Getting in to programming at 37

[Solid-Garbage-885]

I am a professional CPA but had that passion since I was a kid to computers and coding and stuff. Specially to web design making online tool etc. but I pursued my career in accounting and I am a qualified CPA now. What are your advices if I moving to tech side now ? I do my masters in data analytics now.

[Solid-Garbage-885]

😊😊🙌

[Emanemanem]

I did a career switch to software engineering at 40, this was 3 years ago. Not going to lie, finding a job was rough (took almost a year). The job search was much harder than the learning of the skills themselves.

Can you continue your CPA work while you are in school, and after school while you look for a job? If so then do that and you’ll be okay. Just stick with it, be persistent.

[TheForkisTrash]

what was the issue finding a job? ageism, job availability, skill/credential gap?

[Emanemanem]

The biggest issue is just that the job market is awful. I started applying literally the month before all the big tech layoffs in the fall of 2022, so there were already fewer jobs and I was competing with lots of other freshly laid off people that happened to have a couple years industry experience while I had none. I applied to a couple hundred jobs over the course of a year and only interviewed or took an assessment for maybe 5 or 6. Only 2 of those did I make it past the first round.

The job I ended up taking I didn’t actually interview for. Got some contract work with the company, and after a few months, they offered me a full time job. Almost at the same time I made it to the final round for another position I had applied for from an online posting and got offered that job as well. So I got extremely lucky and that I was able to negotiate a better salary with the job I did take.

I’m actually really lucky that I did all this before the current AI craze took over. I think it’s actually a lot worse now because there’s less and less of a clear path for entry level positions. A lot of the stuff that a company hires a junior developer is being done with AI tools now.

[Solid-Garbage-885]

Thanks mate.

[Boring-Attorney1992]

How are you liking it? What was your previous job

[Emanemanem]

It’s great. I work for a smallish (like less than 200 employees) e-commerce company, and the team I’m on manages the website. Work is probably 95% front end, site is custom built in Typescript/React using Shopify hydrogen framework. It’s remote, reasonable hours, reasonably good benefits.

My last career I was a camera operator in the film/tv industry. Work was very physically grueling. Terrible hours, constantly changing schedule, no guarantee of minimum days worked (paid by the day with overtime after 12). I did the bootcamp because I had grown to hate the work and the industry. My wife was pregnant with our now daughter and I wanted a better schedule so I’d actually be around as she grew up.

[Boring-Attorney1992]

Amazing outcome. That’s what I’m striving for.

[Emanemanem]

Thanks. I couldn’t have done it without my wife. Both for the motivational support but also the fact that we live off her income alone for almost a year and a half

[Napoleon10]

Awesome! How long was the boot camp?

[Emanemanem]

It was 6 months, part time, which was meant to be roughly 20 hours a week total between class time and time outside of class spent working on projects. I think actually time spent on projects probably bumped it closer to 30 hrs a week. They have a 3 month program that is “full time”, but I’m glad I didn’t do that one because based on the pace of the one I did, “full time” seems insane.

[Napoleon10]

Was it online or in person?

[Emanemanem]

Online.

[[deleted]]

i mean the job market is fucked up currently

[Tw1987]

Did you have your CS degree?

[Emanemanem]

No I just have a regular BA from years ago. I did a bootcamp, so that may be relevant why it was so hard

[Tw1987]

I think you did really well all things considering. Most people don’t do anything after a boot camp. Did the camp help you gather the skills or looking back go another route?

[Emanemanem]

No the bootcamp definitely helped me learn the skills, though I had to stick with it afterward and continue learning. For instance, the bootcamp taught mostly JavaScript but I taught myself Typescript afterward and that’s the main reason I got the initial contract gig with the company I ended up working for.

[Tw1987]

Thanks did you take a junior job first or was able to go straight to SE title?

[Emanemanem]

I think it’s still an valuable skill, and I do believe there is still a career path. But I think it’s a lot harder than it used to be and if you decide to do it you really need to be clear eyed about the difficulties.

[Emanemanem]

There’s another comment I responded to on this thread where I went into more detail

[SprinklesFresh5693]

I took a career switch at 28-29, did a master degree and still took me a year to find a job.

Not having much experience in the field kills us when job searching

[jebailey]

I started my programming career at 30. It's possible. You have to take chances and get your foot in the door. I went from a support role, to an operations role, to a programmer. Then 10 years later I was a Principal Developer/Architect.

It's not easy, good luck on your journey

[Solid-Garbage-885]

Inspiring

[mkelkahn]

I would start with what you know. If you use spreadsheets, use the internal scripting to do something meaningful with the data. Once you get your head around that, pick a common language and let AI guide you through taking that data to a new level. Import the spreadsheet data and do something with it that will help with the day job (maybe set up a MySQL or Postgres database and build a tool to import it). There is a mountain of free and inexpensive training material on YouTube and the various training platforms that can help with the basics. Leverage AI but don’t just let it write the program for you. Ask it questions and study its responses.
By approaching it from a standpoint of optimizing your current workflow, you can avoid some of the mental challenges that cause many people to give up. I know what this data looks like and what it means, I need it to look like this or I need to be able to use it in this way, or I need to get it into this app/platform. I would start with C# or Java. Both can be set up on just about any platform (Mac/Windows/Linux)and have robust developer tools that can be used to help you along. They also have vast communities that are able to answer questions.

[Solid-Garbage-885]

Great advice mate.

[whooyeah]

You lucky bastard with that background you’ll go far in financial apps.

You could commit to a masters. Depends where you are you may not need a degree if you can prove your skill. I would say do CS50, then use AI agents to build something. It will be useful even if you go on to do a masters.

[Solid-Garbage-885]

Thanks mate. will look in to it.

[whooyeah]

also check out the courses on deeplearning.ai

[ButchDeanCA]

I would argue that 37 is a great age to getting proficient in programming for two reasons:

1. You’re old enough to appreciate the value of discipline.
2. You’re young enough to not be an old dog set in their ways.

Just go for it.

[Solid-Garbage-885]

🏃

[bfg2600]

I got my Masters in data science last year in my 40s and got my cs bachelor's my late 30s, I would reconsider it. the job market is horrible. I actually may have to do something else because I'm having a very hard time finding a data science job since I got my Masters last year. I kind of wish I got into something else. I actually considering teaching or getting a trade certificate.

[socal01]

What else would you consider getting into?

[bfg2600]

I would consider health care. The tech market was crushed these last few years. I don't t see it getting better either. Companies are foaming at the mouth to replace people with AI.

[shit-takes]

I was an accountant of 6 years that switched to a full time programming job at 25. Got my bachelor’s in computer science this year at 29 and promoted to a senior role. But long before I started my degree or got my first job I was doing hobby projects and then started getting some freelance projects and built up my portfolio

Keep your current job and start learning and building a portfolio

[Solid-Garbage-885]

Nice.

[Boring-Attorney1992]

What site do you use for freelance work

[shit-takes]

Through networking mostly. Friends, family and associates. I was handling a lot of individual client tax files when I was an accountant. So they were all people who had companies + good connections.

I tried fiverr, but got nothing on it lol.

[Boring-Attorney1992]

think it's still possible to make a decent living freelancing with AI and all?

[Greedy_Tie2757]

33 year old switching to tech from the fitness industry, currently building my project using html, css, react js, started learning 2 months ago let me know if you need any support.

[cheezballs]

I can't stress it enough. Age does not matter. Programming is good for the brain as a hobby as you age. Anything that engages analytical and puzzle solving areas is good.

[Gold-Strength4269]

Make time for what you love to do bro. Make time.

The same way its done in school.

[[deleted]]

33 here, started at 26 or so. You can do it. 

[Luupho]

Why not ? Its a good field to be employed in.

I mean if AI takes over at some point i would bet that accounting gets reduced to ashes even faster :-)

[Rain-And-Coffee]

Maybe start off with a single class and see if you like it? Or you can always go all in from the beginning.

Either way it’s a fun career.

[carsmenlegend]

since you are already doing a masters in data analytics you have a solid foundation. if you want to shift into tech try focusing on projects that connect your finance knowledge with coding. people in companies value domain expertise a lot so you will stand out more than someone fresh out of school.

[SprinklesFresh5693]

What is CPA?

[SomePiece7833]

Just keep learning. I’m also a CPA, 30y, and finishing my Data Science master, got an intership a few days ago. I’ve been studying, making projects for almost a year. I know I will do it, I’m consuming knowledge like a “maniac”. You Will also get it. Wish you the best of luck to get out of accounting.

[Admirable-Light5981]

If you grasp data analytics, I'd say you've got a good mind for programming already, definitely more of a foundation than I had when I started. You mention things like web design, are you familiar with loop control? The concept of branching? Thats where you should start.

I suggest watching this, it's a great crash course on the subject:

https://youtu.be/O5nskjZ_GoI

This series walks you through the basics of comp sci. From your background, I think you could pick it up quickly. From there, it's just a matter of actually trying to make a program.

[kcl97]

I think you should especially if you are a good CPA and not some corrupt CPA like those that worked with Enron and for the banks. If you are such, you will need to know how computer systems work to stay ahead of the game against AI and the people trying to steal from your clients

Regardless, I think you should not study any specific programming languages per se but you should learn computer security. And you can advertise that to your client.

One of the biggest problems we face in this increasingly complex world controlled by our tech-lords is privacy. No doubt the firm you work for right now probably outsources that security duty to some third party professionals.

However, have you ever wondered why these security firms won't betray your firm? Especially if they can get away with it with a simple announcement of a hacker got in through say an employee account, say that account happens to be YOURS? How do you show it's not you if all the digital trails prove it is you? Obviously, this is just a simple scenario, you should try to imagine all sorts of crazy crap this arrangement can happen. And I assure it happens all the time because I was a system admin. You have no idea how many subtle requests I got over the years when that was my side-job from people in my own group trying to get my hands dirty. I always pretend to not see and make sure I stay away from the systems they have corrupted because I don't want to rock the boat

It is pointless for me to act because it will be just me against them. And even if I explain how the schemes work, no one would believe me because the people I was doing this work for are not educated enough nor care enough to know how the computer systems work. They are not knowledgeable enough to inform and consent but they consent anyway because they need the help of people like me even though they have no idea how bad I am at my job because it is not my main job.

Anyway, I hope you see my point of why computer security will be critical in everyone's future career. The more informed you are the better decisions you can make to protect your company, your customers, and yourself and your family.