
Learning to code at 56 - sconxu
https://medium.freecodecamp.com/yes-im-56-and-learning-to-code-f33abea6fd4c#.zhqs1isvb
======
beat
At 51, I've noticed there are really two kinds of people at my age... people
who are completely beaten, and people who are winning. Once you hit 40 or so,
the scope of mortality really hits you. You realize that you've probably
already had half your productive life, maybe half a career. You start seeing
peers die of "old age" \- heart attacks and strokes and stuff.

For most, they're beaten, defeated. They decide this is all there is, and
they're going to ride out their remaining years doing as little as possible
other than wallowing in regret and yelling at kids to get off their damn lawn.
It's sad and terrible. I can hardly bear to be around a lot of people who were
so vital when they were young.

The others, though... they see the clock on the wall. They know that, at best,
life is more than half over for them already. They have a limited amount of
time. They're the ones ticking things off their bucket list. They understand
their priorities. Now, _you_ may not understand just how important it is to
them to start a new business, or grow the perfect tomato, or travel through
China, but they get it in a deep way, much deeper than most 20-somethings can
imagine.

You really, really want to work with people like this if you can. They're
brilliant.

~~~
beachstartup
part of the problem is by the time you're 50, you've had 30 years of adult
life to accumulate bad decisions.

a lot of people are saddled with obligations they never actually wanted. :(

~~~
blubb-fish
Life as an adult is fundamentally and naturally about responsebilites and
obligations - and most men no longer are able to cope with those because they
bought into the illusion of life long youth - aka Peter Pan syndrome.

~~~
beachstartup
no, i think you have it backwards. the men who are 50 something _right now_
dove headlong into family+salary+mortgage at an early age, possibly against
their true desires, and many of them are feeling the negative effects of that.

peter pan syndrome means you never actually did anything with your life
(positive or negative), not that you've been beaten down by it. how can you be
beaten down by nothing?

~~~
JKCalhoun
I'm 52 — dove into family+salary+mortgage around the age of 30. I have no
regrets at all. Kids are awesome, a wife is awesome, home equity is awesome.

~~~
beachstartup
i wouldn't say 30 is an early age. it is young but i was referring to people
who get shackled at 22 before they actually fully develop.

------
nngrey
After a long career in public health, I began learning to code at age 50. I
took a couple computer science courses at a local university and then attended
a bootcamp focused on Rails. The bootcamp got me an internship, and after the
internship, I was hired on a junior dev. Three years later, I am still at the
same company (although it has been acquired) and have received one promotion.
Most of what I learned, I learned on the job, and there was a long period
where I just googled, cut and pasted, but with time, things began to make more
sense. I really enjoy what I do today and can imagine doing it for many years
to come.

~~~
test6554
Congratulations! This made my day.

------
webwanderings
This appears to be an Ad for free code camp (not that there's anything wrong
with that). Just ten years younger in a similar boat, I'm neither taking a
boot camp, nor writing about my "CIS". To each their own. Learning is a life
long activity. It shouldn't matter what one learns at any age.

~~~
grok2
Perhaps it really is an ad, but if it is real, I am impressed that the person
thinks at 56, he has enough runway in life to make a serious contribution by
coding :-)...I like that attitude.

~~~
mgkimsal
why wouldn't he? plenty of folks much younger than me have made 'serious
contributions' in far less time than I have.

~~~
grok2
I'm growing old too and I find it hard to motivate myself to take up new
things that are very long term -- somedays I wonder what is the point in
learning a new programming language or framework and I am nowhere as old as
him. Which is why I liked his attitude. It's refreshing and inspiring.

------
hd4
As long as you still have a working memory, you can learn anything at any age,
I don't go along with this 'old-dog-can't-learn-new-tricks' thinking. Though
obviously when you're younger it's markedly easier to pick up a new skill.

~~~
johansch
It does take longer for _many_ people to learn new things when they are 50-60
though.

I do think we have to be realistic about the issue that many people who
learned and performed complex intellectual skills in their 20s/30s no longer
perform this kind of ability to pivot in their 50s/60s; to learn a new craft
that depends on learning a lot of new information/skills.

Of course this doesn't mean that _all_ people in their 50s/60s are like this.
Like this post illustrates.

~~~
Baeocystin
Speaking as a 43-year old, while I do have some health issues that I didn't
have in my 20's, perhaps somewhat surprisingly, I find learning new things as
easy as it's ever been. And I honestly don't think I am unusual in that
regard.

I have a much wider framework of accumulated knowledge than I did 20 years
ago, and leveraging that, I can see how wider parts of systems interrelate
with a clarity that I never came close to touching in my youth.

Perhaps this too will fade in another 20 years, but so far I'm actually
enjoying having a middle-aged mind. I can accomplish so much more than I could
before.

~~~
pier25
I'm 37 and I find that I'm smarter and wiser now than I was in my 20s which
makes learning much easier even if my brain is almost double the age.

~~~
Brockenstein
Well 37 isn't really that old.

The difference between you and a 20 year old might be measurable, but
negligible, when it comes to pure learning. IE you're both learning a task,
subject, skill neither of you has knowledge or experience about.

Clearly experience and knowledge has great value, and coupled with any normal
sort of learning ability is a solid combination that is superior to increased
learning alone.

After all small children can learn amazingly fast compared to adults. But
without knowledge and experience to see how to use what they learn or how to
combine it to get new ideas they're at a disadvantage.

I mean as a software developer at 35 I know a lot more than I did at 20. I was
able to learn pretty quick back then, starting from scratch. I can learn
pretty quick now. But with the advantage of knowledge and experience, I'm
really only learning a couple of new things at a time to add to an already
immense store of knowledge, so yeah it's easy. One new thing and I can see
right where it fits into my existing knowledge. It's kind of a different
ballgame now compared to when I was 20 when I was still getting a handle on
the basics.

~~~
teddyh
> Well 37 isn't really that old.

— _Well, I can’t just call you “man”._

(Sorry.)

------
thght
Please don't go the web developer (javascript) path; node, react, webpack,
etc.. It will drive you nuts, things keep changing radically in a very high
pace and can take quite some time before you feel comfortable in this crazy
field.

I would choose python, ruby(or crystal), c++, c#, etc.. and stay away from the
browser, unless you have a very good reason to write for that.

~~~
soneca
I am not the author, but I'm in the exact same situation (except I'm 37). And
I am following the javascript path. It seems employable, interesting and, not
hard.

I know it is a bet, I'm betting in React and if in two years it is old news, I
will have to move on. But until then, I am employable.

I am very early in my learning path (started from scracth last November), but
I have a very clear impression that it is easier to learn Javascript than any
of the languages you mentioned.

Would you care to elaborate more your point? It would help me a lot.

thanks!

~~~
wccrawford
I wouldn't necessarily say that JS is easier to learn than those other
languages, but I think it's easier to be productive in it.

If you use one of those other languages with the web, people are going to want
you to use Javascript _anyhow_. So you have to learn both, unless you only do
very, very basic things.

If you use one of those languages without doing web-stuff... Ugh. Maybe some
phone apps line Swift or Java might be do-able, but I dunno about productivity
for a _long_ time.

On the other hand, it's not that hard to get good enough with Javascript to
build some nice usable websites and get paid. IMO it's by far the shortest
path to a programming career, and that will help get good enough to learn
other languages and spread out while earning income.

------
innocentoldguy
After many years of trying, I finally convinced my wife to learn Ruby and
Javascript a couple of years ago (we're both almost 50). She complained about
many of the same negatives that the author mentions in his article (which is
why it took so long to convince her to try), so I think he's on point with his
internal criticisms. I think he's also on point with his rebuttals.

In my wife's case, a large tech company hired her as a junior developer, and
she's been doing great. In an industry where it is fairly common for employees
to leave after two or three years (if not sooner), I don't think any employer
is overly concerned that they'll only get a handful of years out of an
employee. They'll most likely get less than that out of a 20-year-old.

------
weakeyesforit
At my age the main problem is that I read a lot in a computer screen and my
eyes get tired. Recently I read in the last weak several books for learning
Erlang and Elixir and one for refreshing ruby. Last month I learned java by
doing several projects with netbeans. Initially I programmwd only with gedit
and googling stack overflow. I was programming feom six pm to five am to help
my son with a java project. Honestly helping him is not doing any good but not
helping is not any better. Were my eyes and health stronger I think I could
learng anything in little time. I learned the hard way failing one and again.
You couldn't believe that I stumpled with all the walls before continuing
along, bit what don't kill you make you stronger. Get ready for the next
battle, we will win.

~~~
treehau5
Have you tried flux? [https://justgetflux.com/](https://justgetflux.com/)

It helps me with the eye strain. Also I am starting to find myself returning
to good ole paperback books for reading. Try printing out some code bases when
ever you start getting more advanced you can actually learn a lot from
studying code.

~~~
beachstartup
flux is awesome. i can't use it during the day though, because it puts me to
sleep! it works too well.

------
johansch
Well, that plan does sound plausible.

Seems smart and social enough to get a good job in development.

And on top of that he is quite good at writing. Maybe that's something - in
combination with programming skills - he could focus on, career-wise...

------
iblaine
On one hand, it's warming to hear about someone trying to better themselves.
People should never stop learning. On the other, entering a career "to make
money" rubs me the wrong way.

~~~
duderific
Many people come from backgrounds where their access to money was extremely
limited. Maybe not this guy. But many people look to new careers such as
programming as a way to help themselves and their families have a better life.
Those people should not be frowned upon IMO.

------
rayboy1995
I can relate with the fitting in part, though my situation is the complete
opposite. I am a self-taught developer that skipped college and I have been a
professional software engineer since 18, I am now 21 and have been programming
for at least 8 years. At the company I am now working for as a senior engineer
I am the youngest here by a large margin. I am the most experienced and
youngest and it has caused a bit of hostility towards me. I can understand why
though but luckily it has died down since I have been here a few months.

------
eggman
Regarding a quote from Dan Bunten "No developer, on their deathbed, hopes for
more time alone at a computer screen". Perhaps a quote from an expert, or
perhaps not, either way this quote resonates with me. I have some contempt for
"certified experts" anyway. The carrot at the end of the obstacle course is
this: helping people become better may exponentially increase your reward
while tinkering in front of a screen is risky business.

------
mfukar
bootcamps - the best way of driving both wages and software quality down

~~~
jameskegel
That's a very non-inclusive way of thinking, and it is hard to imagine that it
benefits the community as a whole. What if you substituted developers, in this
situation, for doctors?

~~~
mfukar
I'd rather die of an abscessed tooth than visit a doctor out of whatever the
equivalent of bootcamps would be. I'm grateful to society I don't have to.

~~~
beat
Not me. If some quack who went to a six month "doctor bootcamp" can remove the
abscessed tooth that would otherwise kill me, I'd hand him the pliers and beg
for help.

Because there's a need, and that need is vital.

~~~
mfukar
Accomplished and well-trained doctors (or, humans)) make enough mistakes as it
is.

------
jahaja
I really wish that life-long learning would be assumed and encouraged on a
societal level. Even if it's something that is currently not seen as
"productive".

I wonder what my older relatives and acquaintances would've want to learn, or
work with, without the chains of economical reality.

------
chadrs
My father (63, I think?) is starting to learn to code. I chose a decent
beginner book for him (Python) and spent some time trying to figure out IDE
situation would work best. But the places he stumbled were a total surprise to
me.

He's never learned to type, imagine coding with hunt-and-peck. Characters like
()[]. he had no idea where to find. He didn't have much understanding of file
systems; so things like saving and renaming were tricky.

Anyway, he was pretty thrilled with getting a "hello world" example and one
that asks your name and prints out a greeting.

~~~
godshatter
I always find it strange when programmers where I work copy+paste everything
they can to avoid typing. If you program for a living, typing is your bread
and butter. The better you are at it, the more you can get done and the faster
your thoughts get dumped to the source file before you forget what the hell
you started typing in the first place :)

I envy your father. It will be fun watching him have "a-ha" moments as the
pieces start to fit together.

------
the_jp
Great attitude, someone hire this guy. :)

------
DrNuke
Admirable as a life example, not sure that starting coding at 56 guarantees
higher ROI and market than sql/excel for data analysis though?

------
brudgers
Jeff Meyerson's 2015 interview with Quincy Larson of Free Code Camp provides a
good overview of the project.

[https://softwareengineeringdaily.com/2015/10/28/free-code-
ca...](https://softwareengineeringdaily.com/2015/10/28/free-code-camp-with-
quincy-larson/)

------
jaclaz
Well, if it is not an ad, at least is some astroturfing, how come the BIG
photo is not that of the actual guy?

The image on the article is this one:

[https://i2.wp.com/tobecomeateacher.org/wp-
content/uploads/20...](https://i2.wp.com/tobecomeateacher.org/wp-
content/uploads/2016/12/ctlghjilmue-jake-barford.jpg)

"Stock photo" by Jake Barford:
[https://unsplash.com/@jakebarford](https://unsplash.com/@jakebarford)

The photo of Mr. Vaughn, (from his "profile"):

[https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/fit/c/100/100/1*Lu4bKAqf2Sxm...](https://cdn-
images-1.medium.com/fit/c/100/100/1*Lu4bKAqf2SxmV2--PHLy7A.jpeg)

~~~
jansenv
Looks a bit like Jeff Daniels in dumb & dumber aged 10 years.

Good find though. This is really fishy.

~~~
wyldfire
I think you all are misunderstanding the article. It's _extremely_ common on
medium articles to use stock photo at the top of your article. This probably
also serves as an article thumbnail in article summaries/indexes.

The author clearly uses a photo of what is ostensibly themselves as their
profile pic. Nothing in the article indicates "this is me."

More important: there is little if anything to be gained by this deception.
The article includes self promotion, including "Connect with me on twitter" in
the author byline. But this is IMO a par for the course quid-pro-quo in nearly
every blog article ever written.

~~~
jaclaz
I know it is extremely common, but one thing is when you write something about
(say) biking let's say titled "Biking is good for your soul" and have a nice
stock photo of a "generic biker" on a mountain trail, another IMHO is if the
title is:

"I’m learning to code at 56. Here’s an epic beat-down of my critical inner
self."

and just after the title you put an image of a good looking fiftyish guy
looking at the reader straight in the eyes, and right after it you repeat:

"I’m 56 years old and learning to code.".

Maybe it is not "intended" or done in any way in "bad faith", still it does
seem like saying, "here I am, at 56, look at me".

~~~
meej
I took it to be a personification of his Critical Inner Self.

------
superplussed
Obviously things are going to be tough as a 50s junior developer, but it
sounds like you are up for the challenge. And hey, we all have to do something
with the time we are here. It might as well be something you enjoy, challenges
be damned.

~~~
counterplex
I'd imagine by your 50s you'd have already learned the right attitude to
succeed at anything: do the best you can, ask for help often and speak up
right away when scope explodes!

This makes things easier, not more difficult.

~~~
kbart
Attitude is not the problem here, getting a job is. Few acquaintances of mine
in their thirties also try to jump this developer bandwagon and it's _very_
hard to get a junior position for them, because they are "too old" (of course,
nobody says that directly). Actually, they started to get interviews only
after had hidden years in their CVs (as per mine advice).

~~~
tonyedgecombe
Which is quite funny when you consider many of us are using technology that is
only a few years old and we are constantly told we shouldn't stop learning to
have a career in programming.

------
kordless
I submitted this yesterday around Noon and got 3 votes. Today, here it is in
another submission. Take a look at the URL. HN apparently uses the entire URL,
including hashes, which means this is considered a separate submission.
Interesting.

~~~
melling
HN is a hit or miss.

If you don't get upvoted quickly, you'll get missed. Several weeks ago, 3 of 4
stories that i submitted within two days were completely passed over, only to
be resubmitted by other people, which ended up on the front page. One story
was even #1 for several hours.

~~~
johansch
I have noticed this. I have also noticed that reddit is a lot better in this
regard - good stories tend to get picked up - e.g. in subreddits that have a
comparable new post volume.

Here it often seems quite random what does get picked up.

------
eggman
learn arabic, learn japanese, learn chemistry. "coding" is dense and every
craft has its skilled practitioners. will anyone read your code in two hundred
years?

------
justinzollars
When I was an undergraduate, my major professor said that the average man dies
at 22 and is buried at 65. Congratulations on never stopping to learn.

------
peter_retief
I think I may be 56, hmm, still learning and producing I started coding at 36,
that means I have 20 years of experience, thats cool hey!

------
ready_to_roll
How can I email direct? Not interested in Twitter anymore. Too much trolling
going on.

