Never too late! I'll take every piece of advice I can get at this point and thank you for taking the time. I have looked around the local area and there are a surprising amount of positions in development around! A hell of a lot more than I expected there to be. A lot of apprenticeship type position aimed at school leavers which are very low paid and quite a few junior dev positions 25 - 30k, my problem at the minute is I don't know enough for a junior dev position in my opinion and I can't afford the pay drop back to an apprenticeship! I'd be taking a pay cut to a junior position but I always expected that! I'm gonna continue with my studies for a couple of years I think and then try and get into an junior level position. I want some more knowledge behind me before I take the leap I think but I am going to keep my eyes open to see what's around.

I would just like to say thank you to all that have replied. There is a wealth of information here and I am great full for it all! Thanks again

That's actually very well said. To be perfectly honest if I am writing on paper I am much better than with a phone! For some reason I do have a very bad habit of short typing words and not double checking before posting. Thank you I will take it under my belt.

Thanks sounds sensible to be fair! I didn't ever expect to walk into a senior developers job just because I'm older. Starting from the ground up was always where I expected to be but I think my aim was to try and gain a substantial qualification first giving me enough knowledge to gain a better paid entry level job so I didn't have to take as much of a pay drop! There are quite a few training jobs local but they are apprentiships less than minimum wage and as much as I would love to jack my job and go for it I can't afford to take that pay drop! Which is why I wanted to try and do my HNC HND first then possibly my degree if time/situation allows! Do you think I would be better off doing this than going straight into an entry job with no quals? A lot of the better paid entry jobs require a BS in Computer Science and the better paid jobs at big company's. Does the industry view experience better than quals? Or is it all down to the company?

Thanks! That sounds ideal and I think if I were younger it may be a great way to go, not that I'm old but I'm at an age where I think I may get only one chance to retrain to this scale. Which is why I feel I need some actual qualifications + a decent portfolio under me to stand a good chance of getting a starting point!

I like it! Thanks

If I hadent asked I would be loosing. My asking is me carving out possible paths for me to follow. Hence pushing forward and not loosing! But thanks for the input anyway ;)

Point taken 👍 And thanks

I am currently working but my full time job is a world away from software development I'm a service engineer working in horticulture! The HNC/HND part time then possible degree route is what I think I may do it's just trying to get some real world experience in between as at the moment I can't afford to quit my job as I have a family to support !!

Sounds like good advice thank you!!

Hi everyone And thanks in advance! I'm after advice from people who work in the real world as developers in programming and people who hire developers!! I'm 28, from Dudley UK and want a career change! After looking into programming/coding online as I've always been into and around computers all my life I've decided this is the path I want to follow! I've been to see all the local colleges and universities and I have a few options but I'm not sure on which way to go! I'm not scared of hard work in the slightest and I don't expect this to be easy but I don't want to waste my time and money on going down the wrong path! I'm currently half way through " learn python the hard way" and I must say I'm really getting into it! I already have my level 2 in IT from school ( many years ago) I'm 4 weeks into a 15 week programming concepts course at a local college this will give me a part level 3 qualification! I finish this in may I'm gonna do the Harvard CS50 next in may as I've herd it's really good and it's free! Now I'm faced with some choices I either do my HNC and HND in computing and systems development then try to gain a job from there and consider topping it up to a degree afterwards time expectancy 4 - 6 years while trying to teach myself more coding at home! Building a git hub profile and doing as much as I can! I did go to talk to one of the senior lectures at Wolverhampton uni and she told me that someone in my position may not want to consider a part time degree as they take so long and what employers want now will change in 6 years time! She advised me to go look into some professional courses and build my own portfolio to take to employers and she knew people in the industry without degrees that have done very well this way. By pro courses i can only think she means coding boot camps! While they seem very good and promise job ready in 12 weeks to 6 months depending on how long you do the course over! I just don't wanna throw £4000 down the drain on something that doesn't hold any value to a potential employer. The reviews I've read seem to be really good or really bad! It would be great to hear from someone who has any experience with these! Like I said before I'm not scared of hard work and long days I spend most of my spare time now trying to teach my self and it's going well but I feel that I'm coming to a point and not knowing which way to go!! Any advice would be greatly appreciated! Il be out all day to il probably check back later on if anyone reply's!! Thanks 😁