New to Python - Career question

[J. Clarke]

In article <mailman.17.1496789595.19806.python-list at python.org>, 
larry.martell at gmail.com says...
> 
> 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.)

If you're looking to change careers to programmer and you have hobbies that 
don't include programming, reconsider the change.