Don't give up ...i'm 61 quit my job as a high school math teacher and have been 'knocking the rust' off of my skill set, cs grad from 2000 ...worked through a ccna course, got the security + certificate did a master python programmers course and start a video course on coursera tomorrow to start building my portfolio and build out a youtube channel ...things i hope to cover: building out a homelab, network programming/scripts, and cysa+ security objectives,
Great advice as always, Stefan. I'm in my 50s, and I was in tutorial hell, particularly with JavaScript. A couple of months ago I decided, right, PHP (no _special_ servers to pay for). I thought of a web service as my first proper project, which has turned out to be quite large. As I go along, I learn more about PHP (no framework yet) and MySQL. Many of the pages are working, and now I'm at the refactoring stage, which opened to my mind to the, 'what if a user tries to do this or do that?' situations. Wow! There is so much to think about when building a real project. *The point* is that you can learn so much more by building stuff, which gets you out of tutorial hell. You'll also discover how to think logically, as developer and as a user, even a malicious one. I think you know when your code is bad when you leave it a few days, and can't figure out how it works. Keep going, _somebody_ , and get building!
I’m almost 43 learned software dev by myself after less than a year I landed a job as a software tester doing automation. It’s not hardcore coding but still I’m able to code/scripting. Now trying to transition to data analyst. Good luck folks!
In my experience, if it's a new career area and you're in your 50's, most companies who are hiring don't want to talk to you. With junior dev roles, companies seem to be looking for younger people. I wasn't prepared for this and frankly I've been surprised about it.
@@woody-xm5ve My company will hire boot camp grads for help desk but not for dev roles. Unless there's a bubble and everyone is hiring like crazy self taught and boot camp folks aren't getting dev jobs. Unless they know somebody. Most entry and mid level jobs go to offshore and H1Bs anyway.
@@woody-xm5ve As somebody who was always considered a wiz kid now in my mid thirties, it's hard to comprehend the wisdom you pick up as you get older. Tech skills can be learnt relatively quick, maybe a year or two, and if you are further along that path than somebody it doesn't mean you are necessarily wiser. These older managers are 100% taking advantage of youngsters to burn through them. They play their ego by saying older people don't have the skills you have etc (in reality they won't fall for the bad deals being offered), I've genuinely had these shady discussions in companies behind closed doors, i'm not just speculating.
@@Not-Getting-Political-Anymore I don’t know about it’s hard to comprehend the wisdom you pick up as you get older. I was never a wiz kid but what I have is perseverance and I agree, if you are further along the path it doesn’t mean you’re wiser but you’re ahead bcoz of all the knowledge and experience you acquired along the way. it’s hard to comprehend or hard to learn stuff because you’re older, for me that’s just an excuse you can always find a way to learn and understand things. Just my 2 cents. ✌🏽✌🏽✌🏽
Why not? In my opinion it is a path to still being able to still work when you are 60 or 70 +. You won't be suitable for lots of jobs as you get old but you will be sitting on your butt at home being an old dude so why not have a skill that you can take into retirement and keep doing no matter your physical ability etc. Freelance while being retired. Sounds like a plan.
@@David5.Pumpk1ns They tax around 70% of the money we make when you add up all the fees, taxes, and taxes on taxes. Pharaoh in the Bible only took 20% from his slaves. Also, lose your paid off home if you don't pay the property taxes that have doubled in just a handful of years. What does that make us? 🤔
It may sound banal, but that's the proven psychological mechanism: you become what you believe. It's a dangerous thing to strongly believe in something negative for you. For example a chain smoker who thinks to himself constantly "I'll never give up smoking, my will is too weak for that". Guess what, that person will never give up smoking. The opposite happens if you strongly believe you are capable of doing something and you keep reassuring yourself about it. I almost got my CS degree in 2006. Almost. Let's say life took a bad turn. I worked in lotsa shitty jobs for 10+ years. At around 34 I thought to myself: "I need to do something that pays well and will continue to pay me well even after my physical health is not that good anymore". I went to a java coding bootcamp, 7 months on weekends, lotsa cash. 3 months after it finished, I almost gave up on searching entry level job in IT. But I got selected to one. There were 100+ candidates, one position to fill and I got selected. I consider myself very lucky, but I had to show some capabilities and the main thing that got me there IMO was I strongly believed I can be successful in this field. I became software tester/test automation engineer. Not my dream job but at least I got into the industry. After about 2 years proving myself as decent problem-solver in test automation related stuff, I changed jobs to become intern java software developer. Fast forward 3 years to now, after some ups and downs during that time, I'm a mid backend java dev. Mainly doing spring-boot stuff. Decent understanding of various databases. Nothing too crazy. Got some experience with html/css/js. Not too much, but enough to craft some simple frontend or make simple changes to existing one if needed. There were times I started really doubting myself, like 'do I really belong here, am I good enough' and such. But I somehow managed to overcome it. So I'd say in your situation, just keep building your confidence that you can do the software dev job decently with every problem you solve, with every new thing you learn. And treat every setback as learning experience. Harsh experience (everyone has them), but one that makes you better, stronger. And try not to feed your sub-consciousness with negative stuff like " I feel like I'll be 50+ by the time I finally get a job in the industry". All the best in yar journey!
Even 3/4 years ago you’d have been golden but nowadays..ive been coding for 5 years and ive been feeling i should replace my keyboard with a hammer and nails.
Im 49 and i left dodging bullets as a lawenforcement officer to coding , i practice i 7hrs a day since aug 2023 and learned html , c++, javascript , css , bootstrap , ect ... i love coding
@@neomangeo7822 because it's fun for me being able to build something in 4 versions, each one with different language, and connecting it with the UI and database. It's just fun for me, don't know how to explain it. And when I knew JS quite well, I started to compare it with the other languages, so it was just curiosity. So easy to understand the other languages when one knows the basic building blocks of a programming language...
I am also 55 years old and learning to code. You can do freelance or look for sites that need temp workers to work on projects. I found one that pays $40 hour if you can code and theirs no interview or worrying about age. Yes, this appears to be a game of age, but their are alternatives. They might take a little longer to get established, but hang in there because it can happen.
It really depends what we mean by "coding". It's like learning the guitar - it doesn't take long to learn a few chords so you can play a few songs (and even write songs), but it's going to take you awhile to be Jimi Hendrix. The problem with learning to code is pretty much the definition of "people don't fail, they give up trying". Someone once said to me that "the trouble is people think that coding is like going to the gym, where if you just push through the pain you'll see the benefit, but you won't - if you feel pain, you need to go back and learn what you missed." You see it all the time - someone gets super excited about learning to code, they buy a load of courses, they spend hours on it, they get to a problem, it doesn't work, they throw their hands up and say it's impossible, and give up.
@@longrolstral If you like that, I'll give you another quote, "Success is simply going from one failure to another without losing enthusiasm" - Winston Churchill.
@@lordsalisbury1 Very wise and true. It will survive the test of time, for sure. The people who give up, never _really_ wanted to do what it was in the first place.
There are lots of guitarists that know music inside out and are excellent but they never write their own music even the ones that do dont let you listen to it because they think it is not good enough.
The answer is always going to be yes to this question..it’s the safe, right answer..of course you can LEARN code at 55..the right question to ask is, what are the stats on people over 50 getting work in field just starting up? where are they ending up? Much more realistic and should be the only question asked more often..
learning to code at 50+ is the best... you have shown after 50+ years you can work hard and accomplish a lot because you have made it this far in life... by choosing to learn programming you are obviously wanting to step up your game in life by learning a new language (speaking and coding are both languages) which has been proven to have amazing benefits with preventing cognitive decline and changing careers at this stage in life is one of the most difficult things to do given corporate perception of people at 50+..... don't expect to get a job making more than someone in their 20s if you get a job at all.... best to transition to a coding job within your current company or start your own business or even freelance... and if you do the later then expect it to be hard AF given more than 85% fail ..... if you can get though it though you will enjoy your life and decision and freedom .... we are all average and only advantage anyone has is how much they can push through the suck with a positive attitude 🙂
It can be really hard to get a job with no experience at that age. The best way would be switching career in the company you already work in so you could transfer your whole domain knowledge and be of use from day one. Besides that it would take a lot of time to get to the level of all the other developers. It can be stressful if you are with lots of young people who have way more knowledge than you.. We hired a bootcamp graduate who is 40 years old. He has the right motivation and puts lots of effort into his now career and it still is hard.
@@-Engineering01-It's not impossible, but certainly very hard. I was hired at 38 as a Junior with 1.5 years of experience. It was a startup, and although I tried hard and solved many hard problems, my co-workers were condescending towards me, and there was a also a generational gap. Almost 2 years later, I was let go. The good thing is I'm so resilient and pushed through, I've been employed 3 years in a row now, I'm 44. It's hard and I still have so much to learn even with 8 years of experience already. Had I been married or with kids, I'm possitive I couldn't be studying long hours and I would be working a dead-end job now.
@@-Engineering01- I think it can be done by leveraging your domain knowledge as the advantage and building software around that, then sell yourself as "I have 30+ years in knowledge in this field" and now I also build software solutions around it
@@SamuelGriffin A lot of companies just won't hire older workers. And in tech it's even worse. I've worked in places that thought older workers couldn't learn new tricks and other places that prefer younger folks they can force people into doing unpaid work.
HIIT is great--especially for my working memory. I eat natural foods, and my blood work is that of someone 14 years younger than my years (low apoB, etc.). But after 7 years of tutorial hell, something's got to change.
Age discrimination is everywhere and it’s very unfortunate. Quite honestly, there are still great companies out there. You can learn complex things at any age 20 30 40, 50, 60 and beyond. The only thing that will stop you is your lack of confidence and negative mindset tow 1:14 ards learning as you get older. If you think that you are too old to do something then you won’t do it. Believe that you can, and it will, regardless of how long it takes it is possible. For a lot of people life begins after 40. I am over 40 and in school for a BS degree. Many people have graduated from my school over 65 and done very well.
The advantage that individuals aged 40 or 50+ have is their developed soft skills, such as effective time management, a positive attitude toward learning, and the perseverance to work hard
Thank you so much for the video. I’m 47 years old and made similar mistakes mentioned earlier in this video. So, I’m going to purchase your material instead 😊.
It may or may not get you into another career but if you can find a way to use your new skills to improve something at the place that you work at now with some coding, it will almost certainly put you above the rest and start to pad your resume nicely. Always work to get better regardless of your age. Whether through code, becoming the Excel expert, solving problems that impact departments or the entire company with databases, even some simply sorting script / report generator add-on for a dataset that is being inefficiently or not done at all. If you are web focused, maybe your office could use an intranet. Play around with that starting with a site for the department you work in. Also having those real problems to solve make the learning easier as you have a real goal rather than just solving some tutorial challenge project to learn.
I think the issue is, and this is where mentorship comes in, is few teaches how to think. I made much better progress when i started scetching out what i wanted, writing in functions....opposed to just sitting down witj VS code. Even with tutorials for a project, plan it out before you watch it, make guessss, research.... Then watch it and follow along.
I trained in many different martial arts, 5000 moves and only about ten of them are effective and used. Im learning coding and it seems to be the same thing, its taken me 6months just to decide what im going to concentrate on and i have decided i am going to try learn cobol and everything that comes with it, making web sites doesnt interest me at all, i think that will all be automated soon, not that i know anything.
No, don't learn to code after 50. It's nearly impossible to find work in coding at that age. You will be discriminated against, and no one will take you seriously. Ageism is real. Hiring managers will be looking at your physical health and your endurance to code long hours in case you need to during crunch time. I wish Uncle Stefan had given this man honest advice instead of trying to sell him something. Learning JavaScript, CSS, and HTML will not get you a job. With those skills, you can only get a job if you already know someone willing to hire you. Please don't give this man false hope and waste his precious time.
53 yo here. Working for years with Wordpress (installing it, adding free/payed themes and plugins by request and filling sites up with requested content). Recently started to re-learn html and css in free time (I used to write html in 90s before CMS) hoping to soon learn to code JavaScript.... but.... it all seems like a huge waste of time. I mean, if Wordpress works so good ("a few clicks" and basic site is up), why would I even need to know "to code"? Like, when I learn html/css/js good I'll be 60 and ready for retirement. Not sure I'll get anywhere useful with my learning other than waste time. Atm having such thoughts and felt the need to share, sorry.
Hello Stefan. Why am I struggling to move from learning through tutorials to building my own projects, even though I know what I want to build, and how can I overcome this barrier? Additionally, why do I find it difficult to determine the steps needed to complete a project, and what can I do to address this?
Your book recommendation to purchase, (Web Design - Start Here: A No-Nonsense, Jargon Free Guide to the Fundamentals of Web Design) is ten years old. It was released in 2015. Isn't this book outdated as of July 2024.
No. I wrote it to be evergreen. There is nothing in there that is outdated …. But if I would do an update, I would add a few things. I don’t make money off it so my recommendations are not motivated by cash.
@StefanMischook ... Sir, I'm not concerned whether you're making cash. In fact, I want you to get a commission.😊 I just want to make sure I'm getting the most recent information, that's all.
I'm 40 and started coding in January. Still working on TOP and stuck at 98%. I'm able to make a basic website but really struggling with Javascript and arrays. I've lost some motivation because I don't feel like it's "clicking" for me. I don't have money for courses and bootcamps.
Javascript is hard. It takes time. take courses from Brad Traversy - Modern Javascript from the beginning 2.0. you can find on its site or on udemy. you should probably start with some other courses from him on html, css and JS based on creating projects. Don't give up, we've been there before... :)
Uncle Stef, I am comfortable with front-end development and I want to get my first job in the industry. I also happen to be a talented web designer. I am familiar with Figma, Sketch, and Photoshop. How much will my web design skills help me get my first front-end dev job? Is this combination of front-end and design skills considered valuable in the industry?
I advice this man not to go to bootcamp and not to work as a coder, learn coding but don't work specially if you are 50, this industry like people in their 20s so they work them to death simply, very soon you will understand that your old Job is much better, boring stable job is a dream job, most of us has jobs not careers!! Also now high unemployment in software devs so please man learn to code but stay in your job, I personally want away out of the software mess after 10 years in this field!!!!!
@@IfItAintBrokeStillFixIt believe me, it is the reality of even people in the end of their 30s and beginning of 40s and Not all places can afford to give you management position or staff engineer, I feel I am like football player who needs to retire but I don't know where to go next because not all clubs can afford to offer all of their retired players unlimited positions as coaches, they might need one or two, so the reality that you might retire and go no where, this is exactly what I am facing, they now prefer people in their mid 20s or late 20s and I look older compared to them but in the same time they will not offer me management position or staff engineer as they don't need to so It is time to get out but to where!!!! The TH-camrs did a huge damage to make people think that coding is a job for life and blablabla, it is in one case if you are your OWN BOSS or you are an entrepreneur or have a software company that you are running it like uncle Stef for example but to be an employee in Tech, Ageism is soooo realllllllllll, it is like football career very few lucky players that can make it and the rest you will never hear about them, so take care regardless to you age, I wish if someone told me that!!!
@@IfItAintBrokeStillFixIt learn to code if you want but believe me, it is the reality of even people in the end of their 30s and beginning of 40s and Not all places can afford to give you management position or staff engineer, I feel I am like football player who needs to retire but I don't know where to go next because not all clubs can afford to offer all of their retired players unlimited positions as coaches, they might need one or two, so the reality that you might retire and go no where, this is exactly what I am facing, they now prefer people in their mid 20s or late 20s and I look older compared to them but in the same time they will not offer me management position or staff engineer as they don't need to so It is time to get out but to where!!!! The TH-camrs did a huge damage to make people think that coding is a job for life and blablabla, it is in one case if you are your OWN BOSS or you are an entrepreneur or have a software company that you are running it like uncle Stef for example but to be an employee in Tech, Ageism is soooo realllllllllll, it is like football career very few lucky players that can make it and the rest you will never hear about them, so take care regardless to you age, I wish if someone told me that!!!
Mentorship for React? My mentoring is about advanced development, career building, freelancing. I also provide a strong curriculum for beginners. What are you looking for?
@@StefanMischook am looking for guidance, some one who can help show me the right way of doing stuffs and help me out when am stuck in my projects advice me on how to tackle certain problems in web development and a react developer but I have been self learning for about 3 to 4 years but I feel and lack that professional experience
Dont buy this snake oil. Making some generic web pages will get you nowhere. You gotta put in work and start with the programming fundamentals not some lame html. Freelancing is a meme.
I agree but you have to start somewhere just to find out what interests you, any advice on learning Cobol. I have no interest in javascript and making websites.
@@pope1089the bad thing with Cobol is that it's almost impossible to get a job without a degree because banks don't take risks. Learn Java, all the Java ecosystem, and even SOAP, and focus totally on it.
I'm 62 .. started a year or so ago, I work full time and can only work on coding at night and weekends .. I'm not giving up
Cool!
Don't give up ...i'm 61 quit my job as a high school math teacher and have been 'knocking the rust' off of my skill set, cs grad from 2000 ...worked through a ccna course, got the security + certificate did a master python programmers course and start a video course on coursera tomorrow to start building my portfolio and build out a youtube channel ...things i hope to cover: building out a homelab, network programming/scripts, and cysa+ security objectives,
@@markgreen2170i would love to know how you ended in teaching coming from CS
Great advice as always, Stefan.
I'm in my 50s, and I was in tutorial hell, particularly with JavaScript. A couple of months ago I decided, right, PHP (no _special_ servers to pay for).
I thought of a web service as my first proper project, which has turned out to be quite large. As I go along, I learn more about PHP (no framework yet) and MySQL.
Many of the pages are working, and now I'm at the refactoring stage, which opened to my mind to the, 'what if a user tries to do this or do that?' situations. Wow! There is so much to think about when building a real project.
*The point* is that you can learn so much more by building stuff, which gets you out of tutorial hell. You'll also discover how to think logically, as developer and as a user, even a malicious one.
I think you know when your code is bad when you leave it a few days, and can't figure out how it works.
Keep going, _somebody_ , and get building!
Hell yeah
I’m almost 43 learned software dev by myself after less than a year I landed a job as a software tester doing automation. It’s not hardcore coding but still I’m able to code/scripting. Now trying to transition to data analyst. Good luck folks!
that's great! good for you!
That's great. What resources did you use to learn. Did you start with Python?
@@David5.Pumpk1ns I used Udemy to learn Java, testng, selenium, and lots of googling
In my experience, if it's a new career area and you're in your 50's, most companies who are hiring don't want to talk to you. With junior dev roles, companies seem to be looking for younger people. I wasn't prepared for this and frankly I've been surprised about it.
Facts! One of my colleague she came from bootcamp she’s 50 and was hired as a dev but it seems like she’s doing helpdesk which she didn’t like.
@@woody-xm5ve My company will hire boot camp grads for help desk but not for dev roles. Unless there's a bubble and everyone is hiring like crazy self taught and boot camp folks aren't getting dev jobs. Unless they know somebody. Most entry and mid level jobs go to offshore and H1Bs anyway.
@@woody-xm5ve As somebody who was always considered a wiz kid now in my mid thirties, it's hard to comprehend the wisdom you pick up as you get older. Tech skills can be learnt relatively quick, maybe a year or two, and if you are further along that path than somebody it doesn't mean you are necessarily wiser. These older managers are 100% taking advantage of youngsters to burn through them. They play their ego by saying older people don't have the skills you have etc (in reality they won't fall for the bad deals being offered), I've genuinely had these shady discussions in companies behind closed doors, i'm not just speculating.
@@Not-Getting-Political-Anymore I don’t know about it’s hard to comprehend the wisdom you pick up as you get older. I was never a wiz kid but what I have is perseverance and I agree, if you are further along the path it doesn’t mean you’re wiser but you’re ahead bcoz of all the knowledge and experience you acquired along the way. it’s hard to comprehend or hard to learn stuff because you’re older, for me that’s just an excuse you can always find a way to learn and understand things. Just my 2 cents. ✌🏽✌🏽✌🏽
Why not? In my opinion it is a path to still being able to still work when you are 60 or 70 +. You won't be suitable for lots of jobs as you get old but you will be sitting on your butt at home being an old dude so why not have a skill that you can take into retirement and keep doing no matter your physical ability etc. Freelance while being retired. Sounds like a plan.
This is my plan. Reaching a point where I'm going to have to retire from my current occupation. However, I have to continue to build wealth.
@@David5.Pumpk1ns They tax around 70% of the money we make when you add up all the fees, taxes, and taxes on taxes. Pharaoh in the Bible only took 20% from his slaves. Also, lose your paid off home if you don't pay the property taxes that have doubled in just a handful of years. What does that make us? 🤔
Im 31 and learning programming, I feel like I'll be 50+ by the time I finally get a job in the industry lol
It may sound banal, but that's the proven psychological mechanism: you become what you believe. It's a dangerous thing to strongly believe in something negative for you. For example a chain smoker who thinks to himself constantly "I'll never give up smoking, my will is too weak for that". Guess what, that person will never give up smoking. The opposite happens if you strongly believe you are capable of doing something and you keep reassuring yourself about it.
I almost got my CS degree in 2006. Almost. Let's say life took a bad turn. I worked in lotsa shitty jobs for 10+ years. At around 34 I thought to myself: "I need to do something that pays well and will continue to pay me well even after my physical health is not that good anymore". I went to a java coding bootcamp, 7 months on weekends, lotsa cash. 3 months after it finished, I almost gave up on searching entry level job in IT. But I got selected to one. There were 100+ candidates, one position to fill and I got selected.
I consider myself very lucky, but I had to show some capabilities and the main thing that got me there IMO was I strongly believed I can be successful in this field. I became software tester/test automation engineer. Not my dream job but at least I got into the industry. After about 2 years proving myself as decent problem-solver in test automation related stuff, I changed jobs to become intern java software developer.
Fast forward 3 years to now, after some ups and downs during that time, I'm a mid backend java dev. Mainly doing spring-boot stuff. Decent understanding of various databases. Nothing too crazy. Got some experience with html/css/js. Not too much, but enough to craft some simple frontend or make simple changes to existing one if needed.
There were times I started really doubting myself, like 'do I really belong here, am I good enough' and such. But I somehow managed to overcome it. So I'd say in your situation, just keep building your confidence that you can do the software dev job decently with every problem you solve, with every new thing you learn. And treat every setback as learning experience. Harsh experience (everyone has them), but one that makes you better, stronger. And try not to feed your sub-consciousness with negative stuff like " I feel like I'll be 50+ by the time I finally get a job in the industry". All the best in yar journey!
Even 3/4 years ago you’d have been golden but nowadays..ive been coding for 5 years and ive been feeling i should replace my keyboard with a hammer and nails.
😂😂@@vanamutt43
No. AI will blow away 90% programmers jobs in 5 years. 🎉❤
@@DihelsonMendonca By that figure, AI should have already replaced 30% of jobs by now..
Im 49 and i left dodging bullets as a lawenforcement officer to coding , i practice i 7hrs a day since aug 2023 and learned html , c++, javascript , css , bootstrap , ect ... i love coding
Awesome. Love reading comments like yours. Gives me motivation. Thank you.
I have family in LE. It's a tough job. Thank you for serving.
the future of programming is not very shiny anymore with the strong development of automation and AI.
I started learning HTML and CSS at 48, and now I also know JS (both FE and BE with Node), PHP, Python and this summer I'm learning Java 🙂
Why are you learning all those languages?
@@neomangeo7822 because it's fun for me being able to build something in 4 versions, each one with different language, and connecting it with the UI and database. It's just fun for me, don't know how to explain it. And when I knew JS quite well, I started to compare it with the other languages, so it was just curiosity. So easy to understand the other languages when one knows the basic building blocks of a programming language...
I am also 55 years old and learning to code. You can do freelance or look for sites that need temp workers to work on projects. I found one that pays $40 hour if you can code and theirs no interview or worrying about age. Yes, this appears to be a game of age, but their are alternatives. They might take a little longer to get established, but hang in there because it can happen.
what languages do you use?
❤️❤️😍😍🤗🤗that’s why we love and need our Steffffff!!!!! ❤️❤️❤️
It really depends what we mean by "coding". It's like learning the guitar - it doesn't take long to learn a few chords so you can play a few songs (and even write songs), but it's going to take you awhile to be Jimi Hendrix. The problem with learning to code is pretty much the definition of "people don't fail, they give up trying".
Someone once said to me that "the trouble is people think that coding is like going to the gym, where if you just push through the pain you'll see the benefit, but you won't - if you feel pain, you need to go back and learn what you missed." You see it all the time - someone gets super excited about learning to code, they buy a load of courses, they spend hours on it, they get to a problem, it doesn't work, they throw their hands up and say it's impossible, and give up.
It's great that people give up. They give us, who carry on, more options.
@@longrolstral If you like that, I'll give you another quote, "Success is simply going from one failure to another without losing enthusiasm" - Winston Churchill.
@@lordsalisbury1 Very wise and true. It will survive the test of time, for sure.
The people who give up, never _really_ wanted to do what it was in the first place.
There are lots of guitarists that know music inside out and are excellent but they never write their own music even the ones that do dont let you listen to it because they think it is not good enough.
@@pope1089 Absolutely
The answer is always going to be yes to this question..it’s the safe, right answer..of course you can LEARN code at 55..the right question to ask is, what are the stats on people over 50 getting work in field just starting up? where are they ending up? Much more realistic and should be the only question asked more often..
learning to code at 50+ is the best... you have shown after 50+ years you can work hard and accomplish a lot because you have made it this far in life... by choosing to learn programming you are obviously wanting to step up your game in life by learning a new language (speaking and coding are both languages) which has been proven to have amazing benefits with preventing cognitive decline and changing careers at this stage in life is one of the most difficult things to do given corporate perception of people at 50+..... don't expect to get a job making more than someone in their 20s if you get a job at all.... best to transition to a coding job within your current company or start your own business or even freelance... and if you do the later then expect it to be hard AF given more than 85% fail ..... if you can get though it though you will enjoy your life and decision and freedom .... we are all average and only advantage anyone has is how much they can push through the suck with a positive attitude 🙂
It can be really hard to get a job with no experience at that age. The best way would be switching career in the company you already work in so you could transfer your whole domain knowledge and be of use from day one. Besides that it would take a lot of time to get to the level of all the other developers. It can be stressful if you are with lots of young people who have way more knowledge than you.. We hired a bootcamp graduate who is 40 years old. He has the right motivation and puts lots of effort into his now career and it still is hard.
Bro it's impossible to get a junior job after 40s, I like stef but sometimes he's selling dreams to sell his courses. The real world is brutal.
@@-Engineering01-It's not impossible, but certainly very hard. I was hired at 38 as a Junior with 1.5 years of experience. It was a startup, and although I tried hard and solved many hard problems, my co-workers were condescending towards me, and there was a also a generational gap. Almost 2 years later, I was let go. The good thing is I'm so resilient and pushed through, I've been employed 3 years in a row now, I'm 44. It's hard and I still have so much to learn even with 8 years of experience already. Had I been married or with kids, I'm possitive I couldn't be studying long hours and I would be working a dead-end job now.
@@-Engineering01- I think it can be done by leveraging your domain knowledge as the advantage and building software around that, then sell yourself as "I have 30+ years in knowledge in this field" and now I also build software solutions around it
You can learn at any age, but getting a job in this field after that age is extremely difficult.
why?
@@SamuelGriffin A lot of companies just won't hire older workers. And in tech it's even worse. I've worked in places that thought older workers couldn't learn new tricks and other places that prefer younger folks they can force people into doing unpaid work.
@@SamuelGriffin Hard to be hired at 55, even if you have a lot of experience , tech is a young men's game
@@SamuelGriffinLots of ageism in the industry.
@@JD-vj4goits funny what you said.. because im 56 and i ve been working in this field for many tears...
I'm 34 and learning coding. Honestly I don't expect to get a job. But I will give it a try. Good luck to others.
HIIT is great--especially for my working memory. I eat natural foods, and my blood work is that of someone 14 years younger than my years (low apoB, etc.). But after 7 years of tutorial hell, something's got to change.
Age discrimination is everywhere and it’s very unfortunate. Quite honestly, there are still great companies out there. You can learn complex things at any age 20 30 40, 50, 60 and beyond. The only thing that will stop you is your lack of confidence and negative mindset tow 1:14 ards learning as you get older. If you think that you are too old to do something then you won’t do it. Believe that you can, and it will, regardless of how long it takes it is possible.
For a lot of people life begins after 40. I am over 40 and in school for a BS degree. Many people have graduated from my school over 65 and done very well.
good stuff thanks Stefan.
The advantage that individuals aged 40 or 50+ have is their developed soft skills, such as effective time management, a positive attitude toward learning, and the perseverance to work hard
Thank you so much for the video. I’m 47 years old and made similar mistakes mentioned earlier in this video. So, I’m going to purchase your material instead 😊.
Before watching;
Can/Can't IMO & IME has 'mainly' been and is to this day a state of mind and priorities issue, regardless of age!
It may or may not get you into another career but if you can find a way to use your new skills to improve something at the place that you work at now with some coding, it will almost certainly put you above the rest and start to pad your resume nicely.
Always work to get better regardless of your age.
Whether through code, becoming the Excel expert, solving problems that impact departments or the entire company with databases, even some simply sorting script / report generator add-on for a dataset that is being inefficiently or not done at all. If you are web focused, maybe your office could use an intranet. Play around with that starting with a site for the department you work in.
Also having those real problems to solve make the learning easier as you have a real goal rather than just solving some tutorial challenge project to learn.
New uncle Stef video? It's a good night 🥰
I think the issue is, and this is where mentorship comes in, is few teaches how to think. I made much better progress when i started scetching out what i wanted, writing in functions....opposed to just sitting down witj VS code. Even with tutorials for a project, plan it out before you watch it, make guessss, research.... Then watch it and follow along.
💯 yes database query optimization and agree these young nerds are just regurgitating content from other sources without real life experience.
I trained in many different martial arts, 5000 moves and only about ten of them are effective and used. Im learning coding and it seems to be the same thing, its taken me 6months just to decide what im going to concentrate on and i have decided i am going to try learn cobol and everything that comes with it, making web sites doesnt interest me at all, i think that will all be automated soon, not that i know anything.
No, don't learn to code after 50. It's nearly impossible to find work in coding at that age. You will be discriminated against, and no one will take you seriously. Ageism is real. Hiring managers will be looking at your physical health and your endurance to code long hours in case you need to during crunch time. I wish Uncle Stefan had given this man honest advice instead of trying to sell him something. Learning JavaScript, CSS, and HTML will not get you a job. With those skills, you can only get a job if you already know someone willing to hire you. Please don't give this man false hope and waste his precious time.
Well said. Finding work in tech after 50 is hard if you have experience.
Well said….
53 yo here. Working for years with Wordpress (installing it, adding free/payed themes and plugins by request and filling sites up with requested content).
Recently started to re-learn html and css in free time (I used to write html in 90s before CMS) hoping to soon learn to code JavaScript.... but.... it all seems like a huge waste of time.
I mean, if Wordpress works so good ("a few clicks" and basic site is up), why would I even need to know "to code"? Like, when I learn html/css/js good I'll be 60 and ready for retirement. Not sure I'll get anywhere useful with my learning other than waste time.
Atm having such thoughts and felt the need to share, sorry.
Hello Stefan.
Why am I struggling to move from learning through tutorials to building my own projects, even though I know what I want to build, and how can I overcome this barrier? Additionally, why do I find it difficult to determine the steps needed to complete a project, and what can I do to address this?
Indeed to much choice and information
Which leads to procrastination
The job market for junior is kindah dead brother. It's kaput!
49 here. Damn, it's not easy doing this by myself.
Don't give up. Look up my videos on learning to code for tips.
@@StefanMischook I will. Thanks for putting your advice out there.
I like eating ice creams but no one gives me money for that.
Your book recommendation to purchase, (Web Design - Start Here: A No-Nonsense, Jargon Free Guide to the Fundamentals of Web Design) is ten years old. It was released in 2015. Isn't this book outdated as of July 2024.
No. I wrote it to be evergreen. There is nothing in there that is outdated …. But if I would do an update, I would add a few things. I don’t make money off it so my recommendations are not motivated by cash.
@StefanMischook ... Sir, I'm not concerned whether you're making cash. In fact, I want you to get a commission.😊 I just want to make sure I'm getting the most recent information, that's all.
I'm 40 and started coding in January. Still working on TOP and stuck at 98%. I'm able to make a basic website but really struggling with Javascript and arrays. I've lost some motivation because I don't feel like it's "clicking" for me. I don't have money for courses and bootcamps.
Javascript is hard. It takes time. take courses from Brad Traversy - Modern Javascript from the beginning 2.0. you can find on its site or on udemy. you should probably start with some other courses from him on html, css and JS based on creating projects. Don't give up, we've been there before... :)
Bootcamps are a waste, thats why they change names every few years. Theres only two coaches I recommend Stefan and andrei neagoie
I wanna join the mentorship but I really think I need alot of one on one attention 😮😮I'm not sure a few zoom calls can help me 😮
Uncle Stef, I am comfortable with front-end development and I want to get my first job in the industry. I also happen to be a talented web designer. I am familiar with Figma, Sketch, and Photoshop. How much will my web design skills help me get my first front-end dev job? Is this combination of front-end and design skills considered valuable in the industry?
Depends on where you are working - generally yes. Consider the process of learning the skills and getting a job a process; you will adjust as you go.
@@StefanMischook thank you uncle Stef!
Do you have any thoughts on Elixir ? Will it be an important language ? Jobs ?
I think it will remain a niche language. But always consider the number of developers floating around out there vs jobs.
I learned at 49
I advice this man not to go to bootcamp and not to work as a coder, learn coding but don't work specially if you are 50, this industry like people in their 20s so they work them to death simply, very soon you will understand that your old Job is much better, boring stable job is a dream job, most of us has jobs not careers!! Also now high unemployment in software devs so please man learn to code but stay in your job, I personally want away out of the software mess after 10 years in this field!!!!!
probably the advise none of us elders want to hear , think this is the reality of someone in their 50s
@@IfItAintBrokeStillFixIt believe me, it is the reality of even people in the end of their 30s and beginning of 40s and Not all places can afford to give you management position or staff engineer, I feel I am like football player who needs to retire but I don't know where to go next because not all clubs can afford to offer all of their retired players unlimited positions as coaches, they might need one or two, so the reality that you might retire and go no where, this is exactly what I am facing, they now prefer people in their mid 20s or late 20s and I look older compared to them but in the same time they will not offer me management position or staff engineer as they don't need to so It is time to get out but to where!!!! The TH-camrs did a huge damage to make people think that coding is a job for life and blablabla, it is in one case if you are your OWN BOSS or you are an entrepreneur or have a software company that you are running it like uncle Stef for example but to be an employee in Tech, Ageism is soooo realllllllllll, it is like football career very few lucky players that can make it and the rest you will never hear about them, so take care regardless to you age, I wish if someone told me that!!!
@@IfItAintBrokeStillFixIt learn to code if you want but believe me, it is the reality of even people in the end of their 30s and beginning of 40s and Not all places can afford to give you management position or staff engineer, I feel I am like football player who needs to retire but I don't know where to go next because not all clubs can afford to offer all of their retired players unlimited positions as coaches, they might need one or two, so the reality that you might retire and go no where, this is exactly what I am facing, they now prefer people in their mid 20s or late 20s and I look older compared to them but in the same time they will not offer me management position or staff engineer as they don't need to so It is time to get out but to where!!!! The TH-camrs did a huge damage to make people think that coding is a job for life and blablabla, it is in one case if you are your OWN BOSS or you are an entrepreneur or have a software company that you are running it like uncle Stef for example but to be an employee in Tech, Ageism is soooo realllllllllll, it is like football career very few lucky players that can make it and the rest you will never hear about them, so take care regardless to you age, I wish if someone told me that!!!
Am a react developer i check on your websites but coul not find any mentorship for it
Mentorship for React? My mentoring is about advanced development, career building, freelancing. I also provide a strong curriculum for beginners. What are you looking for?
@@StefanMischook am looking for guidance, some one who can help show me the right way of doing stuffs and help me out when am stuck in my projects advice me on how to tackle certain problems in web development and a react developer but I have been self learning for about 3 to 4 years but I feel and lack that professional experience
Please i need the mentorship
Check out unclestef.com
good
what about 85 should we learn to code at 85?
Good for your mind.
💥 Doesn't worth a pity. In a few "months", everything will be made by AI. Programmers will be the first professionals to lose their jobs. 🎉❤
Dont buy this snake oil. Making some generic web pages will get you nowhere. You gotta put in work and start with the programming fundamentals not some lame html. Freelancing is a meme.
I agree but you have to start somewhere just to find out what interests you, any advice on learning Cobol. I have no interest in javascript and making websites.
@@pope1089the bad thing with Cobol is that it's almost impossible to get a job without a degree because banks don't take risks. Learn Java, all the Java ecosystem, and even SOAP, and focus totally on it.
I would not use a boot camp BS
Im 25 I think I got this right ?
Easily!
No.
dont, is a waste of time