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A 37-year-old wanting to learn computer science

(initcoder.com)
165 points chbkall | 1 comments | 05 Jul 25 08:52 UTC | HN request time: 0.276s | source
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lisp2240 ◴[05 Jul 25 20:34 UTC] No.44475341[source]▶
Nobody else will tell you the truth: nobody will ever hire you as a software developer. You will never get past the filter.

I tried to enter the field at 35. I couldn’t get an interview with a CS degree. I did everything right. Good GPA. Portfolio. Professional resume help. Sent applications for two years and heard nothing. Now I’m 45 with nothing to show for it. All those late nights studying coding interview questions and I never got a chance to try.

The success stories you hear are people with friends or family members who get them through the door. Unless you know someone like this, give up now and don’t waste your time.

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1. knighthack ◴[06 Jul 25 15:39 UTC] No.44481679[source]▶
I have some doubts about your statements. If you can't get a job at FAANG or the major startups, sure - that makes absolute sense. Competition is crazy.

If you can't get a job at all, that makes no sense, and probably speaks more to the fact that you might be an academic parrot who can talk code, but not write code, as an actual software developer with practical abilities. And that goes more to your lack of practice, rather than lack of knowledge. The world is not to blame in that regard but you.

Alternatively, try different domains - your skills might work little wonder in the software world, but might move mountains in other (especially labour-intensive) domains.