37, switching into dev from a totally unrelated field. Is my age the thing that quietly sinks me?
Not asking for pity, asking honestly. Every 'I switched careers!' story I read is someone who was 26. My skills are coming along, projects are going, but I keep picturing a 28-year-old hiring manager doing the math on my resume and quietly passing.
Has anyone actually switched in their late 30s and landed something? Did age come up at all, or is it mostly in my head?
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AnonymousAnon 37 is not too late, full stop. The years in your previous field are an asset, not dead weight. You already understand a domain, deadlines, real users, all the things pure-CS grads have to learn on the job. I switched at 34 and my 'unrelated' background comes up in interviews as a plus more than a question. Keep going.
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AnonymousAnon Switched at 39. Age came up exactly zero times in a way that hurt me — if anything the 'why this, why now' story landed better because it was clearly deliberate, not a whim. The thing that actually held me back for a while was me assuming it was a problem and hedging in interviews. Own it and it's a non-issue.