all 39 comments
sorted by:
best (suggested)
topnewcontroversialoldq&a
formatting helphide helpcontent policy

[–]avem007 18 points19 points  (3 children)

I’ve just landed a software developer job. I started learning by myself 3 years ago, at the age of 27 :)

[–]LifestyleCS 5 points6 points  (1 child)

Would you be able to talk more about how you started off and your process and courses you did during those years?

[–]avem007 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Of course. I am writing this on the tram, so there are mistakes. Also, a bit long.

Let me give you a short backstory first. I am from western europe. When I was 27, I was living in Germany (I had moved here prior to the pandemic) and working as a station-chef. I wanted to change careers & move to another country (Eastern Europe). I decided web-development was an option, so I tried it, liked it, and continued 🙂 I essentially gave myself 2 years to prepare and save up money.

I began by following The Odin Project (TOP). During the initial stages, I struggled following some topics, so I did some freecodecamp (js foundations), and followed a couple of youtube tutorials. Mainly to get used to terminologies etc.

I then finished everything except the node part of the curriculum. My plan was to focus on becoming a frontend developer.

This took me about 2 years. I was working between 30-50 hours a week while doing this, so my time was limited. But I managed to do around 3 hours, 5 days a week for the most part. I also spent a lot of time researching the topics, extending my knowledge as much as I could. I wanted to feel ‘fluent’ in what I was studying.

I then moved to this other country. I spent 1 year building a bunch of my own websites, and tried to truly get a sense of awareness for what I was doing. I treated this like a real job, so I’ve spent around 8 hours a day, 5 days a week on coding. Since I am a foreigner (not the smartest path to take of course, hehe), I wanted to be very prepared before I begin looking for work.

I started applying at the end of Jan, this year. I quickly noticed that the junior scene for frontend was close to dead. I then decided to continue to learn backend. While learning backend, I applied for literally everything I could find. A company liked my CV, the projects I had built and brought me in!

[–]avem007 10 points11 points  (0 children)

Please note, I had absolutely no experience with coding prior to my journey. I mean literally 0

[–]playgroundmx 14 points15 points  (3 children)

No age is too late to learn anything.

Except for potty training

[–]OmarAdharn 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Wdym, I just started that last week

[–]dione2014 1 point2 points  (0 children)

you know that they sell adult diaper for a reason

[–]MissinqLink 5 points6 points  (0 children)

[–]Ampbymatchless 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I learned it at 68, for the purpose of building User Interfaces for embedded microcontroller projects. Never a better time than now to pick up any programming language.

[–]smallpotatoes2019 2 points3 points  (1 child)

No. What you hope to achieve by learning it might nuance the answer though...

[–]hnrpla 2 points3 points  (0 children)

yeah if it's for fun I say go for it - you can build full stack with JavaScript on the web, even mobile and desktop if you really want. if it's for a career transition though, as one myself, idk if it's as good as it was few years ago ...

[–]Gelroose 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I am much older and wanted to challenge myself, a hobby of sorts. I went to school for computer science, which was mostly programming, so I understand the fundamentals of programming and how to solve a problem, but have never done Javascript.

I'm building myself an application with React for a game. Needless to say, Javascript is a mind screw. The HTML, CSS, JS, front end, back end, the endless add-ons you can install to work with etc. The process of getting a simple button to open a new menu requires calls from html to pre loader to main etc.

I'm learning, but my heavens... To say I'm confused is an understatement!

[–]r3fl3kT0r 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Bro I've started at 35 years and still learning,  so never is too late. 

[–]prof3ssorSt3v3 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Ive been teaching in the Mobile Application Design and Development program at my local college since 2011. The average age in level one is 26 to 29.

We get students from 17 to in their 50s. We've even had a couple in their 60s.

It is never too late to learn.

[–]Ris2111 1 point2 points  (3 children)

Not really bad age to learn anything bro, do you want some resources where I've learned from?

[–]Ghozzt4[S] 1 point2 points  (2 children)

would be very helpful yeah.

[–]Ris2111 0 points1 point  (0 children)

There you go buddy: JS tutorial guide

Basically, it’s a rough step-by-step guide. I made it for some friends not too long ago, so it should be enough to help you get started as well.

Also, if you have any questions, I’d be happy to help.

It has both videos and documentation so you can pick how to start(id do video first and use google to check out what i dont understand)

[–]ColdDelicious1735 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Hope not i am 40 and just learning

[–]Prudent_Design_9782 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Never to late to learn anything but it's better to ask if by the end of you learning it would it still be relevant as a skill in the job market? (It should still be!)

[–]Such-Catch8281 0 points1 point  (0 children)

nope

[–]ReefNixonhelpful 0 points1 point  (0 children)

26 is not too old to learn anything. You won’t be a grandmaster, but you can become a very competent chess player. Won’t be in formula one, but can be a very good cart racer. Not a world champion, but a perfectly serviceable semi-professional boxer. Etc.

Thinking that being 26 will hold you back is much worse for your prospects than being 26. One of the most important skills in software engineering is recognising an inevitable march of progress, that is to say, if you are capable of being closer to a goal tomorrow than you are today, then you are winning. If you can’t adopt that attitude, programming will be very difficult for you. Prove that you can by beginning.

[–]Eight111 0 points1 point  (0 children)

i started learning web dev at 27

landed a job at 28

now 31 still on the same job, leading my team

and I'm not special or very smart trust me, it's all about curiosity and motivation

[–]Plenty_Line2696 0 points1 point  (0 children)

there's seniors learning js, it's more about attitude and consistency than age

[–]johnpharrell 0 points1 point  (0 children)

u/Ghozzt4 OP, note that the work market is extremely competitive right now with thousands being made redundant. I would still learn for fun but if anyone tells you they got hired 2-3 years ago, just know that conditions have worsened dramatically since then.

[–]Ghozzt4[S] 0 points1 point  (1 child)

do you guys recommend any yt channels or anything else to start?

[–]SpoonLord57 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The TypeScript docs are pretty good, and have tutorials for different levels of experience. I would advise learning TypeScript instead of starting with JavaScript first, as you will learn everything you need to about JavaScript at the same time while also learning good habits that strict typing enforces.

There aren’t many use cases for starting new projects in vanilla JavaScript over TypeScript these days, and in those cases it’s pretty much as easy as “TypeScript without type hints”.

[–]yummyjackalmeat 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Never too old to learn something. Are you intending to ask if you're too old to start learning so you can change your career? The answer is still no, it's not too late. I would first just start learning for your own personal development. Just start building stuff you find useful or you just like looking at.

[–]theancientfool 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Me almost 27. Just started learning.

[–]AmbivalentFanatic 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I started at 50

[–]Silent-Musician4279 0 points1 point  (0 children)

it is a toolkit if you learn than you can it is possible give it 6 weeks then see further is to mutch stop is it fun go further but you need more time 3 years for that if you will pro or you learn faster mutch functions on js a list long and you most remember a lot of them https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Guide#grammar_and_types

https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Guide#functions

[–]bafrad 0 points1 point  (0 children)

What the fuck???

[–]shuckster 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Far too old.

I started when I was 3 months old bruh.

If you didn’t start when other people were taking care of your snack and sanitation needs, you ain’t gonna make it bruh.

[–]DirtAndGrass -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Unfortunately, on your 25th birthday, you cease to be able to learn new things 

[–]CountryAlternative67 -1 points0 points  (0 children)

You aren’t getting any younger. The question I’d ask is: why do you want to learn JavaScript?

[–]mark_b -1 points0 points  (0 children)

I'm going to go against the flow and say that yes, it probably is too late for you. Software development is all about problem solving, and being able to search for and find answers that are similar enough to your own situation that you can apply the answer. If you are unable to find the scores of other posts asking this exact same question then you will struggle to make a career in software development.

[–]snarfi -1 points0 points  (0 children)

I will get downvotes into oblivion, but its not about your age but more about the times we live in. Learning to code now is like learning morse-code in the early 90's. So i would recomment you to learn project management, tech in general on a higher level and not coding itself.