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How Old is Too Old?

NewtonEatPalm! asks: "I started college back when I was too young to carefully weigh options about my future. I entered a prominent art school at age 17, coasted through, and was spit out at age 22 with a film degree that I don't really want nor do I feel qualified to use as the basis for a career. Three years on, I'm still working at my mundane college job, though one thing has never changed in all this time- my love of and devotion to technology, keeping up with hardware news and the intricacies of powerful software through daily reading of sites like Slashdot and lots of home-brew system building and amateur web development. I've decided that I'd like to pursue a second degree in Software Engineering at one of the major Cal State U's, but that would place me in the tech job market at nearly 30. My question is, how old is too old? Are severe changes in career direction in this sector commonplace/successful? Or have I truly already let my best chance for entry pass me by?"

9 of 223 comments (clear)

  1. Sure, remind me of my birthday... by Psykechan · · Score: 3, Funny

    I just turned 33 today. Way to remind me that I am old. :P

    1. Re:Sure, remind me of my birthday... by vistic · · Score: 4, Funny

      happy birthday...

      what?

      oh... i said... HAPPY BIRTHDAY, OLD MAN!!!

      did you hear me THAT time??

      sometimes i forget to speak into the horn. :-)

  2. Re:Thinking Experience by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    And yet some of the best work has been produced by men and women well past 30.

    Indeed. Pamela Anderson was thirty-five years old when she highlighted Playboy's Sexy 100 special issue, back in 2003.

  3. Verily by iridium_ionizer · · Score: 3, Funny

    "I just turned 33 today. Way to remind me that I am old. :P"

    Jesus died when he was 33... I'm just saying.

  4. Re:"How old is too old?" by gbobeck · · Score: 2, Funny

    Well, Pastafarian Heaven *does* have a beer volcano and a stripper factory. That is pretty damn close to College in my book.

    --
    Navicula hydraulica plena anguilarum est. Omnes castelli tuus nostri sunt. Ed elli avea del cul fatto trombetta.
  5. Re:Thinking Experience by fbjon · · Score: 5, Funny

    ..and millions of neurons and organs around the world hardened and matured.

    --
    True confidence comes not from realising you are as good as your peers, but that your peers are as bad as you are.
  6. Re:You want advice? by kfg · · Score: 3, Funny

    Carpe Momento

    Yeah, I had those at my Jewish grandmother's house all the time, although she changed the word so we wouldn't know we were just eating carp.

    Guy at the tackle shop looked at me funny when I asked what sort of lure I needed for gelfilte fish too. Damn Bubby.

    KFG

  7. Re:Hmmm by cerberusss · · Score: 2, Funny
    Coding is not all hot tubs full of babes
    Well, that depends on the industry you're coding for, doesn't it? :)
    --
    8 of 13 people found this answer helpful. Did you?
  8. Yes, You are too Old! by i_am_the_r00t · · Score: 2, Funny

    you need to give up and make way for the fresh young folks. Face it, you are undereducated, incompetent, incapable of making a decent decision. Why would anyone want to hire you!?. You should give blood and perhaps sell your organs on Ebay. You are a few short years away from being some young, capable citizen's Soylent Green.

    Come on! you need to change your belief about what it means to be old (and useful)

    "Old" is not measured in *years on the planet*
    Old is measured in your personal belief of your capability to contribute.