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First of all, you're going to be starting at 25, not 30. Don't spend 5 years doing only school. Start building things right away. You might find that another 4

First of all, you're going to be starting at 25, not 30. Don't spend 5 years doing only school. Start building things right away. You might find that another 4-year second-undergrad is time-inefficient (and probably expensive). It might be better to study math and take a few undergrad courses at a university-- that'll take a year or two and you can work while you do that-- then go back for a Master's. The good news: despite the ageism that our industry is known for (which is overrepresented on HN due to the high proportion of VC-istan programmers here) there's no evidence that people become worse programmers when they're older. In fact, it's clearly the opposite. In 2013, science has reached no consensus regarding the age of cognitive peak; it's somewhere between 20 and 65, but no one's sure where. It seems to be very individual, with some people peaking early and some late. The bad news: if you want to work at the VC darling companies, you're probably screwed. Ageism is severe there. People will think you're a loser, in those companies, if you're not an executive by 35. But there are a lot of quite frankly better options where no one's going to think twice about your age, especially since you're a long way away from being old.

wilfra 13y ago
"there are a lot of quite frankly better options where no one's going to think twice about your age" What are those options?
- michaelochurch 13y ago
  There's a lot out there that is not in the VC-funded ecosystem. Sure, most corporate jobs are crap whereever one goes, but the odds aren't any worse than in VC-istan, and the ageism problem is less severe. For one example, banking is considered ageist (most people retire by 50-55) by society-at-large standards but no one is going to look askance at you for being 40 and a non-managerial programmer. You should be at least VP by that age (and preferably ED/MD) but you don't have to have reports. One nice thing Wall Street has done for its top (non-managerial) traders and programmers is use the title system to validate non-managerial high performers: you can be a "Managing Director" without having to manage other people. If you're going to have titles, you have to start giving them to engineers... even though a part of me would like to see titles just not exist.
- mahyarm 13y ago
  The VC funded company I work at is mostly people in their 30s and 40s with babies and teenage kids. You'll find it more in boring suburban peninsula and san jose companies than SF companies I'm guessing.

wilfra 13y ago

"there are a lot of quite frankly better options where no one's going to think twice about your age" What are those options?

michaelochurch 13y ago
There's a lot out there that is not in the VC-funded ecosystem. Sure, most corporate jobs are crap whereever one goes, but the odds aren't any worse than in VC-istan, and the ageism problem is less severe. For one example, banking is considered ageist (most people retire by 50-55) by society-at-large standards but no one is going to look askance at you for being 40 and a non-managerial programmer. You should be at least VP by that age (and preferably ED/MD) but you don't have to have reports. One nice thing Wall Street has done for its top (non-managerial) traders and programmers is use the title system to validate non-managerial high performers: you can be a "Managing Director" without having to manage other people. If you're going to have titles, you have to start giving them to engineers... even though a part of me would like to see titles just not exist.
mahyarm 13y ago
The VC funded company I work at is mostly people in their 30s and 40s with babies and teenage kids. You'll find it more in boring suburban peninsula and san jose companies than SF companies I'm guessing.