Between outsourcing and ageism, the thought has crossed my mind to work on doing something else before I am too old (30 now).  Has anyone successfully done this or know anyone who has changed their career from programming to something else?  Did it require additional education?  Just mainly looking for ideas.

I changed mine. I got an orange and a brass washer for it.

I haven't yet, but know numerous people to leave high tech for jobs that pay better and/or treat people better.

I know a guy that became an IP lawyer.  It pays well and these lawyers tend to find work easier than run of the mill lawyers.  IP law also appears to be one of those areas where you don't have to graduate from a top 20 school to make good money.  The down side is that you have to pay for law school.

a friend of mine got an mba- as a management track software dev, his company paid for most of it.

he transitioned up to manager within that company, then out of IT altogether after his two year education commitment was up. he's project manager at a local non-profit. he probably took a pay cut, but he seems very happy.

in retrospect, i would have done an mba instead of masters in comp sci. much more portable...

"in retrospect, i would have done an mba instead of masters in comp sci. much more portable..."

I also made the mistake of getting a MS CS instead of an MBA.  There aren't many opportunities for an aging programmer/engineer with a MS CS, but an MBA grad has the flexibility to move into many jobs and many industries.

I'll be the first to agree that an MBA is not a guarantee, but if you have an applied undergrad degree or an undergrad not in business it can be helpful.  And no, you don't need a top 20 MBA unless you want to work on Wall Street.

I used to be a programmer, now I'm an Internet mogul.

"in retrospect, i would have done an mba instead of masters in comp sci. much more portable..."

Maybe so but it seems like every disgruntled IT geek is getting an MBA these days.

"now I'm an Internet mogul."

that's not what lurking on CoT means. that means something else.

in the process of changing it...after a 5 year pause, I'm finishing my master's degree in urban planning, followed hopefully by a land-use related gig at a public agency of some kind.

I'm 35 now and not looking forward to starting over.  But hitting 35 made me realize if I'm ever going to change careers I better do it now.

I'm going to take a pay cut but in the long term I'd rather take the hit now then find myself unemployable at 45.

OP if you are thinking of making a change, do it NOW.

Before you know it you'll be too old or have too many commitments to manage the change.

Do NOT go to law school.

I'm 40.  Just now starting to hit my stride.

There are lots of ways to make money.  Just keep in mind that it's *your* responsibility to take care of yourself.  An employer owes you nothing beyond your next paycheck.  Once you realize this, you also realize that you're also free to leave any time it's convenient for you to do so.

Then it's a matter of self-marketing.  That's not trivial - don't underestimate it.  I'm getting better at it, but I have a long way to go.

I've seen other people's code.  Most of the time it's utter shit.  Hell, even my own code can be crap when I'm rushed, I'll admit.  But frankly, compared to a lot of the world, I'm a badass.  Now it's a matter of me believing it enough to convince others of it as well, and turning that into cash.

It's not easy at first to realize it - I mean, I'm just me, and this stuff isn't hard.  Apparently, though, it is hard, even for other people who get paid to do it.

So what does this have to do with changing careers?  What I do now has nothing to do with what I went to school for.  I essentially changed careers the moment I couldn't find a job doing what I trained to do, and my ability to charge people money for it has a lot more to do with my belief that I'm worth it than anything else.

If you're competent at life - you learn quickly, you give a shit about doing good work, so on - then get through whatever requirements there are to begin working in your field (and often you can intern or get part time work doing it while you're en route), and then change jobs fast.  Absorb whatever you can in one job, and then move on - there is no sense at all in sticking around once your learning rate has slowed to a trickle.  Move to another job that challenges you, building experience as fast as you can.  After a while, you'll begin to laugh at problems as they come up, because you've seen almost all of them.  Then it'll hit you that you really can be charging a shitload of money for what you know.

"So what does this have to do with changing careers?  What I do now has nothing to do with what I went to school for.  I essentially changed careers the moment I couldn't find a job doing what I trained to do, and my ability to charge people money for it has a lot more to do with my belief that I'm worth it than anything else."

What did you do before and what am I doing now?  Sorry I'm new here.

"OP if you are thinking of making a change, do it NOW.

Before you know it you'll be too old or have too many commitments to manage the change.

Do NOT go to law school."

I have no intention of going to law school.  Not my cup of tea.

Still debating what to do.  In any case, it's either work full time and go to school part time for another 5 years after I spent 7 years doing the same thing in my 20s.  Or stop working, go to school, and take a huge financial hit.

>>> What did you do before

The tagline: "I'm not the one to be giving advice here.  You'd just wind up single and them dating each other." refers to Aaron.

Before the whole threesome thing (or was it three wholesome things?), he was an evil scientist and invented a death ray in his physics lab and held the world hostage for ONE MILLION DOLLARS!

And you left out the snake -- a ball-python, to which he would feed his enemies.

Fortunately, most of his enemies were small white mice, so THAT was okay.

Close enough.

"The tagline: "I'm not the one to be giving advice here.  You'd just wind up single and them dating each other." refers to Aaron.

Before the whole threesome thing (or was it three wholesome things?), he was an evil scientist and invented a death ray in his physics lab and held the world hostage for ONE MILLION DOLLARS!"

LOL....like everyone on this site is going to want to enter the new field that you're in and increase competition.

There are *way* more people here doing what I do than what I originally intended.

Aaron, time for a cleansing?

*Off to prep flamethrower*

Oh, if only a flamethrower were sufficient to cleanse me.