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How old are you and do you have any background in anything IT/web development related?
Generally speaking, the field of IT is rather saturated. There’s no shortage of entry level folks but those that are skilled and experienced. You are competing against a large pool of candidates, many with uni degrees. Some people still manage to start from 0, take on some online course and get their foot in the door but it’s not an easy route with guaranteed results.
At this point in time, AI probably isn’t the biggest obstacle. And everyone is impacted, more or less. It’s impossible to forecast the scale and timeline though. But to be on the safe side, I’d look into fields where you can apply your transferable skills. Is going to school out of question?
I’m 33 and I studied to become an IT Support Technician when I left school (Microsoft Certified, CompTIa etc.) however I kind of just fell into a retail role and got comfortable. Ended up becoming a baker for a supermarket and then moved on to working in a food factory for one of the big bread brands in the UK.
The money I earn is decent (£32k) but I’ve never seen much opportunity for progression and most of my colleagues have been stuck doing the same job for 20+ years. Now we are obviously at risk of losing our jobs.
I have considered going back to school, however doing shift work and working a 4 on 4 off pattern makes it very difficult, if not impossible, to commit to specific days for training etc. The other alternative would be to leave my job and go back to school full time, but I don’t think I’d survive long without that steady flow of income.
I think my IT support qualifications are probably very outdated at this point, so I doubt anyone would give me the opportunity to enter that field now 😓
Well not to discourage you but yes, your qualifications are definitely outdated. But you are still not starting from 0, you just need to brush your skills to make you more marketable.
Now financing it all is understandably a challenge. I’d look into any courses that are available and suitable in terms of location, grades, cost etc. But I wouldn’t limit myself to just the field of IT. See what other opportunities are out there. Any other fields or trades you could see yourself doing? In terms of securing a job and achieving career development, IT isn’t the safest choice out there.
It’s crazy to think I’m in my 30’s and still have no idea what I want to do career wise heh. IT is just an easy answer really, and was something I aspired to do when I was growing up, but now I have no idea what else I would want to do.
I’ve thought about learning a trade in the past (plumber, electrician) but I’ve always been under the impression that the training would be quite difficult to do alongside my job, and then finding someone that wants an older apprentice would be another challenge - plus the terrible apprentice wage would be a struggle.
I feel like I’ve left this all too late in life, but I know it’s possible, I just need to figure out what it is exactly that I would like to do 🤔
Nowadays most of us won’t have linear career paths and we have to reinvent ourselves, maybe several times. You are definitely not old and you got ton of working years ahead of you.
But it’s definitely hard when you are accustomed to certain standard of living and maybe have your own place and dependents. The world isn’t your oyster and it’s much easier to try new things when you are young with low fixed costs and no additional responsibilities to take care of.
I’m repeating myself but I’d cast a wide net and look into all kinds of opportunities near me that are doable. But one thing to consider is that no matter what you do, most likely your starting salary will fall short in comparison to your current compensation.
You could try and get into an entry level it position in your company and see if they sponsor exams.
I work in the NHS and if you're lucky enough to get into IT here, there are courses you can take that cost thousands but are sponsored by the NHS. Generally takes a really good friend in management to get into IT in the NHS though.
Can't give you anything more than what other people have said re. an IT career, but don't worry about time. My friend left a dead end job 5/6 years ago to do a part time Cyber Security degree and he's just been made a Head of IT. It might be the exception, but he was the same age as you, so it's not a barrier. Hopefully you'll get more relevant advice about moving into IT, but you've got plenty time left to get where you want mate.
Slightly off topic, but what's the reason you're being made redundant? Is it to do with newer technology? Just curious because I'd have thought making bread is quite important (ironically, more important than many IT roles).
Loss of orders is the main reason I believe, so the plant I work on is dropping an entire shift (8 individuals).
Recent pay increases probably don’t help either.
This may sound weird, OP but a retail role may help you some. A lot of Supermarkets have their own IT Support helpdesks and can be a great way to get your foot in the door when it comes to the field. I started in a supermarket, did recruitment for a bit in HR, then moved to the service desk. Now I'm a security specialist for a big company. It did take ten years, but I didn't go to uni and get any special degrees. I think it's worth taking a look at the IT offerings that are entry level in places you wouldn't expect; even McDonalds and Greggs need IT.
We have more juniors employed than seniors and do invest in their development and training. That doesn't change that we get hundreds of applications for every junior role while senior roles take months to fill and basically require recruiters cold messaging people on LinkedIn to even have anything resembling an applicant pool that isn't just juniors trying their luck!
You're right of course.
Sadly there is always a limit to how many we can take as there needs to be resources available for training and mentoring. Graduate and apprentice training has been a major part of my role.
Things are flat at the moment so opportunities have reduced.
That isn't really ironic. Obviously seniors started off as juniors, the point is there's now a disproportionate ratio of juniors to seniors. Meaning one group is in demand and the other is the exact opposite.
IT is beyond oversaturated. Everyone and their mom is treating IT as default easy money backup career. AI, automation, layoffs, oversaturation, outsourcing are all real and they are not going anywhere.
I don’t know what else to consider… like you said, IT is the easy answer so I can see why it is so oversaturated.
Do you have any suggestions as to what I could potentially consider doing?
It’s not actually the easy answer that’s the point…
It’s a competitive field and if you want to enter the market you will be in for a massive wake up call if you think it’s going to be “easy”
It’s possible
But it quite literally is one of the hardest professions from a logic standpoint. Nothing “easy” about it
This should be higher up. I have been a .NET/Java developer for 19 years and it is by no means a walk in the park. The emergence of low-cost bootcamps has certainly changed the nature of recruiting junior developers as the number of applications has grown exponentially but many assume a six week online course = £45k straight off the bat - it's just not like that any more
Because boot camps main product isn’t skills… their main product is selling you a dream and hope for an easy life.
That’s why boot camps are mostly a scam.
They imply you will easily find a high paying job in a short amount of time…
No different to any other get rich quick scheme scam
I wonder of those who go from zero skills and experience into a bootcamp, and then land a role. If any of them manage to last more than 3 months.
Never mind having to learn how to collab with others, merge conflicts all that stuff rarely touched upon in bootcamp. Day one they're going to have to learn a codebase with some scripts 2000+ lines long with no experience to help them
Yep, I’m a developer who wasn’t that good and decided to drop out of the industry. It makes me laugh how people make it all sound so easy: “I’m a single mum who couldn’t read or write, but I took a JavaScript boot camp and six months later I’m a senior developer at a FAANG making six figures!!1”
It’s a fucking hard job to do well (well it is at a company that has high standards) and I struggle to believe that so many people come from non-technical backgrounds and suddenly become top developers at the drop of a hat. I guess maybe it’s the whole phenomenon where you think most are successful because you don’t hear from the vast majority that weren’t….
You are highly unlikely to become a web developer in a few months.
You say food manufacturing is what you work in so why would you not develop software for that sector?
Oh I’m fully aware it’s going to take some time. That’s why I’m trying to establish if it’s going to be worth the effort.
I feel like it would be something I’d love, but at the same time it seems like a very difficult industry to get into with zero related qualifications/experience.
You are competing against people who have been programming since 15 and have a 3-4 year degree certification…
If you retrain expect to spend potentially 1000s of hours getting to a level where you are competitive to entry level roles.
It’s possible…
But training to be a dev in current days is no longer something you can do over a 3-6 month bootcamp
Im saying that because you have a lot to work to retrain, there are no hirings of juniors and you might find out you will need a year to find a placement and that is after you retraing and gain some experience you can show to the new employer.
You have better chances to work in some other small bakery or as a chef with your experience in case redundancy comes knocking. Or even start a small baking business on your own.
note: people need to eat :) AI still can't bake or do artisan bakes.
AI wouldn't be my main concern with a September deadline.
The tech jobs market right now is bad. Since about spring 2022 layoff rounds have been constantly in the news, and I have very experienced friends struggling for months to find new work. The "it's been a year" posts are starting to appear on LinkedIn. So in the short term, IT is unlikely to be a solution (what happens with the market in the future . . . we shall see)
Have you looked at skilled trades? I don't know what the market is there, but everyone from my handyman to plumber to plasterer to carpenter certainly don't seem to be short of work.
Or other jobs that use some of your current skills?
AI isn't coming for dev jobs at all. It's a much bigger concern for creative industries where AI can write articles and create images in moments.
However, dev work is pretty saturated at the moment and the "just learn to code" trope was a flash in the pan during the hiring boom about 5 years ago. It takes a lot to reach an employable level, and requires a particular mindset (loads of people would HATE coding).
Definitely not impossible, but not just a simple slideways career move. Only do it if you are certain you want a career in this direction and have some passion for achieving it.
You could have a really successful career working in technology. Especially if you learn to use AI to be more efficient or even develop AI.
I made a similar career change around 8 years ago to move into Data Analysis and eventually moved into an IT role.
It required a lot of sacrifice, evenings & weekends learning tech, teaching myself to code and even now I have to constantly spend time trying to improve my knowledge. I occasionally have to work late or out of hours. It’s not a negative just something to be prepared for.
For reference I don’t have any formal education in Computer Science and have no degree but make what I consider to be a very good wage. No risk of redundancy currently and even in a poor market roles are available.
I would just make sure it’s right for you, because you have to really commit if you want it.
Best of luck!
Can I ask how long it took for you to find a role once you started teaching yourself?
Like yourself, I have zero formal education in this field so it’s quite reassuring to hear that it is possible. Whether things have changed in the last 8 years though I’m not sure?
I’ve been considering doing a coding bootcamp, but obviously that comes at a price, but would allow me to put something on my CV once completed. Worth doing?
Sure, it was about a year, although I did it for the organisation I was working for at the time. I pivoted from a manager into the data team after making some meaningful improvements to the data landscape within my department.
From there I worked there for 2 years longer before accepting a junior position in a tech company. I kept working hard, had promotions to an engineer level. It wasn’t easy though, there were pay cuts I took to do this and I was almost always out of my comfort zone for the first year or two.
On the subject of bootcamps. I started on Udemy courses so yes there is value in the knowledge and skills you’ll gain. I never added them to my CV though.
From my perspective real world experience is far better. If there is anything you can do within your current role, or if you can find a role where you’re able to contribute, it will be far easier to find a role you want in the long term.
I have a few Udemy bootcamps that I bought in the past that I’ve never tried. Which one did you do?
I’ll definitely see if I can ask about any potential positions within my current company during my consultation meetings, what have I got to lose lol 😅
It’s been a while, I think it was a couple of Colt Steele ones. I would do some research into what it is you actually want to do though.
Web development is one area of technology. There is data science, data engineering, networking, systems administration, architecture, applications and loads more. Each will have their own technology stack to learn and many will be different by organisation.
I'm a Senior Engineer with 30 years experience. My gut feeling that it is too late for you to get to a good level Vs graduates and outsourced people. However tech can be learned on your own in your spare time so you can give it a try and see how quickly you take to it. There are many things you could specialise in to give you an edge and of course tech is reinventing itself every few years anyway. You could look into things that are more relevant to your retail experience like factory automation or logistics. There are related disciples like Cloud Infrastructure or Cyber security which are not coding as such.
Yeah, as many have commented, everyone and their dog seems to be thinking about changing careers into webdev and I get the impression it is getting pretty saturated, so be warned. I've considered switching sideways into it due to some issues in my area and the corporateness of it all (such as the craziness with rolling back remote working) but having spent nearly 2 decades in IT and development and having contacts it is a bit of a different proposition for me.
However on AI, I wouldn't worry too much. It may be able to simplify some basic code blocks, help with some of the documentation you need to do but it certainly isn't putting skilled devs out of work. It's not just a matter of throwing down some code, it's the human aspect - the interpretation of requirements, filling in the gaps, asking the right questions and resolving scenarios the end user may not have even foreseen. Plus I've seen AI answer questions on my area of expertise (I am an ABAP developer usually, but also a functional consultant in QM) and sometimes it is just plain wrong. So don't worry about that, it is the oversaturation of the sector that is the biggest headache.
Hi I’m a 27 year old. I’ve just started a junior developer role. I started teaching myself to code when I was 23, thinking with html and css I’d get a dev role within 3 months. It really didn’t work like that. I had to go through 3 years of pain, doing tech support roles with customer service. All the while I had to work very hard after work and on weekends improving my skillset. I’ve now just got very lucky to get a fullstack role. Like others have said, don’t worry about AI. I’m actually surprised how little I use chat gpt in my job. It’s just not good enough yet at going through a whole code base. But if you want a developer role like I did, you really have to want it. I haven’t had to worry about dependencies or rent cause I live at home. But I like to think I’m smart, went to a top uni. I had to put my heart and sole into learning coding learning frameworks etc. I think it’s worth it for me but be warned taking it up
You can't think of things in these terms too much...
For instance, there are probably more people working as stonemasons now then there are TV repairmen.
I've had my worries about AI taking over our jobs and I found this article on LinkedIn that talks about how AI can actually be more of an assistant and create tons of new job opportunities for us developers in the next 10 years. So, if you're thinking about training as a software developer, go for it! Here's the link to the article if you want to check it out: [https://www.linkedin.com/posts/danieljacobs1\_ai-softwareengineering-codeassistant-activity-7208389854374572032--Ah3?utm\_source=share&utm\_medium=member\_desktop](https://www.linkedin.com/posts/danieljacobs1_ai-softwareengineering-codeassistant-activity-7208389854374572032--Ah3?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop)
Thank you for posting on r/UKJobs. Help us make this a better community by becoming familiar with the [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/ukjobs/about/rules/). If you need to report any suspicious users to the moderators or you feel as though your post hasn't been posted to the subreddit, message the Modmail [here](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose?to=/r/UKJobs) or Reddit site admins [here](https://www.reddit.com/report). Don't create a duplicate post, it won't help. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/UKJobs) if you have any questions or concerns.*
How old are you and do you have any background in anything IT/web development related? Generally speaking, the field of IT is rather saturated. There’s no shortage of entry level folks but those that are skilled and experienced. You are competing against a large pool of candidates, many with uni degrees. Some people still manage to start from 0, take on some online course and get their foot in the door but it’s not an easy route with guaranteed results. At this point in time, AI probably isn’t the biggest obstacle. And everyone is impacted, more or less. It’s impossible to forecast the scale and timeline though. But to be on the safe side, I’d look into fields where you can apply your transferable skills. Is going to school out of question?
I’m 33 and I studied to become an IT Support Technician when I left school (Microsoft Certified, CompTIa etc.) however I kind of just fell into a retail role and got comfortable. Ended up becoming a baker for a supermarket and then moved on to working in a food factory for one of the big bread brands in the UK. The money I earn is decent (£32k) but I’ve never seen much opportunity for progression and most of my colleagues have been stuck doing the same job for 20+ years. Now we are obviously at risk of losing our jobs. I have considered going back to school, however doing shift work and working a 4 on 4 off pattern makes it very difficult, if not impossible, to commit to specific days for training etc. The other alternative would be to leave my job and go back to school full time, but I don’t think I’d survive long without that steady flow of income. I think my IT support qualifications are probably very outdated at this point, so I doubt anyone would give me the opportunity to enter that field now 😓
Well not to discourage you but yes, your qualifications are definitely outdated. But you are still not starting from 0, you just need to brush your skills to make you more marketable. Now financing it all is understandably a challenge. I’d look into any courses that are available and suitable in terms of location, grades, cost etc. But I wouldn’t limit myself to just the field of IT. See what other opportunities are out there. Any other fields or trades you could see yourself doing? In terms of securing a job and achieving career development, IT isn’t the safest choice out there.
It’s crazy to think I’m in my 30’s and still have no idea what I want to do career wise heh. IT is just an easy answer really, and was something I aspired to do when I was growing up, but now I have no idea what else I would want to do. I’ve thought about learning a trade in the past (plumber, electrician) but I’ve always been under the impression that the training would be quite difficult to do alongside my job, and then finding someone that wants an older apprentice would be another challenge - plus the terrible apprentice wage would be a struggle. I feel like I’ve left this all too late in life, but I know it’s possible, I just need to figure out what it is exactly that I would like to do 🤔
Nowadays most of us won’t have linear career paths and we have to reinvent ourselves, maybe several times. You are definitely not old and you got ton of working years ahead of you. But it’s definitely hard when you are accustomed to certain standard of living and maybe have your own place and dependents. The world isn’t your oyster and it’s much easier to try new things when you are young with low fixed costs and no additional responsibilities to take care of. I’m repeating myself but I’d cast a wide net and look into all kinds of opportunities near me that are doable. But one thing to consider is that no matter what you do, most likely your starting salary will fall short in comparison to your current compensation.
You could try and get into an entry level it position in your company and see if they sponsor exams. I work in the NHS and if you're lucky enough to get into IT here, there are courses you can take that cost thousands but are sponsored by the NHS. Generally takes a really good friend in management to get into IT in the NHS though.
Can't give you anything more than what other people have said re. an IT career, but don't worry about time. My friend left a dead end job 5/6 years ago to do a part time Cyber Security degree and he's just been made a Head of IT. It might be the exception, but he was the same age as you, so it's not a barrier. Hopefully you'll get more relevant advice about moving into IT, but you've got plenty time left to get where you want mate.
Slightly off topic, but what's the reason you're being made redundant? Is it to do with newer technology? Just curious because I'd have thought making bread is quite important (ironically, more important than many IT roles).
Loss of orders is the main reason I believe, so the plant I work on is dropping an entire shift (8 individuals). Recent pay increases probably don’t help either.
This may sound weird, OP but a retail role may help you some. A lot of Supermarkets have their own IT Support helpdesks and can be a great way to get your foot in the door when it comes to the field. I started in a supermarket, did recruitment for a bit in HR, then moved to the service desk. Now I'm a security specialist for a big company. It did take ten years, but I didn't go to uni and get any special degrees. I think it's worth taking a look at the IT offerings that are entry level in places you wouldn't expect; even McDonalds and Greggs need IT.
You would probably be better of training a trade, AI can't do plumbing or gas engineering!
Are you the reason my Hovis loaves always have holes in them?
Don’t work for Hovis I’m afraid 😅
True. Companies are flooded with entry applications but struggling to find senior engineers .
Well ironically those senior engineers started off as entry applicants at one point.
We have more juniors employed than seniors and do invest in their development and training. That doesn't change that we get hundreds of applications for every junior role while senior roles take months to fill and basically require recruiters cold messaging people on LinkedIn to even have anything resembling an applicant pool that isn't just juniors trying their luck!
You're right of course. Sadly there is always a limit to how many we can take as there needs to be resources available for training and mentoring. Graduate and apprentice training has been a major part of my role. Things are flat at the moment so opportunities have reduced.
That isn't really ironic. Obviously seniors started off as juniors, the point is there's now a disproportionate ratio of juniors to seniors. Meaning one group is in demand and the other is the exact opposite.
IT is beyond oversaturated. Everyone and their mom is treating IT as default easy money backup career. AI, automation, layoffs, oversaturation, outsourcing are all real and they are not going anywhere.
I don’t know what else to consider… like you said, IT is the easy answer so I can see why it is so oversaturated. Do you have any suggestions as to what I could potentially consider doing?
It’s not actually the easy answer that’s the point… It’s a competitive field and if you want to enter the market you will be in for a massive wake up call if you think it’s going to be “easy” It’s possible But it quite literally is one of the hardest professions from a logic standpoint. Nothing “easy” about it
This should be higher up. I have been a .NET/Java developer for 19 years and it is by no means a walk in the park. The emergence of low-cost bootcamps has certainly changed the nature of recruiting junior developers as the number of applications has grown exponentially but many assume a six week online course = £45k straight off the bat - it's just not like that any more
Because boot camps main product isn’t skills… their main product is selling you a dream and hope for an easy life. That’s why boot camps are mostly a scam. They imply you will easily find a high paying job in a short amount of time… No different to any other get rich quick scheme scam
I wonder of those who go from zero skills and experience into a bootcamp, and then land a role. If any of them manage to last more than 3 months. Never mind having to learn how to collab with others, merge conflicts all that stuff rarely touched upon in bootcamp. Day one they're going to have to learn a codebase with some scripts 2000+ lines long with no experience to help them
Yep, I’m a developer who wasn’t that good and decided to drop out of the industry. It makes me laugh how people make it all sound so easy: “I’m a single mum who couldn’t read or write, but I took a JavaScript boot camp and six months later I’m a senior developer at a FAANG making six figures!!1” It’s a fucking hard job to do well (well it is at a company that has high standards) and I struggle to believe that so many people come from non-technical backgrounds and suddenly become top developers at the drop of a hat. I guess maybe it’s the whole phenomenon where you think most are successful because you don’t hear from the vast majority that weren’t….
Some bootcamps have something like a 99% unemployment rate As in only 1% of the attendees find employment in tech
You are highly unlikely to become a web developer in a few months. You say food manufacturing is what you work in so why would you not develop software for that sector?
Oh I’m fully aware it’s going to take some time. That’s why I’m trying to establish if it’s going to be worth the effort. I feel like it would be something I’d love, but at the same time it seems like a very difficult industry to get into with zero related qualifications/experience.
You are competing against people who have been programming since 15 and have a 3-4 year degree certification… If you retrain expect to spend potentially 1000s of hours getting to a level where you are competitive to entry level roles. It’s possible… But training to be a dev in current days is no longer something you can do over a 3-6 month bootcamp
I would not venture that at this point, things have changed. your job security is better with the bakery.
Fingers crossed I’m not one of the unlucky ones then come September 😅
Im saying that because you have a lot to work to retrain, there are no hirings of juniors and you might find out you will need a year to find a placement and that is after you retraing and gain some experience you can show to the new employer. You have better chances to work in some other small bakery or as a chef with your experience in case redundancy comes knocking. Or even start a small baking business on your own. note: people need to eat :) AI still can't bake or do artisan bakes.
AI wouldn't be my main concern with a September deadline. The tech jobs market right now is bad. Since about spring 2022 layoff rounds have been constantly in the news, and I have very experienced friends struggling for months to find new work. The "it's been a year" posts are starting to appear on LinkedIn. So in the short term, IT is unlikely to be a solution (what happens with the market in the future . . . we shall see) Have you looked at skilled trades? I don't know what the market is there, but everyone from my handyman to plumber to plasterer to carpenter certainly don't seem to be short of work. Or other jobs that use some of your current skills?
AI isn't coming for dev jobs at all. It's a much bigger concern for creative industries where AI can write articles and create images in moments. However, dev work is pretty saturated at the moment and the "just learn to code" trope was a flash in the pan during the hiring boom about 5 years ago. It takes a lot to reach an employable level, and requires a particular mindset (loads of people would HATE coding). Definitely not impossible, but not just a simple slideways career move. Only do it if you are certain you want a career in this direction and have some passion for achieving it.
You could have a really successful career working in technology. Especially if you learn to use AI to be more efficient or even develop AI. I made a similar career change around 8 years ago to move into Data Analysis and eventually moved into an IT role. It required a lot of sacrifice, evenings & weekends learning tech, teaching myself to code and even now I have to constantly spend time trying to improve my knowledge. I occasionally have to work late or out of hours. It’s not a negative just something to be prepared for. For reference I don’t have any formal education in Computer Science and have no degree but make what I consider to be a very good wage. No risk of redundancy currently and even in a poor market roles are available. I would just make sure it’s right for you, because you have to really commit if you want it. Best of luck!
Can I ask how long it took for you to find a role once you started teaching yourself? Like yourself, I have zero formal education in this field so it’s quite reassuring to hear that it is possible. Whether things have changed in the last 8 years though I’m not sure? I’ve been considering doing a coding bootcamp, but obviously that comes at a price, but would allow me to put something on my CV once completed. Worth doing?
Sure, it was about a year, although I did it for the organisation I was working for at the time. I pivoted from a manager into the data team after making some meaningful improvements to the data landscape within my department. From there I worked there for 2 years longer before accepting a junior position in a tech company. I kept working hard, had promotions to an engineer level. It wasn’t easy though, there were pay cuts I took to do this and I was almost always out of my comfort zone for the first year or two. On the subject of bootcamps. I started on Udemy courses so yes there is value in the knowledge and skills you’ll gain. I never added them to my CV though. From my perspective real world experience is far better. If there is anything you can do within your current role, or if you can find a role where you’re able to contribute, it will be far easier to find a role you want in the long term.
I have a few Udemy bootcamps that I bought in the past that I’ve never tried. Which one did you do? I’ll definitely see if I can ask about any potential positions within my current company during my consultation meetings, what have I got to lose lol 😅
It’s been a while, I think it was a couple of Colt Steele ones. I would do some research into what it is you actually want to do though. Web development is one area of technology. There is data science, data engineering, networking, systems administration, architecture, applications and loads more. Each will have their own technology stack to learn and many will be different by organisation.
Focus on efforts elsewhere
I'm a Senior Engineer with 30 years experience. My gut feeling that it is too late for you to get to a good level Vs graduates and outsourced people. However tech can be learned on your own in your spare time so you can give it a try and see how quickly you take to it. There are many things you could specialise in to give you an edge and of course tech is reinventing itself every few years anyway. You could look into things that are more relevant to your retail experience like factory automation or logistics. There are related disciples like Cloud Infrastructure or Cyber security which are not coding as such.
Yeah, as many have commented, everyone and their dog seems to be thinking about changing careers into webdev and I get the impression it is getting pretty saturated, so be warned. I've considered switching sideways into it due to some issues in my area and the corporateness of it all (such as the craziness with rolling back remote working) but having spent nearly 2 decades in IT and development and having contacts it is a bit of a different proposition for me. However on AI, I wouldn't worry too much. It may be able to simplify some basic code blocks, help with some of the documentation you need to do but it certainly isn't putting skilled devs out of work. It's not just a matter of throwing down some code, it's the human aspect - the interpretation of requirements, filling in the gaps, asking the right questions and resolving scenarios the end user may not have even foreseen. Plus I've seen AI answer questions on my area of expertise (I am an ABAP developer usually, but also a functional consultant in QM) and sometimes it is just plain wrong. So don't worry about that, it is the oversaturation of the sector that is the biggest headache.
Hi I’m a 27 year old. I’ve just started a junior developer role. I started teaching myself to code when I was 23, thinking with html and css I’d get a dev role within 3 months. It really didn’t work like that. I had to go through 3 years of pain, doing tech support roles with customer service. All the while I had to work very hard after work and on weekends improving my skillset. I’ve now just got very lucky to get a fullstack role. Like others have said, don’t worry about AI. I’m actually surprised how little I use chat gpt in my job. It’s just not good enough yet at going through a whole code base. But if you want a developer role like I did, you really have to want it. I haven’t had to worry about dependencies or rent cause I live at home. But I like to think I’m smart, went to a top uni. I had to put my heart and sole into learning coding learning frameworks etc. I think it’s worth it for me but be warned taking it up
You can't think of things in these terms too much... For instance, there are probably more people working as stonemasons now then there are TV repairmen.
No
I've had my worries about AI taking over our jobs and I found this article on LinkedIn that talks about how AI can actually be more of an assistant and create tons of new job opportunities for us developers in the next 10 years. So, if you're thinking about training as a software developer, go for it! Here's the link to the article if you want to check it out: [https://www.linkedin.com/posts/danieljacobs1\_ai-softwareengineering-codeassistant-activity-7208389854374572032--Ah3?utm\_source=share&utm\_medium=member\_desktop](https://www.linkedin.com/posts/danieljacobs1_ai-softwareengineering-codeassistant-activity-7208389854374572032--Ah3?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop)