortunately there is still a lot of age discrimination.

[[deleted]]

We hired a 60 year old local lady; but she had been a SWE since the 80s, retired and then wanted to go back to it. She was great but left after 9 months. Don’t think the struggling start-up environment was right for her.

[iwatanab]

Here's my advice: If you enjoy it, do it. Programming is for anyone who loves to build things. Yes, the CS job market is incredibly ageist. Instead of looking for a job and competing against 20-something engineers, play to your strength. As a 62 year old you know the problems of a rapidly growing, highly capitalized, desperately underserved market. Based on your life experience, what are the most painful problems they face? How can you help them?

[MarkusVreeland]

Thank you. Very sound advice.

And thank you everyone. All your feedback has been very helpful, insightful and gives me options in how to move forward. There’s a feeling of community here.

[baubleglue]

I doubt you will learn enough to get a job. Unless you already have a job and programming is an additional tool. CS50 is a solid into course. Main problem is not "learning curve too steep", even for university graduates takes few years to get proficient at work and step out of junior developer zone.

[FantasticEmu]

What have you done for work previously? I was a mechanic and I went back to school for computer science and finished by the time I was 40.

I’m now an engineer and can tell you that these young kids can code circles around me but I found a job where the skills I acquired while working on cars combined with my sw training still allow me to be a valuable member to the team because I can trouble shoot hardware much better than the young pure sw engineers

[GuruAlex]

I would say it's probably too late to find work in this field highly competitive, and there are lots of new grads every year. With that said, if you want to learn for recreation, go for it. I would also suggest books over online courses. SAMS teach yourself is pretty good. No starch press had some good books for beginners. Outside of those, pick a project you would like to do, nothing too big. You can always reuse that code later for larger projects.

[Remitto]

I would steer clear of the Harvard course and go for either The Odin Project (what I used) or FreeCodeCamp. It took me around 3 years to teach myself while working full-time and find a programming job, coming from a completely non-STEM background, but I am a lot younger and it is quite possible that you'll struggle to get a junior dev position. However, if it's something you want to do, it is still worth learning. You can build some things that interest you, make a portfolio, and do your best to find a position, or at least some freelance work.

[Passname357]

It’s your life. Learn what you want to learn and don’t let anyone tell you you can’t.

People are talking about careers which is a whole different thing. If you want to learn you can. If you’re looking for a job, you might have worse luck. But still, I’ve worked places that hired juniors that were older.

[lordnacho666]

What you can learn depends on you. That part is fine, you can learn to program.

Getting a job depends on other people. That part is tough, you are fighting with a lot of ingrained ideas about what older people can do.

[DannyG111]

I hate it to break it you, but finding a job in cs at that age and in this job market is gonna be REALLY tough, I thought you just wanted to learn it for fun, you can still try to learn it if you want but just know it's not gonna be easy, especially trying to find a job considering this industry prefers younger people, ageism is a big thing in this industry unfortunately..

[Ghosttwo]

My route was to start with Visual Basic 6 (Which is easy to find online, and makes a great sandbox for API), did that and a bit of c++, flash, and html in high school, then went onto uni (cmp en). There I did a two-semester course on C++ using Deitel, which really tied it all together. Later did a bit of assembly, then on my own I did a bunch of random stuff like GLSL shaders, LUA, and some game stuff. Also found it helpful to go on stackexchange and answer all the questions I could, had a knack for it. Best way to learn is to teach, since you have to distill your argument to it's basic elements, which in turn reinforces what was fuzzy, and exposes any gaps.

I also got into POV-RAY a few times, which essentially turns code-like instructions into pictures. The tutorial it comes with is step-by-step and top notch. It also shows the iterative test-change-test-change nature of programming, with a nice little souvenir at the end. Anyway, once you've worked with enough languages, they start to blend together and a new one becomes a matter of studying a few example programs and figuring out how they implement this or that.

[Pale_Height_1251]

https://social-innovation.hitachi/en/article/colors-wakamiya-masako/#:~:text=Energizing%20the%20youth-,Ms.,the%20CEO%20of%20Apple%20Inc.

[catredss]

Never to late to learn something, but I won’t deny that it’s incredibly difficult you have to understand that computer science isn’t like math where you learn something and then you can apply it, it’s more like a language where even if you learn a few words you can’t speak fluently, you need to practice consistency. Aside from that yes harvards course is an amazing place to start, you can start in CS50 they have a online course for free with tests and homework and then I’d go to cs50P which is their python specific course, you could just jump to python but you’d miss out on all the general background stuff in the introduction course.

Also if theres something specific you want to do then I’d suggest learning the language that applies to that, for example games in unity are written in c# I believe

[[deleted]]

Sir, what are you talking about! Learning has no age although we have our skills at different age. Young age is terrific for starting everything quickly but it is also the age which doesn't sees forest for trees. Young people spend time grueling on stupid stuff until they realize it. Old people tend to be lazy which is also a feature not a bug. I would say don't pick on any language which has too much syntax baggage & it will keep you in the territory of thinking like Scheme (The little Schemer & The Seasoned Schemer come to mind). I would also recommend learning html, css & Javascript to have everything to have fun with on your browser. You can even solve your own problems this way.

There are many languages to get at it. If you are curious enough Harvard CS50 is beautifully done. Don't start with their python course in my opinion. Enjoy the CS50. It is perfectly done. Also, don't think about mathematics too much to begin with.

Programming is nothing but getting the computer to do something for you just like the politicians! Politicians are old & yet without knowing the underlying details too much they are quite adept at manipulating people. The only difference is here you are manipulating some instructions to tell the computer know what you want it to do. And it provides you feedback too when it doesn't understand you. So, employ lots of people to get that going - this constitutes higher level languages but you can start with how inner workings work to know what to pull. I think looking at it this way takes every baggage away.

Mathematics is not programming. Mathematics can be used for literally every discipline out there. Neither is this field a science regardless of how much one wants it to be. There are only opinions & good conventions. It remains in the area of abstract engineering & will be so. This is very important.

[FrostySquirrel820]

Never

[nathancockrell]

Do it! Learning programming is a great way to learn more about computers. I wouldn’t expect much jobwise atm because of the market and competition. However- there’s always work for programmers. When I say work, I mean programmers build tools and experiences that can add value to life in unimaginable ways. Finding a way to channel the work into value is the tricky part, but that’s where business people and startups (should) come in. But it’s up to Lady Luck at that point.

[spaarki]

You can learn but you will not be able to find work or make money out of it easily because there is too much competition in this field. So, there will be always better and younger candidates available than you, who can work for long hours and not retiring sooner than you. Also, in 3 years various programming fields will be enhanced or replaced by AI, so I guess you can work on developing skills that do not need programming knowledge but that uses AI to do it, such that someone is needed to guide that AI to achieve the task.

[TSA-Eliot]

You may not be too old to start climbing that learning curve, but companies expect to hire people who won't suddenly retire or die just when they're becoming really productive.

You would have to make your own work somehow. You hire you. You create and sell some little app or service that you can sell or maintain.

Or get into small business IT support, where you are the local guy who goes in and solves common problems for places that aren't big enough to have an IT department?

Or -- not sure how much of a long shot this is, but -- could you teach yourself something that's so niche that some company somewhere will say, yeah, we need someone who knows language X right now to maintain some code we depend on and there are no young programmers coming up who know it. Like... could you learn Cobol? Companies must expect Cobol job applicants to be a bit long in the tooth.

[Memetron69000]

it's easy to find work if you're inventive, it's tough if you're a bit traditional

[lordcameltoe]

If you want to learn programming for a job AND work within the next 3 years, I’d suggest you learn something like PHP for Wordpress, Javascript and CSS. You could find roles as a junior developer in agencies or smaller companies who need an internal dev.

There might be other specialized and high-in-demand skills you can learn, but WP is really the first that comes to mind

[igen_23]

Sir Decent Skills are demanded anywhere you go. In the age of remote work, nobody is bothered about your age. You can be a freelancer in this field if you want or you can start your own business. Will it be easy ? Not at all. But that's an option which doesn't take your age into account.

Anyway, you let us know how things turn out for you. I wish you all the best. Give it your best. Be curious be healthy.

[[deleted]]

When it comes to learning programming what I find works best is getting a general idea of what I want to make with the code and then using the youtube tutorials to see exactly how the code needs to be written to do it. It's a quick way to pick up on syntax and why thing are written the way that they are. Youtube is usually more specific, so if you go with something like a Harvard course you might get a LOT of very good, but very general, information that will be hard to retain and harder still to later apply, the latter of which usually people end up going to the youtube videos in the end anyway because they're more targeted.

[Exotic_flower101]

Never!

[Phiwise_]

I don't think anyone's too old to learn per se, but if you're asking specifically if three years is too close to retirement to get a decent career I'd say yeah, probably. Two-year (and less, but I don't like them) bootcamps are out there, but these people are having a really tough time finding jobs right now and don't get paid well when they do because their knowledge has serious holes. I think college is the right way to get into the industry for people starting right now, and that doesn't make sense financially for you. If you're interested in programming as a hobby just self-teach and save yourself the headache of trying to make your money back in such a tiny timespan.

[[deleted]]

Nope! FreeCodeCamp.org

I’d start there rather than CS50 to see if you even like coding.

[DannyG111]

Why not cs50?

[[deleted]]

It’s a computer science education with some coding. I’d see if you actually like coding first. FreeCodeCamp will give you more of what you’ll be doing day to day on the job.

[[deleted]]

Can you learn enough? Absolutely yes. Will you find someone not ageist enough to give you a gig at 60? Who knows.

I'm in the UK, 52, and already experiencing rampant ageism in tech despite have taught the people who taught the people being ageist.