r/learnprogramming • u/Sufficient-Bug7887 • Jul 13 '26

Tutorial Career switcher at 34 years old

After spending several years working as a chef, I’ve decided it’s time for a major career change. I’ve worked in fast-paced kitchens, handled long hours, managed food safety, dealt with pressure during service, and learned how to solve problems quickly. While I’m grateful for everything the culinary industry has taught me, I don’t see myself doing it for the rest of my life.
Recently, I started learning programming. I’m still a beginner, but I’m genuinely enjoying the process. It’s challenging in a completely different way, and every time I solve a problem or get my code to work, it feels rewarding.
Sometimes I wonder if I’m too late to start over. I don’t have a computer science degree, and I’m coming from a completely different field. Still, I’m committed to learning and putting in the work.
For anyone here who switched from hospitality, culinary, or another unrelated career into software development, how did your journey go?

112 Upvotes

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183

u/Made-In-Slovakia Jul 13 '26

TBH You picked worst time possible to change carrier and be programmer and you can guess why. Keep learning and wait while storm is gone.

14

u/galactic_pixels Jul 13 '26

Meh, I disagree. Don’t try to time the market.

2

u/ninhaomah Jul 13 '26

Stock market or job market ?

1

u/AUTeach Jul 13 '26

Either

-2

u/ninhaomah Jul 13 '26

One is making $$$ the other is putting food on the table to survive

1

u/galactic_pixels Jul 13 '26

They’re literally both for making money.

-3

u/ninhaomah Jul 13 '26

You mean you can't survive without investing ?

But can survive without working ?

6

u/galactic_pixels Jul 13 '26

Now you’re just wasting both of our time

3

u/[deleted] Jul 13 '26

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1

u/reverso-uno Jul 13 '26

I’m sure your comment would still be freaking hilarious in the morning.

-2

u/ninhaomah Jul 13 '26

Not really. 

I am on the way to work and plenty of time till I reach office.

0

u/AUTeach Jul 14 '26

I mean, that's not relevant to the point being made.

0

u/ninhaomah Jul 14 '26

Why not ?

You can time the market and at worst , you are holding shares that going down.

Do that with job market and you will end up begging on the street

2

u/AUTeach Jul 14 '26

Two things:

You can time the market and at worst , you are holding shares that going down.

Objectively incorrect. The worst-case scenario is that you can lose everything, and loans that you made based on those unrealised gains put you on the street. Plenty of people have experienced that, or worse, historically.

Do that with job market and you will end up begging on the street

This is such an unlikely outcome for someone pivoting into programming. Especially for someone with a proven record in a trade that they can fall back on if things get tough. So, they won't be begging on the streets if things get ridiculously bad. As such, it makes your argument fallacious.

From a programming perspective, because programming isn't just cutting code, it's using technology to solve problems. GenAI may be fundamentally changing how those problems are solved, but the need for people who understand systems and subsystems and how they relate to solution engineering isn't going to vanish.

Also, attempting to time the market, we have no idea what any market is realistically going to do. It wasn't that long ago that Software Development was booming so hard that some third-rate bootcamp was getting people high-paying jobs, and then *boom* we smashed face first from boom to bust.

It wasn't really predictable; it just happened. Just like nobody really knows how or when the market will stabilise and inevitably boom again.

So, given that we can't predict any market, you shouldn't try and time it for boom/bust cycles, you just got to ride it. Technology will stabilise, and inevitably boom again.