Late 40 PM - learning coding? Thoughts please.

[jobsearching2024]

I'm heading 48 this year. If pension age doesn't increase further, I still have at least 15+ years ahead on the career path.

I've been working in engineering/manufacturing industry for nearly 20 years, but my degree is not in engineering/technical domain.

I like being a PM, but I can't quite imagine being a PM after 55. Most of female experienced colleagues are in finance/accounting.

I've been looking for new opportunities but haven't been very successful. I start to think if it's difficult because I don't have a technical degree, shall I consider moving to acquire some technical skills like coding.

But I don't know

• how likely to learn coding at this age
• how likely to be accepted without any experience when looking for a role
• how likely this would be repaid in the long term when AI is on the rise.

Any thoughts please?

There’s some government funded programs for women in coding. For example the code firstgirls mini degree, which can be done in the evenings. I’d do it myself if I wanted a career change and didn’t have young kids.

This looks really interesting! I will look into it.

Thank you! @Cakeandcheeseforever

Does PM mean project manager? Maybe have a look at roles in delivery management in tech, for example in government.

Hi op, I attempted this a year ago. Unfortunately I couldn't keep up with it as it needs LOTS of brain space and as an overwhelmed single mum with a disabled dc I just couldn't commit the time and energy it needs. I really enjoyed it though and would definitely come back to it in the future when life is less hectic.

Code First Girls are an excellent company and run lots of free boot camps, mooc sprints and even offer a degree program. They advertise them as being perfect for beginners but I found them too fast paced. Every person on the course except me had some previous coding experience or at least knew their way around a computer terminal and commands.

I loved Codeacademy and paid for one of their courses. You can pick what career path you want and then take that specific course. Udemy are also good and a bit cheaper. The learning is self paced so much more beginner friendly. If I go back, I would do codeacademy them move onto the Code First Girls boot camps.

Coding is so much fun but it really is like a Pandoras box. You have to learn the coding language, command prompts, coding libraries, and how to navigate different software like React. The community is really friendly and supportive though and when you get stuck you post on forums and will get so much good advice. Good luck with it if you do decide to go for it! 🤞

The problem with learning "coding" is that you are competing with a bunch of 20-something computer science graduates for entry level jobs that are not much above minimum wage.

However, with your background in project management you would be in a good position to swivel to software project management. In fact, code first girls offer a project management track that you may want to investigate. Try searching for jobs listed as 'scrum master' for the kind of thing that's available in the digital PM arena.

I've worked in IT for 35 years as a programmer/developer/software engineer (still no idea what the difference between those is).
I was competent for much of my career but as technologies changed, it was a struggle to keep up and learn new skills, languages etc.
Coding seems easy if you're doing noddy little exercises when doing training courses but working on vast computer systems or websites is hugely complex.
About 6 years ago I was offered the opportunity to try out working as a scrum master for an agile team and it's been a revelation.
You need a basic understanding of IT systems like services, databases etc but you can pick that up fairly easily especially if you have worked as a PM.
The main requirement of the job is to be a servant leader,
ie Servant= chase people to resolve problems for your team etc so you organise lots of meetings to achieve this but you don't have to be the person to do the techy stuff.
Leader= Follow the Agile process which is quite easy and training courses are available.
You do have to do much more communicating upwards and some presenting etc which I didn't enjoy initially but I'm much better at this now.
I would say this role would be much more achievable with your background and pays as well (maybe even better) than a developer/coder.
Feel free to DM me.
Good luck.

Forgot to add that a key requirement of the role is to be a people person with decent emotional intelligence and empathy.

@Noperope I agree that their courses are very fast paced, they throw you in and at the beginning I found just getting to grips with the free software you’re using difficult. And I had done mini coding courses before, just not in Python. The part I found most helpful was when they had women currently working in tech who had got into it via the mini degree talk to us over Zoom and we could ask them questions. One of the things I found appealing about the mini degree was their links with employers and the chance of an interview with tech employers through it.

I have Bsc Computing with the OU. There was a lot of coding involved. I was a single parent at 21 and did this whilst baby grew up. Going back a good 20 years.

I got a job in IT in the head office of a nationwide company when he started school.

Could I be on the development team? Could I heck.

I was still studying therefore I couldn't progress as per their graduate training scheme. I ended up teaching a graduate of English how to use and write in house software because the company got more money from hiring graduates.

I got fed up being the 'little lady' the 'single mum' and jacked it in.

Unless you are supremely talented and hacking in to wherever, then no, coding won't get you anywhere.

Sorry, that was all very negative. Ignore me!

I wouldn’t tbh, as a developer with over 30 years experience, a lot of that self employed, the market is currently horrible. I know developers with 20+ years experience who’ve been out for over 18 months, who are trying to get jobs in warehouses and supermarkets just to keep afloat. From what I hear the PM market is better, so unless you want to be competing with extremely motivated experienced developers for low salaries/rates, I’d stick with PM or similar. 100% agree with @SocksPants post, I’d try something like the agile coach/scrum master if you want a change.

The market has crashed in the UK. Before you embark on this, do a serious bit of research into the state of the industry. The junior dev market has absolutely collapsed and has stayed collapsed for 2+ years. It's not getting better any time soon, and maybe never.

Software project management or similar sound more suitable. That said, the market is tough right now, a little of people competing for any (decent) job. It doesn’t mean it is impossible to get one, just harder than a few years ago and taking longer.

You can take free introductory online lessons at openclassroom.com