New to Python - Career question

[Larry Martell]

On Tue, Jun 6, 2017 at 6:37 PM, Marko Rauhamaa <marko at pacujo.net> wrote:
> ptanyc at gmail.com:
>
>> 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!
>
> Different employers hire differently. I have hired several people for my
> employer, and age has never been a concern. Python is also an important
> tool where I work.
>
> However, the problem in our field is that you have to be quite good to
> be truly useful. Unfortunately, it seems that only a minority with a
> formal degree are good enough. On the other hand, I work with some great
> software developers who don't have a degree at all.
>
> One good way to become a good developer and also test oneself is to pick
> a free software project online a become a contributor. Your commit log
> entries on GitHub advertise you much better than any pretty-printed
> résumé.

I work 70 or more hours a week and have a family and hobbies and a
personal life. I do not have time to contribute to any open source
projects. And because I cannot show anything on GitHub I have often
been summarily disqualified for even getting an interview. (I have
donated money to open source projects.)