Interested in becoming a entry level java developer.

oro50

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New York
Well here is the thing about me.

When I was starting out I guess I focused on archaeology work. Thus I was a archaeologist in my twenties.

Yet after I graduated from my graduate program (which took kinda too long to complete, which is another long story and won't be shared because it's not relevant really), I had a very difficult time getting reemployed as a archaeologist.

This was near the end of 2012 (technically). Meaning that my work was done a few months before officially graduating, but I had to wait on paperwork to complete in order to get my masters.

Anyway, so I ended up not doing archaeology work again, (which for those who are interested, when you are a employed archaeologist in the United States, this mostly means you are working for a cultural resource management company, CRM for short).

Anyway so seeing that the game was changed a bit (meaning that once upon a time it was 2006, and it seemed to be much easier (though I wouldn't say it was easy) to get work in this field. Now it seemed like companies no longer wanted to fly people to project sites, and thus were looking for local hires only. If this was the situation back in my early twenties I would have just quit this field.

Anyway so when I am trying to reapply to jobs, I'm finding it very difficult, either people don't respond to me at all, or say basically they are not looking for someone in the specific area I studied in graduate school, or essentially it sounds like the companies are just scratching by (from the other way they said they weren't looking for other people at this time).

So anyway out of the people who responded to me, they were polite to me, but still I didn't get the job.

Anyway so I had to find another way to finally make some income, so a bit after 2012, I've been working in the entertainment industry in New York for the last few years. With that said, now entering 2015, it's been a strange ride, but I know deep down I can't stay in it forever for my long-term lifetime.

So anyway, starting around 31 I started to try my hand at learning programming. I first tussled with python, a little bit of ruby, and now my main focus is on java.
I'm kinda far right now (almost done with the book) I'm using to help me, but though I have learned a-lot, I still am not sure if I'm ready to do work in this field.
Furthermore I turned 35 recently, and my main question is this.

I can't go back to school for any real large expenses. I did that already, and I can't afford that expense.

I have heard that a-lot of people actually working in tech, don't even have computer science degrees, so I'm wondering as long as you can actually handle the work, the degree is nice, but not necessary?

Lastly, I just turned 35, and though I like tech to a point, I admit that I didn't focus on this area in my life when I was much younger. I just didn't plan on using it ever for work, and furthermore, when I was in my teens and early twenties, there was a cultural thing out there, like real programming, was incredibly hard and you had to be insanely smart to figure it out.

With that said, I've found that programming will be for me a life long learning adventure, and though I think I will always need to go over this craft, like any good artist, I don't think it's impossible to learn, and I don't think you have to be a genius to figure it out, once you figure out the patterns and underlying paradigms that these languages fall under.

With that said, I've heard from people in the industry tell me, that because I don't have any work experience in this field as of yet, I probably have no shot at all entering this field. On the other hand, other people in this same field, say as long as you can learn the material you can do it?

So main question is this, with all of this information about me, did I try to start this venture too late in my life?

Furthermore, I've read and heard from various real people, (including famously, by Mark Zuckerberg who said young people are just plain smarter); that once you hit a certain age, and I think in this world 25 is considered old, (which is retarded), but anyway that you have lost any chance of doing work in this field?

So any suggestions on how I might be able to break in, even on a freelance basis are appreciated.

Thank you
 
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