We’ve all heard the saying about life giving you lemons and making lemonade. But sometimes, those lemons just leave you with heartburn, and you wonder why you bothered in the first place.
Here’s a different take: if your lemons are rotten, throw them out and get yourself a milkshake. Maybe even consider a new career path.
That’s exactly what I did a few years ago. I was tired of the lemons and the heartburn, so I opted for a milkshake and a New Career In Coding.
Let me be upfront – changing careers, especially when you’re past your prime learning years, is tough. Balancing work, family, and life while trying to learn a completely new skill feels like juggling flaming torches. But if you’re even considering it, take heart; you’re definitely not alone.
Who am I? I’m Marcy, nice to meet you! I started my coding journey at 36, with no tech background or degree, just a lot of determination and coffee. Now, a few years later, I’m a Programmer at Tighten. Let’s talk about how I got here and what I learned about pursuing a new career in coding.
Why I Changed Careers
For most of my adult life, I worked as a hairstylist. It was enjoyable for a while, but after 15 years, I was completely burnt out. The industry was changing in ways that didn’t appeal to me, and I’d simply had enough. I started dreading work, looking for any excuse to stay home each morning. That’s when I realized I needed a fresh start, a new career.
I felt stuck on a rollercoaster that wouldn’t stop. Staying on was making me miserable, but I didn’t know what else I could do.
When I thought about my options, coding kept coming back to mind. I was a complete newbie in the tech world, sure, but ever since my Nintendo days, I was fascinated by the idea that everything on the screen was created from ones and zeros. And who could forget customizing your MySpace profile back in the day? With an imaginary nod of approval from MySpace Tom, I decided to try for a new career in coding.
How I (Re-)Started Learning
I quickly found resources like FreeCodeCamp and Codecademy, and I was ready to dive in. I confidently thought, “How hard can this be? People teach themselves to code all the time.” But I soon hit my first roadblock: I realized I had forgotten how to learn.
It had been years since I was in any kind of structured learning environment. Then came the embarrassment. I’d already enthusiastically told everyone I knew about my plans to become a coder. What would it look like if I quit now? Would everyone think I was dumb? Was I dumb?
Now I recognize this as imposter syndrome, and let me tell you, it wouldn’t be the last time that feeling popped up.
Seeking structure, I enrolled in a full-time boot camp. I was excited, planning to attend classes Monday to Friday and still work some shifts at the salon to pay the bills. Reality check!
Life, as it often does, handed me one of those lemons. After just a few weeks, I realized how unsustainable my plan was. I was coding 60-70 hours a week and had no time or energy for anything else. I was EXHAUSTED. I had to leave the salon before the month ended and take out a loan just to survive.
It was incredibly discouraging. Why did I have to work twice as hard as everyone else? Now I was thousands of dollars in debt and unemployed for the first time since I was 16. What had I gotten myself into with this new career in coding?
That was the first time I seriously considered giving up on this new career path.
How I Almost Quit… Again
While I appreciated the boot camp’s structure, deadlines, and homework, I was incredibly self-conscious about being the oldest student, by at least ten years. It seemed like everyone else had already completed the self-paced programs I had struggled with. They were breezing through assignments while I was still trying to grasp how a for loop worked. I remember one assignment where we had to build a simple React app – nothing complicated, no CRUD operations. When it was my turn to present, my app had such a bizarre bug that even the instructor couldn’t figure out what I’d done wrong! To this day, I’m still not sure what went wrong.
After a couple of months filled with frustration and countless hours of struggle, I was on the verge of quitting again. It felt completely hopeless. Then, one day, everything changed.
My instructor noticed I was having a particularly bad day and asked me to talk privately. We sat down in an empty room, and I was convinced he was about to tell me I was being kicked out. Instead, he asked, “What’s going on with you today?” I immediately burst into tears – full-on Kim Kardashian style crying.
Between sobs and hiccups, I told him everything:
- I’m an idiot.
- What am I even doing here?
- Everyone else understands this except me.
- Why did I leave a successful career so close to 40 for this new career in coding?
- Am I even employable when there are so many younger, brighter candidates out there?
- I’m too old to learn something this complex.
- I’ve made a huge mistake pursuing this new career.
He let me catch my breath and then asked a question that was incredibly simple, yet completely changed my perspective, and still resonates with me today: “Why don’t you ask for more help?”
I tried to come up with an excuse, anything to protect my ego, but I couldn’t. Instead, I sheepishly admitted that I was embarrassed. I was comparing myself to the other students who didn’t seem to ask as many questions, and I couldn’t understand why the course material wasn’t clicking for me like it was for them.
Why I Didn’t Quit Pursuing a New Career in Coding
His response was a turning point:
“First of all, they do ask questions,” he said. “They just DM me instead of speaking up in class because they’re self-conscious too. No one knows everything, and no one ever will. Some kids learn to read at four, some at eight. It doesn’t matter how old you are when you start on this new career path. We all start at the beginning. Ask questions! That’s how we all learn.”
So, you’re telling me learning requires… learning?
I walked back to class, eyes still red, my mind racing, trying to process what I’d just heard. Later, when a discussion about JavaScript came up, and I was being my usual quiet self, my instructor made eye contact and gave me a look that clearly said, “Speak up!”
Swallowing my pride and with my face burning, I asked my classmate, “Can you explain what you mean?” He smiled and said, “Of course!” We worked through the problem together until I understood it. We laughed, chatted, and complained about how strange JavaScript can be. He didn’t care how old I was. No one thought I was stupid. We were all just learning and having fun! The only person in that room who cared about any of those things was me. That’s when I truly started to embrace my new career in coding.
What I Learned From Others in Their New Career in Coding Journeys
Recently, I conducted a survey to gather insights from others who had also chosen coding as their new career. Their ages ranged from 27 to 50s, and their backgrounds were diverse, from students to CEOs. Some key takeaways from their experiences with a new career in coding include:
- 100% of respondents had experienced imposter syndrome.
- 80% still experience it occasionally.
- 80% had considered giving up at some point.
- 50% had no prior tech background before starting their new career path.
Their reasons for changing careers were as varied as they were. Some wanted to be self-employed, others were recovering from divorce or burnout from retail jobs. Some were seeking more creative outlets, while others wanted to leave the service industry. One person shared that they wanted a career where they could work from home to better manage their anxiety.
Everyone faced, or is facing, unique challenges in their pursuit of a new career in coding. Here are a few specific responses people shared in my survey:
- Alejandro, Student, California: I’m looking to finding/creating opportunities to get real-world experience in this new career.
- Ken Barrios, Web Developer, Chicago, IL: After 9 years in this new career, I still hate math and get anxious when clients make requests. I’m terrified something will come up that I can’t do or learn.
- Jon Behr, VP of Engineering, London, UK: (When I started my new career in coding, I learned there were) not many resources. That was 15 years ago – pre-StackOverflow!
- Anonymous Participant, Software Engineer, Chicago, IL: There is no single cure for imposter syndrome in this new career. It probably took a solid two years of working before I started to truly believe I was actually good at my job.
What You Can Learn From Me About Starting a New Career in Coding
So, what does all of this mean for you if you’re considering a new career in coding? It’s simple: coding is hard. No matter who you are, how old you are, or how many skateboard tricks you know, we all need the same things to succeed in this new career: time, persistence, and the realization that no one cares about your insecurities as much as you do.
I’ll be honest: I still struggle with imposter syndrome. I still doubt myself, and probably always will. But in those moments, I try to remember how far I’ve come in my new career. I went from crying in a conference room to working my dream job in just a few years.
At Tighten, learning is in our DNA. Asking questions, sharing knowledge, and pair programming are deeply ingrained in our culture. I’m surrounded by incredibly talented programmers who reach out to each other for help daily, without hesitation. Whether you’re an apprentice or the CEO, it doesn’t matter. None of us knows everything, and we never will. This supportive environment makes all the difference when navigating a new career.
I hope my experience encourages you to ask those questions you think are silly! You won’t be the first, and you definitely won’t be the last. No matter where your journey starts, we’ve all struggled to understand how a for loop works at some point. Some of us were just a little older when we did. What’s important is that you keep going on your path to a new career in coding.
