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CrimeanTurtle2008 wrote: but since im a late starter what would I have to do to be more appealing than say the fresh 18 year old out of high school ready to go.
Both are appealing, given the right circumstances. The early starter and the late starter both lack in experience, that's true. The late starter has made an active move to this territory, the early starter might have 'just rolled in'. The late starter might be more ambitious, since he is there to prove himself.
Software-Development isn't comparable to working at a cash-register. At a cash-register, you'll want the cheapest (=youngest) labor possible. In Development, recruiters emphasize on quality, not on age. And there is no way that you can have +20 years of programming experience in C# 
CrimeanTurtle2008 wrote: Other than for reasons of having better coding skills, for what reasons would a company hire an older guy that is not as fast-paced learner as a young guy with enormous potential.
We are hired because of those coding-skills. "Enourmous potential" is something that needs to be proven at work - one who looks promising in a classroom will not always survive outside that classroom. Your local shoe-store isn't looking for the next Bill Gates, they want someone to repair their stock-system, before the store opens!
You are not an "older guy that is not a fast-paced learner" - you're an enthousiastic and balanced programmer, who doesn't run after every new technology just for kicks.
I are troll
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In this economy, I don't think age has much to due with getting employment. There will be quite a number of people changing careers I think. Proven skills and experience will be more a factor than age and maintaining those skills is a constant challenge that you must be prepared for.
only two letters away from being an asset
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Any advice on how to maintain those skills
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Why read the CP forums and articles of course 
Read, study, watch webcasts, practice; any thing it takes.
only two letters away from being an asset
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CrimeanTurtle2008 wrote: Any advice on how to maintain those skills
* Read books
* Get a subscription to a couple of magazines (I subscribe to MSDN Magazine, VSJ, SQL Server Magazine and CoDe)
* Listen to podcasts
* Find a local user group and attend their meetings
* When you feel you know a subject reasonably enough then write an article about it - If nothing else, it is something to put on your CV/résumé
* If you feel able, ask your user group leader if you can do a presentation to the group. (Some groups offer the opportunity to do nuggets to first timers - a short 5 to 15 minute presentation)
If you have a commute on a train you can read on your way to and from work, filling otherwise dead time. If you drive you can listen to pod casts to and from work.
Your local user group will also provide excellent networking opportunities. You will find out what people are doing and what they are looking for. You might get leads on jobs going that way (although it is still primarily thought recruitment agents).
By putting yourself out there and "sharing the love" some interesting things happen. The very act of having to explain what you know to someone else solidifies the information you already know.
Good luck
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Thank you very much for the advice, Colin, I appreciate the effort you and others on this forum have gone to helping someone with lesser skills and is a beginner.
God bless.
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I trust it is C# you are contemplating? otherwise I definitely must point you towards the lounge. 
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so young and already experimenting with multithreading...
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Sure, I remember a previous thread[^].
Multithreading and other techniques require abstract thinking, looking ahead, taking care of what
might happen, etc. And that's a big part of programming.
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I was quite interested as to how it would work, hence I thought it might be handy to know even though Im not applying it to anything. I think it was more to do with my curiousity than anything else.
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No problem. Curiosity is OK. There are lots of mechanisms and techniques to learn, besides an infinite number of little facts. The facts change all the time, but are well documented (well, most of the time) and can be searched for, the mechanisms and techniques may prove harder to grasp.
Since our chat on multithreading some 2 weeks ago, I've got a very interesting link on threading techniques[^] which might interest you.
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Looks like a great link. Thanks for that!. Albeit it seems complex but am willing to trojan through it even if it might prove too difficult.
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Part of the learning curve will be accepting you don't understand everything on the first iteration.
When I want to study something new, I typically buy a book (or two) on the subject, study it;
and one year later, I study it again, just to get more insight, you can't grasp it all in one go.
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Luc Pattyn wrote: When I want to study something new, I typically buy a book (or two) on the subject, study it;
and one year later, I study it again, just to get more insight, you can't grasp it all in one go.
Absolutely, there are books I constantly go back to. I have a very dog-eared copy of Rapid Development by Steve McConnell. I bought it over 10 years ago and I still refer to it from time-to-time.
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CrimeanTurtle2008 wrote: would my age make it difficult for me to get a job in the industry
As many others have already opined, you might not be a spring chicken but neither are you an old codger.
IMHO the bigger problem is the track record aspect. It is always easier to get a job/girlfriend when you've got a job/girlfriend (delete as applicable) and this is especially so in IT.
Someone has suggested writing an article or two and that is good advice. It gives you something to show prospective employers.
I am not sure how this would work in the US, but in UK another possible method to get experience in an environment that is more like *real* IT industry is to see if there are any small fairly local charities that might want some work doing, the pay is rubbish i.e. zilch, but the experience is invaluable as you get to go through all aspects of the job, from speccing through coding, testing and troubleshooting. Don't bother with Nationwide/International bodies (unless for a real job), they usually have their own IT bods.
Good Luck!
Henry Minute
If you open a can of worms, any viable solution *MUST* involve a larger can.
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As others have said, you're most definitely not too old to enter the field. Just remember, you need to be good at what you do and need to keep abreast of technology (at least in the area in which you focus). It also helps if you can respond with an emphatic "No!" to the question "Can you think of anything else you'd like to do in life other than developing software?"
Good luck and welcome to a fulfilling, stimulating and rewarding career! ![Rose | [Rose]](https://codeproject.global.ssl.fastly.net/script/Forums/Images/rose.gif)
/ravi
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Ravi Bhavnani wrote: It also helps if you can respond with an emphatic "No!" to the question "Can you think of anything else you'd like to do in life other than developing software?"
What!? You mean there is another possible answer?
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Colin Angus Mackay wrote: What!? You mean there is another possible answer?
Of course not. I was just being politically correct by offering all options.
/ravi
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I agree with most of the others; I went through several majors including pre-med, nursing, and journalism before computer science. I graduated with the degree at 27 (and I am a girl). If you show your passion for programming, show your love to learn new things you should have no problems.
"Well, we're getting "F"'d at work. WPF, WCF, and WWF... WTF?" --John Simmons
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leckey wrote: and I am a girl
What's that got to do with anything?
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You'd be surprised at the reactions I get about being a "female" computer programmer who actually knows what she is doing (most of the time!)
"Well, we're getting "F"'d at work. WPF, WCF, and WWF... WTF?" --John Simmons
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Of the female programmers I've worked with I'd probably say that the average quality of work is higher with female developers. I don't know why. Possibly they think they have more to prove, or they feel they need to show how good they are and actually work better as a result.
The only time I've really seen surprise at female developers is in a company I used to work for who were in the same office building as they HQ of the local Conservative party branch. Their chairman was an awfully pukka chap with a terribly posh accent. One day his secretary's computer crashed and his secretary just wanted to reboot it, but he refused to let her, rushing upstairs to our office to get one of the "techie bods" to see to it.
He rushed in and announced to the room that he needed some IT help. One of our female developers, who was closest the door, offered to assist. He was taken aback by that and insisted that she couldn't possibly be skilled enough and wanted one of the men help and pointed at one of our business development team. Our man's protests that he was primarily a business analyst/project manager and not a "techie" were met with equal incredulity. (We had a dress down policy - suits only required for client meetings - so as our BA wasn't wearing a suit he couldn't possibly be anything other than a techie). As luck would have it this particular person at least had a background in Engineering and was able to help. Or would have if there had been a real problem.
He went to the secretary's machine and did exactly as she wanted to do in the first place. He rebooted the machine and it started working again.
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That is something I've found--if you are female, and I hate to say it, but American and working in America and you are 1/2 way attractive you are seen with an eye of distrust--like I slept my way to my degree.
Thankfully, where I work now, there are a couple women who are higher up with technical skills. I've actually taught our DBA a few things. I feel accepted regardless of age or sex; first time ever.
"Well, we're getting "F"'d at work. WPF, WCF, and WWF... WTF?" --John Simmons
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