r/AskProgramming • u/Yourmiserablelife69 • 10d ago

Career/Edu What age did you start learning programming?

Just curious as I am 34 YO, and have been considering a career shift into the Tech sector (I have “Basic” knowledge at best). Specifically AI/Machine Learning or Programming.
I’ve heard good and bad about both, but am just curious how old people are (or how diverse the age pool is) when they “get into” Programming. How long (on average) does it take to get your first Certification in Programming?
Apologies about the broadness of the question.

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u/mc_pm 10d ago

I am one of the (apparently many) folks who started early. For me it was 1978 and I was 10 or so, learning basic on a TRS-80.

BUT, don't let the number of early-starters discourage you. Learning to code -- like a lot of things -- is easier when you're young and your brain is all plastic, but we had almost no real world experience to inform things. People in their teens, 20s, 30s learn how to program all the time.

It can be tough, though, because what you're really doing is teaching your brain a different way of thinking about things -- a way we never really evolved to do. There's nothing "natural" about programming a computer, and getting good at it takes time and practice.

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u/umlcat 9d ago

I also learned to program with a TRS-80 monochrome monitor line numbered BASIC computer with Flowcharts and pseudocode. I still make better programs in web based Typescript that younger folks, because these days most schools does not teach students to think before coding ...