Software engineer

[Twizzlelolly]

Single parent to 3 beautiful children.

Youngest about to start school in September.

Always worked in low paid customer service, admin roles. Would really like to retrain, use my brain and eventually earn loadsa money (or enough to live on).

Thinking about retraining as a software engineer, but the course is 4k so a big commitment. Previously did a diploma in web dev and really enjoyed it.

Also, considered retraining in healthcare (work as a carer now) or should I just accept my fate and go back to low paid admin roles? I’m 45 and feel stuck. I’m prepared to work hard and really want to provide for my family.

Any ideas/advice/success stories?

You don’t need to pay to learn software engineering, there are tons of free online resources for any flavor of programming language you think off.. heck you even use chat gpt to show you the basics….

however most software houses will require a degree in computer science or something similar…. But I know of people with no degrees but rather a portfolio of work that get them to the interview stage.

As I software developer my self one advice I give to people is consider this line of work carefully… it’s a love or hate role…. There is nothing in between.

What @CompSc4542 says. If you don't have a burning geeky passion to make a computer do what you want you'll not only hate it as a career, you'll not be very good at it either.

Shop around and look at wider software roles. My brother did a course which then guaranteed you a job as a Software Tester afterwards. He's still with the company two years later, progressing and doing well. The money isn't the £££ you can make with actual coding, but it's far higher than minimum wage. There are lots of companies and courses to get you into this area.

Agree with other posters that you need to have that type of mindset to stay in the role.

This 100%

Im an IT manager who failed miserably at coding cos I don’t have the mindset or the passion for coding.

Hmmm, slightly against the grain (I'm also a software dev) and I think don't let the responses so far put you off. There's a lot of variety of roles, some of the best coders I have worked with didn't have a computer science degree (think languages, biology etc). Often in my line being logical and listening and looking at the big picture is what so many miss when they are just "deeply passionate about coding" so well rounded people very welcome.

Have you looked into an apprenticeship? My company offers them and I've known quite a few people move from customer service roles into apprentice software developer roles.