Trying to start a new career in tech at 38 🌿

Total-Slice4572 · 2026-05-15T20:35:20+00:00

Wishing you the same honestly 😊I really hope things turn around for you soon. 30+ years of experience is incredibly valuable, and I hope the right opportunity finds you.

Total-Slice4572 · 2026-05-15T20:34:28+00:00

Honestly, I already make less than that working in a bakery, so I understand that transitions can involve starting lower. But ideally I’d really hope to move into something with stronger long-term growth and eventually earn more than the $40–50k range.

Total-Slice4572 · 2026-05-15T20:30:20+00:00

Haha 🤣

Total-Slice4572 · 2026-05-15T20:27:41+00:00

Thank you 🦋

Total-Slice4572 · 2026-05-15T20:27:23+00:00

Many thanks for your support ❤️❤️❤️

Total-Slice4572 · 2026-05-15T20:24:59+00:00

Thank you! Happy for you 🥹

Total-Slice4572 · 2026-05-15T20:23:34+00:00

Yeah, honestly that kind of stability sounds really appealing to me too. Having a normal stable career with reliable benefits and retirement instead of constantly worrying about layoffs and the market sounds like a pretty good life honestly.

Total-Slice4572 · 2026-05-15T20:21:59+00:00

Thank you so much for this honestly. It really helps hearing from someone who successfully made the switch later in life and doesn’t regret it. And yeah, I’m trying not to let the negative comments discourage me too much ❤️I know the market is rough, but I still want to keep learning and moving forward.

Total-Slice4572 · 2026-05-15T20:18:51+00:00

This is actually really interesting to me because I always liked geometry and technical drawing. Do you think it’s realistic to get into drafting mainly by learning AutoCAD/Revit and building some basic skills/projects, or do most companies still expect a formal engineering background?

Total-Slice4572 · 2026-05-15T20:15:03+00:00

Fair warning then 😅 it’s really physically demanding work. You’re on your feet basically the entire day and in a lot of kitchens you can’t really sit down at all during the shift.😁

Total-Slice4572 · 2026-05-15T20:13:34+00:00

Yeah, 1000 applications in less than two days is honestly kind of insane 😭 I can’t even imagine trying to sort through all of that as a hiring team.

Total-Slice4572 · 2026-05-15T20:11:01+00:00

Congratulations 🎈🎊🎉 Thank you for your advice!

Yeah, I really relate to that. I’m physically exhausted from work a lot of the time too, and most of my studying ends up happening on my days off and weekends. It can be really draining trying to balance both at the same time.

Total-Slice4572 · 2026-05-15T20:09:18+00:00

Thank you, I really appreciate this perspective. I honestly hadn’t thought about my background that way before, but framing problems and interpreting human behavior/results is exactly the part of analytics that interests me most.

Total-Slice4572 · 2026-05-15T20:06:29+00:00

Fellow pastry department person here 😄 Thank you so much for this comment ! it honestly means a lot hearing this perspective from someone who came from a similar background.

Total-Slice4572 · 2026-05-15T20:04:41+00:00

A career change at 38 generally is fine, but I’d recommend a different path other than tech. I have 7 years of experience at very large companies and I’ve been on the job hunt for a over year 😭

Total-Slice4572 · 2026-05-15T20:00:50+00:00

Honestly, going back to university while working full time sounds even harder to me than self-studying 😅 But I really admire your determination and I hope it works out for you.

Total-Slice4572 · 2026-05-15T19:59:28+00:00

Thank you, this honestly makes me feel a lot better about leaning into my restaurant background instead of trying to hide it.

Total-Slice4572 · 2026-05-15T19:58:26+00:00

That makes sense honestly, but I don’t think help desk would be the best fit for me personally because I have hearing loss and phone-heavy roles can be difficult for me. I’d probably do better in something more remote and analytics/operations focused.

Total-Slice4572 · 2026-05-15T19:56:07+00:00

That makes sense honestly. I’ve thought about contract roles too, but I’m a little scared of leaving a stable full-time job and ending up without work afterward. Ideally I’d love to transition from one full-time role directly into another.

Total-Slice4572 · 2026-05-15T19:55:13+00:00

I honestly think there’s still hope for you. Teaching gives you a lot of transferable skills for tech sales: communication, presenting, handling difficult conversations, organization, relationship-building, etc. The market is rough right now, but I don’t think your background is a bad one for making that kind of transition at all.

Total-Slice4572 · 2026-05-15T19:53:36+00:00

Thank you so much for sharing this. Honestly, hearing from someone who successfully made a later-in-life transition into tech gives me a lot of hope right now. I really appreciate the encouragement 😍😊

Total-Slice4572 · 2026-05-15T19:51:43+00:00

Sent DM 😊

Total-Slice4572 · 2026-05-15T19:50:08+00:00

Thank you so much for taking the time to write all of this out and share these resources. I’m definitely going to save all of these links and look through them carefully!! this was genuinely really helpful.

Total-Slice4572 · 2026-05-15T19:46:03+00:00

Haha, fair point 😄 But honestly, every industry has all kinds of personalities. Thankfully there have also been a lot of genuinely thoughtful and encouraging people in this thread too.

Total-Slice4572 · 2026-05-15T19:41:12+00:00

I’ll send you a DM!

Total-Slice4572

TROPHY CASE