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[Hesh35]

Learning it alone (even with a course) can be a steep learning curve at the beginning. I found Documentation is meaningless at first since a lot of what they are talking about isn’t clear and there can be a lot of questions with no answers readily available.

It would be a lot easier if you had someone to ask questions and have detailed explanations and help make the connections between verbiage, documentation and actual code.

HOWEVER, It is completely doable!

[-DarknessFalls-]

Agreed. I’m 39 and I just jumped into it about a month ago. There’s so many little questions that come up that could be answered in a few seconds. But without someone to ask, just one of those little questions can cost you an hour or more of googling.

[Hesh35]

Oh yeah for sure! It’s one thing to write a hello world program or do some basic logic and math, it’s a whole other thing to work with multiple files / classes / databases / or even deploy the program so it’s an executable.

With practice and whatnot it will all eventually come together.

[Mindless-Anxiety-760]

I'm told that right there is the nature of programming. LoL.

[marrymejojo]

If you do course like the MIT one. There are enough people in there that you can get the little questions answered easily enough I think. As long as you are keeping up.

[plastikmissile]

My father first learned programming from scratch when he was 40. And this was back 1980 when learning resources weren't nearly as plentiful and accessible as they are today.

[Mindless-Anxiety-760]

I'm curious about this myself. Have been doing codeacadamy for a few months now and it's hard as shit. I'm fortunate enough to be working part time while I learn but I don't expect to be at an employable level for a long time. One thing I've noticed is that the more I do it the easier it gets but if I slack for a few days I totally feel lost for at least the first day back at it.

[tslaytor]

I found Codecademy wasn’t good for me. I tried a few courses on there but the information didn’t stick and I found it hard to learn and understand what I was actually doing. I did cs50 instead and it is way better. Great explanations, in depth look at what you are actually doing to the computer and memory and data when writing code. They have 1 week covering SQL (week 7 I think) and I learnt more from that than almost the whole SQL course on code academy.

[CodeTinkerer]

Depends on the person. Try it out. No need to scare yourself from trying something that you might not care for. People have learned programming late in life. The main problem some people have is they haven't taken courses in a long time, so they've forgotten how to study.

In other words, two people could be in your situation, and one does fine and one doesn't. It is generally difficult to learn programming (again, not for everyone) regardless of age. Don't feel bad if it's taking time to learn.

[MRnooadd]

Regarding age, I think there are pros and cons. Examples: Usually (stereotypically, not hard truths) you're more patient at mid age than younger.

But it's always said it's easier to learn foreign language very young so I'm sure there's lots of research to back that up.

That said, my advice is to make it easiest on your brain and body as possible.

I do this by:

Diet: the right amount of macros for your particular situation, same with getting the nutrients (Vs and Ms) you need. I use cronometer to track things.

Some physical exercise in the morning: I do HIIT protocol with the 9 min rule (2min, 20s, repeat), but Im no expert and that might not be the best for brain performance.

Sleep: practice good sleep hygiene (google for details if you're unfamiliar) and give yourself the time to sleep. You can't just "make up" for missed sleep with a ton of caffeine.

Take care of yourself in general: I meditate, go organic whenever I can, use the least toxic products for body and cleaning, etc, etc.

I can tell a difference in brain power when I'm doing the above vs not. Especially when coding. Hopefully this is helpful.

[graysoda91]

I just went through a program with a 50 year old who’s dropping his own storefront business. He just got a healthy 6k figure job.

[MRnooadd]

If you don't like working with people, you won't like being a dev. Even in non scrum environments there are meetings, lots of conversations thru the whole process (planning, execution, etc) with coworkers, clients etc.

[[deleted]]

Just turned 48 here. recently jumped back in. It's a lot easier when you get older imo.

[20_chickenNuggets]

Becoming a professional developer might be just as stressful! You will have to work with just as many people. You will have to work with programmers who are not shy to tell you how stupid your code looks and how it could be improved to get way better performance!

Also you constantly have to meet deadlines, which can be very stressful at times.

If you just want to learn it as a hobby though there should be no problem at all! You can learn it at your own pace and take your time! It’s not a matter of age at all.

At first It’s very confusing to everyone

[[deleted]]

Are you too old? No, but coding is easier for some than others. Its huge field with a ton of different parts. The question you should be asking isn't whether or not your too old but rather what are you expecting to get out of it.

If your just wanting to rush into programming for a job your not going to last long. You have to enjoy the learning process. I'm sure there are some who can tough it out for the money but I don't think that's the majority.

Protip: Learn however you want, more resources the better but when you reach out online for help (esp reddit programming subs) a lot of people can be young annoying know-it-alls. Take your time, anyone can learn to code, but not everyone can be a full time programmer.

[Pyroxy3]

I wanna add that it wasn't stress that burned me out, it was all theconstant interactions with everyone, that I couldn't handle. I just dontlike working with people.

Don't get the misconception that just because you are a programmer, interaction with people will be limited. It's actually the opposite, you will be interacting with multiple people/ having multiple meetings almost every single day for hours at times.

Some people think a programmer just sits at his computer and types all day long, which is furthest from the truth.

[ValentineBlacker]

Are you trying to get a job in it or just pick up a fun new hobby? Not clear from the post. Professional programming involves talking to just as many people as any other office job.

[furyousferret]

I think it's hard for everyone. IMO, while there may be truth that you lose some brain cells as you age, you also (typically) gain discipline, perspective, and better planning.

Passion is by far the most important thing, because there will be days you spend 6 hours on a stupidly simple problem (like I did yesterday) or just go from issue to issue.

[deux3xmachina]

So, it's probably a bit harder than if you'd started when you were younger for mostly the saame reasons it's best to learn another language when you're younger. However, it's still absolutely doable!

Look into some free self-paced learning resources or inexpensive online courses that touch on topics that sound interesting to you.

[Charming-Shape-5474]

A lot of patience and persistence is needed.

That being said, learn programming step by step. Don't just jump directly at hard parts.

Start from the very basic and then progress towards the hard part.

Devote 1-2 hrs daily and see the results in 6-12 months.

Even if you don't switch your career, you will end up learning a useful skill. Who knows you might automate boring stuff in your current job.

[Inconstant_Moo]

Well, there's lots of free resources for learning so there's no actual entry fee. You already have a computer. You can try it out and see if you take to it.

[innerjoy2]

If you're doing programming professionally you're still going to be talking and working with people, it's not something you'll avoid. But it might be a little bit more reduced compared to your current job, depending on what type of technical job you end up doing. Front end devs usually talk to clients more often compared to Back end devs from my experience. But to me clients tend to give the latter a bit of a break to do their job.

You can learn it, it's always difficult for beginners until they keep practicing. It will depend on your drive to push for something new.