
Ask HN: Is there life after 40? - n0tme
I am not 40 yet, only turned 36 couple of days ago. However, I am desperate and in need of advice.<p>I think I made a mistake when I was younger and chose a career path of a database administrator, even though I always enjoyed programming more. Moreover, I still do some programming, mostly for fun: little side projects, some codewars, some codefights, screeps. I really enjoy working with JavaScript and it&#x27;s infrastructure: git, npm and all that. I also have experience with a lot of other languages, like PHP, python, basic&#x2F;vb, pascal&#x2F;delphi, c++ and do lot of shell scripting, PL&#x2F;SQL programming, SQL and SQL tuning at work.<p>The problem is, I am 36. I can not switch jobs, because it would mean to get back to junior salaries, which really looks like a super bad option and bad decision + there would probably be more yesterday students, who would be happy to get this junior role.<p>So what I wanted to ask is what would you do if you were me. Please, do not tell me to kill myself or keep rotting at my current job&#x2F;position&#x2F;career path.<p>Thank&#x27;all.
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stclaus
I'm 36 as well, I've always worked as software engineer (full stack, but front
end oriented), and last year I changed role. I was lucky enough to be
contacted by one of the big tech giants, and I discovered that the evolution
of a software engineer could be picked among a number of different options.

I think your premise is wrong: "I can not switch jobs because it would mean to
get back to junior salary". Why do you think that?

Of course, part of the equation is also your location. I don't know where you
live, but if you're willing to move, you probably can find a lot of
opportunities to sell your senior experience.

It's not really clear what is the advice you're looking for. \- Do you like
your job? Stick to it and grow in your current role. \- Do you like your job
but not your company? Change company! \- Do you want to switch to another job?
Well, you probably won't choose something super different (e.g. a doctor!) but
you with your experience you could apply for team leading roles, sofware (or
infrastructure) architect, production engineer, developer advocate, partner
engineer, etc.

My suggestion is to understand exactly what is your need / problem here, and
to give it a name. Then start from there. You're a programmer, think
analytically :) And don't think about bad choices (I don't think it was a bad
choice, though) you can change what's next but not what you already did (yeah
apologies for the philosophical sentence, but that's it)

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adamhours
I'm not going to tell you to keep rotting at your current career/path, however
I am going to say this could be a good opportunity to perhaps start your own
side gig. Small projects for smaller clients, depending on the amount of free
time you have. Considering you already have a job, you wouldn't be losing any
money and maybe, just maybe it will blossom into it's own thing where you
won't need the database admin job anymore. I say this as a 40-year-old,
employed full-time in IT Consulting who's decided to finally get around to
making comics and graphic novels.

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AnimalMuppet
There's lots of code that puts data in databases and gets data out of
databases. That code is usually intimately involved with the database schema.
I suspect that you could get a job doing that without having to go back to
junior salaries... but not necessarily at your current company.

You also might not be able to do it in JavaScript. You might have to use Java
or C#.

You might look around at your current situation. Identify the people who write
code that interacts with your databases. Ask their manager/lead (and your own)
if you can, part time, work with that team, or if you can transition to
working on it full time.

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jaredcwhite
Build build build. I don't mean a little side project like you're already
doing. I mean build something substantial. Clone something on the App Store.
Write your own Twitter client. Create a replacement for a SASS product you
admire. Whatever, doesn't matter.

Why? Because you need experience and you aren't going to get that looking for
a new job. You need the experience first so you can _get_ that new job. Once
you have demonstrable skills, try to pick up a freelance client or two. Then
you can decide if you like freelancing or want to apply for a salaried
position.

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brador
"I can not switch jobs" \- yes you can.

