Is it possible to begin a computer programming career at 59 or 60?

Do your thing! Of course it's not. Kudos to you. Go get it!

dems always for party wrote:

I have a Java certification and work in a different field but have done well in that field. . I have looked into PYthon programming but am aware my age may be a huge barrier. What do you think? Is being 59 a non-starter?

You’re too old.

Most people won’t hire you as a programmer if you are over the age of 40.

60 yes, 59 no.

You’re Too Old wrote:

dems always for party wrote:

I have a Java certification and work in a different field but have done well in that field. . I have looked into PYthon programming but am aware my age may be a huge barrier. What do you think? Is being 59 a non-starter?

You’re too old.

Most people won’t hire you as a programmer if you are over the age of 40.

Maybe if you have no experience. I'm 45 and have had multiple offers to hire from 130k to 180k/year. I do have twenty years experience though.

Oh Please wrote:

You’re Too Old wrote:

You’re too old.

Most people won’t hire you as a programmer if you are over the age of 40.

Maybe if you have no experience. I'm 45 and have had multiple offers to hire from 130k to 180k/year. I do have twenty years experience though.

20 years exp and only barely making 6 figs? Yikes

No future in Computers!

Get out while you're still young!!

Join the Neo-Luddite Revolution!!!

T.M.A.D.D.D.H.A.S.F.N.E.

60 maybe 61 no chance sooo better get on it

But everyone is changing to Python and Go and whatever language google wants to promote!

Probably to old to switch into the career field. High level language positions are dominated by hippy millenials who try and scare away all the competition with buzzwords and don't hire unless you are just like them. The only shot an old white guy would have is low level programming in assembly, FORTRAN, C or something similar.

If you familiarize yourself with development methodologies like AGILE and SWIFT you could probably convince a hirer to bring you on as a project manager since you have so much experience. In that case you wouldn't be writing much code but would make sure that the development process is working. Micromanaging tasks and ensuring pushes don't conflict. QA is another area you might look into. Doing testing on written code to check for errors.

I'm a bagger at Safeway, part-time. Is there any future for me working with them doohickeys? I'm a veteran.

45yo is very different than 60.

Companies consider that a 45yo still has 20 years of career in front of him, can still easily relate with co-workers who are in their 30s etc. vs a 60yo that only have 5-10 years of career in front of them and the generation gap with 30yo co workers is pretty wide.

Obviously you’re never too old to start making apps on your own, etc like others have suggested. If you want to be hired as a software developer, your best bet (in my opinion) is to try to get a dev role in an industry where you already have experience. Then, your leg up on others would be that you have a ton of knowledge about the business and can apply that to your work as a programmer.

My original comment is still valid, maybe more so since the Corona-virus will likely send the planet back to the stone-age and the only technology worthwhile will be the bow and arrow.

All that time you spent coding could have been spent learning to pray and sharpening up on your survival skills.

No future in Computers!

Get out while you're still young!!

Join the Neo-Luddite Revolution!!!

T.M.A.D.D.D.H.A.S.F.N.E.

I am shocked to find out that you are 59 based on your other posts...

I think you can. The issue is getting that first programming job. An easy way to get your foot in the door is being a test/qa engineer or a L3 Support engineer. Definitely on the lower end from a pay scale and sorta the worst job in programming but with a year of experience there it should be a good enough resume builder to move to the next thing. Also thinking that you are later in your career from an age perspective maybe go get AWS certs. Every fortune 500 and their little brother is migrating and thus there are tons of professional service companies who specialize in AWS or cloud I general. Good pay not likely to be a big opertunity in 10 years but by then you should be good

dems always for party wrote:

I have a Java certification and work in a different field but have done well in that field. . I have looked into PYthon programming but am aware my age may be a huge barrier. What do you think? Is being 59 a non-starter?

I was a chief engineer, hiring manager, executive in the technology industry for 30 years and can tell you age is not a barrier. Go for it. There is a critical shortage of software engineers and programmers right now. The opportunity is there.

This is pegged as a runners message board. You have apparently mistaken it for a jobs board. Sad.

Starno wrote:

45yo is very different than 60.

Companies consider that a 45yo still has 20 years of career in front of him, can still easily relate with co-workers who are in their 30s etc. vs a 60yo that only have 5-10 years of career in front of them and the generation gap with 30yo co workers is pretty wide.

That's why I qualified it with "if you have experience." I really doubt anyone would hire a 60 year old inexperienced programmer. But a 60 year old with 30 years experience is another story.

Why would a 60 yr old want to work?!

Enjoy your retirement!!!