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I am close to the OPs age now. I finished my CS degree at 30, and started about 7-8 years earlier (long story). Along the way I was classmates with a few people who were older than the both of us are now.
And being a veteran WILL help in certain industries. I was in aerospace for a long time, and that place in particular did give partial preference to former military. Also they didn't seem to really care about age either.
It's definitely worthwhile if you approach the field seriously. I like to hire developers who are passionate about software development - no matter the age.
Anyway, if you don't go after it, where will you be in four years?
Why would that be a problem? What is it, exactly, that you're concerned about? I worked on a college campus for 10 years, and took classes the whole time, as did a couple of my friends. What is your concern, exactly? If you're imagining that other students would have a problem with the presence of older students, don't worry. No one cares. There's no reason to feel self-conscious.
I guess its more of a self conscious thing. In community college there are a lot of older students and that's fine, but I think when you move to a university the number of older students drop. So I guess I kind of feel like I would not really have folks around I could relate to. But your advice is solid and i appreciate it.
Why would you be around younger students 8-10 hrs. /day? Were you planning to live on campus? Most college programs are only about 4 hrs. of class/day.
Granted, I did my degree over 15 years ago, but 8 - 10 hours a day for comp sci was not unusual. We often had classes and labs in the evenings. I had classmates camp out overnight in the computer labs to get assignments done.
In additional to around 5 hours of lectures, there are labs (usually 2- 3 hours), and then assignments to do. Many of the assignments are group projects. The first two years were much more lecture/lab intensive. The last 2 more independent or group assignment focus.
I don't think the age will be a problem. We had a few older students in our classes when I was in school. We got along well, and I found their experiences added great insights on our projects. They were actually easier to work with on group projects, they had a level of maturity and prioritization that some of my (same age) classmates did not have.
However, as most of the older student had family and jobs, they didn't/weren't able to do internships. The best internships were far away from our university (required relocating for the duration of the internship). That put them (really any student regardless of age) at a disadvantage when it came to jobs after graduation.
Granted, I did my degree over 15 years ago, but 8 - 10 hours a day for comp sci was not unusual.
everyday? what college did you go to? MIT? I go to a mediocre school with a mediocre program (lower end of top 100), but I've never had to spend more than a 6 hours a day for comp sci. That too was rare. Granted, I never took more than 3 cs classes at a time (And I always made sure to make at least one a theory based class rather than programming focused).
everyday? what college did you go to? MIT? I go to a mediocre school with a mediocre program (lower end of top 100), but I've never had to spend more than a 6 hours a day for comp sci. That too was rare. Granted, I never took more than 3 cs classes at a time (And I always made sure to make at least one a theory based class rather than programming focused).
I went to grad school at an ivy with a top-20 comp sci grad department and it definitely was not unusual to see groups working in the labs at midnight or later. You'd see the groups working after classes, go out for dinner and then come back to work some more.
everyday? what college did you go to? MIT? I go to a mediocre school with a mediocre program (lower end of top 100), but I've never had to spend more than a 6 hours a day for comp sci. That too was rare. Granted, I never took more than 3 cs classes at a time (And I always made sure to make at least one a theory based class rather than programming focused).
No I didn't go to MIT. I went to a good university in Canada, but not one that was known for it's comp sci program. But it was a good program, worked out well for me and most of my classmates/friends. Most of us who did internships had signed job offers well before graduation. Those I know who went to the top schools seem to have had much more intensive and competitive experiences.
At my school, first year comp sci would be a handful of comp sci specific classes, some math pre-requisites for 2nd year, and then the electives. Most of the labs for first year comp sci classes were at night (I remember this clearly because a few of my friends TA for those labs in a our senior year).
By 2nd year it was almost all comp sci course, with the exception of non science electives we had to have (though most chose one specific philosophy course because it closely resembled the comp sci logic course we had). It would be near impossible to graduate in 4 years with just 3 comp sci course at a time.
No I didn't go to MIT. I went to a good university in Canada, but not one that was known for it's comp sci program. But it was a good program, worked out well for me and most of my classmates/friends. Most of us who did internships had signed job offers well before graduation. Those I know who went to the top schools seem to have had much more intensive and competitive experiences.
At my school, first year comp sci would be a handful of comp sci specific classes, some math pre-requisites for 2nd year, and then the electives. Most of the labs for first year comp sci classes were at night (I remember this clearly because a few of my friends TA for those labs in a our senior year).
By 2nd year it was almost all comp sci course, with the exception of non science electives we had to have (though most chose one specific philosophy course because it closely resembled the comp sci logic course we had). It would be near impossible to graduate in 4 years with just 3 comp sci course at a time.
most people here at my school had internships and had signed job offers before graduation (I personally have one as well). We even send around 4-5 to microsoft a year (out of around 55 a year who graduate with cs degrees), and a few of the phD students always get an offer from Google. My college is like 60? on us news rankings. It's not a 3rd rate school, it's just mediocre.
it's around 8 lower level classes (including the calc classes) + 6 upper level here.
Thanks for the replies everyone and the folks who also started they're own inner conversation. I'll keep chugging along!
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