With a Computer Science Degree, an Old Man At Age 37 ?

thomasseohere · May 29, 2014

I passed away my 20s and I'm already 35 yrs old, now I want to go to college and get a master's degree in computer science. The thing is, I'll be 37 when I get out of college, and I've read on numerous sites that there seems to be some ageism going on in the IT industry when it comes to older geeks. What have some of the 'older' readers experienced as far as being replaced or just plain not getting hired because IT is a 'young man's game'?

It has been over few months that I am researching this line and what I find is shocking! Firstly, IT is an unstable career option unless you have professional master's degrees.

I am very sad and depressed and I am writing these with a heavy heart.

Shall I continue my education at this age (35) ?

Thanks for your time!

Update:

I have applied for the "Master of Engineering" M.E. degree in Computer Science.

ALL of you. Thank you all so much ...

infoasian · May 29, 2014

Why care about what others think? If you want to study, you will do this for yourself and not for others. When I went to university we had a couple of seniors studying with us. Some in their 40ies and one guy at 65.

Reyone · May 29, 2014

Age, color, race or gender are not restrictions in the path to success.

Excuses are. If you want to believe that age is a barrier, that will turn into an excuse that won't allow you to reach your goals.

Get to work and leave them excuses behind

pxoxrxn · May 29, 2014

How do you do a masters degree in 2 years? Most employers go for younger blokes because they have been in the industry their whole working life and have had allot of experience. But if you know your shit and can add value to their organisation, you will be fine. Even if you don't get a job, you'll learn some cool stuff during your study. I'm doing a bachelors degree in ICT and it's pretty good.

tony_d · May 29, 2014

Reyone said:
Age, color, race or gender are not restrictions in the path to success.

Excuses are. If you want to believe that age is a barrier, that will turn into an excuse that won't allow you to reach your goals.

Get to work and leave them excuses behind

This

pxoxrxn said:
How do you do a masters degree in 2 years?

and this.

Chees · May 29, 2014

in IT your employer can know your level of knowledge right on the interview - so they just take the ones who scored best on the interview. if you score better than the others I dont think they will deny just because of your age.

zenlagor · May 29, 2014

Actually in the IT industry (my exp: managed services, general sysadmin roles) at least in the UK age only works against you when you are young. The only person stopping you from doing something, is you. Give it your best shot!

qrazy · May 29, 2014

First thing it will be hard(not impossible though) to get a job in the entry level considering your age. People in industry prefer freshers with less pay packages.

Secondly, assuming you already got a job, you'll have to do a lot of learning to update your skills continuously in order to compete with the guys. You should also be prepared psychologically to work with guys who are much younger than you but have more experience, like your manager, colleagues. Also the HR guys will always look out for the older guys in crisis situations unless you really add value to the company.

Having said that, it always helps and is good to have a master degree regardless of you working for someone or not. And these are pretty small things which can be overcome only if you have the will. I've seen much older guys than you who started the career in the industry and been successful at it. Good luck...

mickyfu · May 29, 2014

I have heard Bill Gates is doing alright for himself considering his age.

Abstroose · May 29, 2014

35 is still young; don't kid yourself!

techblog · May 29, 2014

Age is just a number depends on if you still ready to run the race!

[video=youtube_share;pestpidO3zA]http://youtu.be/pestpidO3zA[/video]

partymarty4870 · May 29, 2014

mate, I hate to break it to you, but coming from a 41 year old you've missed the boat. The main problem you'll find is that while your skills may be equal to all the younger IT graduates out there, they'll be willing to work for much less that you will.

But don't worry, all is not lost. As a qualified 37 y/o you'll find it much easier to set up something for yourself. Customers will take you more seriously, which means they'll feel better about giving you money. The banks will also feel much better about lending you money to pursue things. Your work/life experience will allow you to write a better business plan, and as you're older and have a better idea of how the world really works your business will have a better chance of success.

cyrusdavirus · May 29, 2014

First off, props for continuing your education. There's nothing wrong with that.

Second, if you're looking to develop software and have a genuine interest in doing so, create something simple and useable for many others such as a free wordpress plugin. It becomes a part of your portfolio that tells potential employers that you're serious and can finish projects. The more you do, the more finished projects you can point to.

Good luck!

Swordude · May 29, 2014

Hey, I'm 20 years old and working in IT right now. There are three other IT guys where I work, two of them are over 40 and the other guy is probably around my age.

I'd say the 'ageism' you're referring to is probably caused by guys who have been in the IT industry for 15+ years and still stick to the same habits they developed many years ago. In your case, you'd be doing all of your learning now, meaning all of your knowledge will be up to date. When I went to IT school, most of the people in my class were quite a bit older than me, so I'd definitely say you'd be just fine.

bicyclethief · May 30, 2014

First of all, the degree would be good to have, but you don't learn to be a s**t-hot coder in school. You learn it by engaging in projects and hacking late into the night on your own software. It is really a vocation. Secondly, IBM did some research back in the day and found that programmers' proficiency didn't change much after 18 months on the job. Basically, whatever level you got to in that time is where you remained for the rest of your career. Talent means a lot in this field and some people aren't cut out to think like a coder. Figure out if you are (you will know quickly if you just try to learn). If you have what it takes, you'll be able to catch up and compete with those young whippersnappers.

erickishere · May 30, 2014

There's a couple 50-60s in some of my classes. Seriously there's nothing wrong with the age going to school and all of that. But really though who cares what others think!

Automated · May 30, 2014

Like others have said, age is a number -- means nothing. Plus 37 is not old.

Don't worry about it and just do it.

...and when all else fails, start your own business.

GentlemanX · May 30, 2014

pxoxrxn said:
How do you do a masters degree in 2 years? Most employers go for younger blokes because they have been in the industry their whole working life and have had allot of experience. But if you know your shit and can add value to their organisation, you will be fine. Even if you don't get a job, you'll learn some cool stuff during your study. I'm doing a bachelors degree in ICT and it's pretty good.

A masters degree in a lot of fields can be done in two years. Age is meaningless, I have met 35+ year olds starting an undergrad degree trying to get into med school that's like 8 years of school + a 4 year residency. It's not uncommon. 35 is young and most employers will not discriminate especially if he keeps a high gpa and provides a good skill set.

OP do it if you want, age is nothing!

Mimissor · May 31, 2014

So I'm just gonna toss this out there, but a lot of the guys that are in IT that are in their 40s and higher got all of their experience via actual real world experience. The way I understand it, IT is a lot like the video game industry (in fact most of the tech industries are similar in this regard) in that you're not judged by where you went to school, but by what you know how to do. I don't know you or your experience level, but what I do know is that I wasted time and money in college studying something that I later realized that I really didn't care for all that much and the stuff I was interested in I didn't need to go to school for in the first place. There are loads of ways to get a comparable education, and build a badass portfolio, without paying for an education that TBH is way overpriced.

This obsession with college education is really a relatively new thing. A lot industry leaders never went to, or finished, college.

However, if you know that this is what you want to do, and you're committed to it then don't let age become an excuse.

davids355 · May 31, 2014

If I'm being honest, if there is any ageism I think it's more towards people that maybe qualified many years ago - and with the fast pace of the tech industry those qualifications would be out dated.

if your studying at 30+ that can't be a bad thing.

With a Computer Science Degree, an Old Man At Age 37 ?

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