I graduated high school in 2008, and had a son born 2 months later. I went to University 1.5 hours away, for 2 semesters, then eventually dropped because I wanted to help more at home, even though my Dad was helping with my son as I was studying. Came home, started working in retail (Aldi) and quickly was promoted to management (they were new to Texas in 08) I quickly realized I did not have a shot of being promoted from a store level employee to corporate without a degree (from the D.O mouth), and even then, would be difficult, so I eventually left. Similar situations happened over the years with a few other companies. Long story short, Everything has led me me to this moment. I haven't had a real chance (or want) to complete schooling (major in CS, 4.0 1st and only semester) until now. My current WFH schedule with Walmart gives me ample time to study AND Walmart pays 100% of my tuition. My mindset is when I graduate, I should be able to move into a Tech position with Walmart, maybe sooner with an Internship. I would think since they're paying for me to go to school, they would want to retain a developer right? I could be wrong. Overall, I'm 32, 4 kids, divorced, earning 🥜's, and excited about starting this upcoming semester, but horribly terrified that I'm too old, and feel like s**** for allowing my life to get to this point. P.S. I have been lurking Blind for a few weeks now and I must say, this community is freaking amazing. I really would never have guessed a community like this was this engaged and actually caring for one another. I just wanted to vent. I've never said this out loud before. Thank you guys for listening
PS: Could have stopped after “Good luck!”
Very dense comment by peloton
rooting for you gl
You’re eventually going to get older. Why not be older and working towards a new career. Change is scary but it’s also exciting. I’m 31 and started school two semesters ago to study computer science and I have 0 regrets. You have 1 life and 30’s is a prime time to change paths. There’s still a ton of working years left in us!
ROOTING FOR YOU. Not sure how companies actually are about taking their retail workers (I have a mentor who was working for a food delivery as a delivery person and then got hired in data and the company even paid him to learn and get into SWE where he is now) but 32 is not old!! I would beware of letting them know how many children you have though, it's BS but better safe than sorry?
bro its never too late to learn something new. look up people who found success later in life and get boosted in inspiration. what matters is you took action, not when and what age you're at. and congrats on knowing what you want in life 👏🏼👏🏼 now go get that bread 🥖
You are never too old to learn or grow professionally. Keep working and you’ll just be fine. Good luck!
All the best for your journey. It's alright to start late, as long as you're doing what's good for you and close ones around you! Hopefully Walmart will try to retain you as a developer because they're paying for it, this is how things happen normally. But keep applying and have backups ready just in case.
^lol this - how f-ed up were you to have a child right after highschool? Makes zero sense.
Lol dude almost every person who isn’t an incel has had a pregnancy scare. Some people just get unlucky with a positive test and their partner wants the kid. I’m 32, and my last gf was an Ivy-league educated big law attorney and told me she’d keep the kid when we had a condom break (if she got pregnant). Scared the shit out of me. And this is a point where I can even 100% afford one! Have some empathy, even if you aren’t the one getting laid.
Take the free tuition
I'm 32 and not married, no kids. So I am too old by your measure. But am I? Nah, just different priorities.
...or coping.
25+ body count, 2M net worth, Goog title. Yeah coping