Started coding seriously at 34 with two kids. Some days I'm convinced I'm too late.

Career-switching into dev from a completely unrelated field. I study after the kids are asleep, usually an hour, sometimes I fall asleep on the keyboard. On the good days I feel unstoppable. On the bad ones I look at 22-year-olds who've been coding since high school and feel like I missed the boat by a decade.

I'm not really after empty 'you got this' — I'd rather hear honestly from people who switched later in life. Did the age thing actually matter when you interviewed? Did anyone hold it against you, or did the real-world experience help? Just want a realistic picture.