Expert: Leigh Ishikawa - 2/8/2008

Question
Dear Leigh,

I wanted to pursue on a programming career. Which courses would you recommend and why. I will also like to state that I am 32, so at this stage in my life would you say that it is OK to change career and become a programmer.

Your opinions highly appreciated.

Many thanks,

Misba

Answer
Hi Misba,

Knowing very little about you, I can only make a generic recommendation that you should brush up, or take up one of the Object Oriented languages.  This can be C++, Java, or C#.  I would recommend the first two as the last one only works for Windows.

As for the question of age, I have not personally experienced this, but I have older friends in the industry who have complained that they noticed that age does seem to play a role, especially as an individual contributor.  But that really depends on the person, and company's culture that you are interviewing.  There are companies who will only hire from certain schools.  I have run into such situations as I realized that I was surrounded by people mainly from one school or another.

But there's almost always a person who is willing to give you a chance.  When you find that person, ask them what you can do to make yourself more marketable and demonstrate your willingness to listen.

As for changing career, it's always OK to change your career.  The choice is up to you and only limited by your willingness (or lack of) to take a chance.

Good luck!

Leigh