New to Python - Career question

[Larry Martell]

On Tue, Jun 6, 2017 at 5:39 PM,  <ptanyc at gmail.com> wrote:
> New to Python and have been at it for about a month now. I'm doing well and like it very much. Considering a career change down the road and have been wondering... What are the job prospects for a middle age entry level programmer. Just trying to get a better understanding where I stand career wise.  Appreciate all feed back. Thanks!

First off, do you have a programming background and/or format
training? I run into a lot of people who are, for example, mechanical
engineers or some other fairly high tech discipline, and can write
code, but have no formal training in it. Usually they write very bad
code that is hard to maintain and/or extend. I think twice before
hiring anyone like that.

Second, what is middle age to you? I am 57 and I have been programming
since I was 16 and doing it professionally since I was 20. I have a
degree in Software Engineering and I have worked in many different
industries and with many different technologies. For the last 5-6
years I have run into a lot of age discrimination, and colleagues of a
similar age have told me the same thing. Being interviewed by someone
who is 20-30 I can tell they think I am old and they dismiss me right
away. These days the only work I seem to get is when I am interviewed
by someone my age or older, or if I come with a strong recommendation
from someone the person doing the hiring personally knows. In fact I
have been told more then once after I have gotten a job and been
working at it for a while that the person who hired me was very
hesitant to because of my age, but they did because their friend had
worked with me before and said very good things.

This really worries me because I do not have enough money to retire
and doubt I ever will.