In my experience, software engineering seems more open to nontraditional career paths. I've known plenty of people to get into it later in life and came from a

In my experience, software engineering seems more open to nontraditional career paths. I've known plenty of people to get into it later in life and came from a variety of backgrounds without a problem. Most people probably never find out that they had a prior career. At an internship I lived with a fellow intern that was 12 years older than me (I was also a bit older compared to most of the interns since I was a PhD student). Everyone seemed to treat him the same and he got a full-time offer. I don't think the others ever realized he had 10 years experience and a degree in something completely different!