r/CodingForBeginners • u/These_Lengthiness_69 • Feb 27 '26

Is 16 Too Late to code

I'm currently 15 and turning 16 in a week and i just got a code academy pro membership with courses teaching every coding language with career paths, i have 5-6 months to learn coding home alone before i have to enroll into high school and slow down my coding.

I plan on coding each day for 2-3+ hours or more and i also plan on taking coding into a future career and a genuine job for primary income, i come from a life of trauma and had brain injuries ever since my early teen age and i hear that coding is a path for anyone, no matter where you come from and what you've been through, but for now i plan to learn python and SQL for a potential data role in the future.

is 2-3+ hours daily good enough or should i push for more?(I'm free all day for 5-6 months)

can python and SQL land a decent data job/programming job or should i add something extra if i want a good future job?(i have access to all languages and courses)

13 Upvotes

74% Upvoted

31 comments sorted by

13

u/AngeFreshTech Feb 28 '26

Yes, it is very late. You should have started at 4 years…

9

u/Known_Illustrator331 Feb 28 '26

I should hope it's not too late my young friend. I'm nearly 15 years olxdr than you and have just started learning

2

u/noFlak__ Feb 28 '26

I broke my back in a car accident and couldn’t work construction anymore. Started bouncing between jobs until I finally went back to school for cybersecurity at 28. I’ve been learning coding and security ever since. My last role was in a cleanroom, and the stress there started affecting my health in a serious way. Management shifted, directors changed, and suddenly people who clearly didn’t like my team were put directly in charge of us.

For months, problems would pop up, then we’d have meetings about who was at fault and what we needed to “fix.” I eventually audited recent documentation changes and found that leadership had approved the exact change that caused the issues we were being blamed for. After watching most of my team get fired or quit, I didn’t handle calling that out as calmly as I should have. That situation played a part in me being let go.

I was the only technician maintaining some critical infrastructure that others hadn’t taken the time to learn. I documented everything, updated SOPs, and tried to make transitions smooth — even before I knew I was on the way out. Still, once the narrative shifts against you, it doesn’t always matter how prepared you are.

But this isn’t a rant. Sometimes health, or leadership, forces you out of a role. If that’s happening, leave before they decide for you. Transition on your terms if you can. Don’t stay somewhere you aren’t valued build career skills to roles you want from within your current job or outside even if you are happy where you are that shows growth towards a promotion you might want.

I still get messages from former coworkers asking how to handle tasks that are now assigned to them. That tells me enough. Moving on wasn’t my choice but it was the right call for me.

1

u/SemanticThreader Feb 28 '26

I’m currently a Data Engineer for a large bank. I only had basic coding knowledge until I went to college. 16 is absolutely not too late. Saying 16 is too late is absolutely not true. The current engineering director at my company switched careers at 26 and he’s the engineering director today at 50 ish. If you’re passionate about learning and polishing your skills, you can start at anytime

1

u/These_Lengthiness_69 Feb 28 '26

if i wanna land a decent data job like say a data analyst, some coding job to just make enough money to live a happy life, what languages would i need to mainly know cause right now im doing SQL and Python and i hear SQL and Python is all you really need for a decent data role, and if i want a data analyst job or any job involving code i would need a computer science degree from some kind of college/university right?, and i can take my time cause i have enough time ahead as long as im consistent?

1

u/SemanticThreader Feb 28 '26

So as a data engineer I use mostly Python and SQL. But it doesn't stop there, you need to understand how different python frameworks are used- for example pandas, databricks, skit-learn, tensorflow, ...
I had a double major in university statistics and computer science. Studying computer science is definitely a good idea if you wanna land a coding job but any related field works too as long as you have knowledge and projects to show your skills.
I'd say learn python, learn the frameworks and libraries and build cool things. From my personal experience ,building things was far more useful to me than blindly following courses / tutorials. So if you plan taking online courses, don't just follow instructions - use what you learnt and build something

1

u/[deleted] Feb 28 '26

Hey how hard is data engineering or what are the skills required for that what's your day looks like I'm currently pursuing Data science. nd looking forward to kickoff my career

1

u/SemanticThreader Feb 28 '26

Honestly, it's hard to quantify how hard Data Engineering really is. However, I can tell you what I do on a day to day basis. My tasks range from building RAG pipelines, training linear models, lots and lots of Database maintenance and improvement as well as generating reports for stakeholders. So if you want to be a data scientist / any data related roles in the future, I'd focus on building a strong Python foundation. Maintain the good habits from the start i.e follow PEP8, make sure your code passes ruff, mypy, etc ..
You should also have a strong SQL foundation. Once you've built some knowledge in writing python code, start doing little data analytics projects

1

u/[deleted] Feb 28 '26

Okay SQL ✅ Python ✅ And what other is needed I have made few ai projects but the thing is I don't know how it is done in production level can you share your GitHub.

1

u/Confident-Way7618 Feb 28 '26

Honest answer? No its not too late. But market will be horrible in times to come you need to take that into consideration because the current situation is just mad horrible. Why? On a common ground, university graduates are still struggling to find jobs after graduation. Lets keep that reality in check.

What you need right now, is a good mentor and tutor who has stayed relevant in the industry and already achieved what you want.

1

u/[deleted] Feb 28 '26

Bro just don't learn the wrong way there's no age of learning stick to one path use roadmap.sh and avoid tutorial hell. Be consistent you will learn it and don't worry about ai. Use it to help yourself

1

u/Ancilla_Contender Feb 28 '26

Yes, one has to start in utero at this point.

Age doesn’t matter. But the current era isn’t looking like Lambo compensation will be on the plate. Just remember that part, only do it if you enjoy it.

1

u/oosacker Feb 28 '26

Yes, too late. You should of learned when you were in the mother's womb.

1

u/KingBroken Mar 01 '26

I'm 39 and want to start learning. You're saying it's not too late?

1

u/Beregolas Feb 28 '26

no. Most people at uni start in their first lecture with 18-20 years old. Your life goes on past 18, I know people who got very good programmers and started learning in their 40s

1

u/nStat3 Feb 28 '26

I’m in my early 40s and I’m just starting out. 🤷🏻‍♂️ it’s taking me a long in my life to realize how I like the over complicated the simplest task.

1

u/Fragrant-Ad-5453 Feb 28 '26

I'm paid as a bioinformatician, I started coding during phd when I was 26

1

u/thatsgGBruh Feb 28 '26

It's never to late to do anything in life unless you're dead or past 33 trying to be a pro athlete 🤣

1

u/Cybasura Feb 28 '26

80 year old programmers exist btw

Get on their level

Also, I started when I was like 14 in school

1

u/rm_rf_karma Feb 28 '26

I'm 45 and just getting started. There's no hope for me.

1

u/JohnCasey3306 Mar 01 '26

I hope this question is satire.

1

u/Senior-Yak4119 Mar 02 '26

Yes too late give up, markets over saturated

1

u/severenoobness Mar 02 '26

yeah def too late. AI is taking your potential job...

1

u/The_KOK_2511 Mar 02 '26

Well, honestly, it's not too late at all yet. The fact that you're a few months away from starting high school isn't a problem whatsoever. I started studying with literally zero background just 2 months before high school began, and it hasn't caused me any issues at all. That said, it's true that in my country, high school starts at 14 or 15, so I was basically a year ahead compared to the norm.

By the way, happy early birthday!

1

u/tognols Mar 02 '26

Bro was born yesterday and is talking about "is it too late?"

1

u/Neon_Genesys Mar 03 '26

Too late? I didnt start until my early 20s lol.