

Too old to start an IT career (C# programming or whatever) at age 50? - fixerupper

I'd really like to know if it's too late to start in the IT field and make good of it.  I want to eventually become a consultant for the rest of my life of past age 75.  Am I going to be in a tough field to get into if I get a graduate degree in computer science or learn for certifications in a graduate school called SetFocus?
======
elblanco
Depending on your background... _maybe_.

In my experience, people with strong mathematics, EE, CE or physics
backgrounds can become _ok_ programmers in support of their work in that field
if they end up learning that skillset later in life. But that's because
they've already trained their minds at a younger age to think along those
kinds of lines so those neural pathways are already set.

Outside of maybe those few areas (and perhaps very few related ones), I'd say
it'll be a struggle. A 20 year old will most likely code faster and more
prolific. And if his code stinks, he'll tear it down and rewrite it again,
better and from an orthogonal direction, while you are still plugging away
getting your first project just setup.

Even experienced developers find that they really have to step aside at some
point and teach, or manage. It's just a profession that favors the
malleability of the young mind and it _seems_ to have a very high burnout rate
past somewhere around 40 -- meaning I see maybe 1% of developers still
actively in a development role after that age, they've either entirely left
the profession, or moved into a supervisory/mgmt role.

Like anything, it's a language, and the young always learn that kind of thing
faster, and internalize it better (grok) than their elders.

That being said, I _have_ seen a fair number of old-timers doing network
security, and other kinds of IT "behind the scenes" infrastructure kind of
jobs. Their age give them some automatic authority as they blend in with the
other greybeards of those professions. One guy I knew went from running a
restaurant to doing network mgmt at about 55. He's become reasonable
successful in those jobs. But one thing he always laments is the impatience of
the faster, younger colleagues that have to deal with him -- he invariably
tries to find solo positions in small companies.

~~~
ideamonk
Whereas in Open Source world I find people active even in their 50s :)

~~~
elblanco
This is probably true. Most likely comes from the Unix Greybeards presiding
over the whole thing, like the Greek Titans before the dominion of the Gods.

~~~
fixerupper
I'm not a greybeard. I can probably run faster than you too. I can learn as
fast as anyone and can probably freestyle martial arts better than most
younger. I can code.

------
projectileboy
Depends. If you actually enjoy computer programming, maybe. If it's just a way
to make a living, then you're going to get exhausted having to constantly
learn new technologies.

Go to university if you think that's the best route for you. I'd avoid
certification factories. But your best route is actually to just start writing
programs. Try getting involved with a open source project.

------
ksvs
Setfocus looks pretty dubious:
[http://seeker.dice.com/olc/thread.jspa?threadID=12196&ts...](http://seeker.dice.com/olc/thread.jspa?threadID=12196&tstart=-1)

If you start searching for "setfocus" in Google, the top suggestion for the
next word is "scam."

------
fixerupper
I actually code and learn faster now than most people do in the 20s.

------
Ye-Ha
IT yes, programmer no. Look at .net, PHP, etc.

