On my primary channel, @DevLeader, I published a video about being "too old" to get into development. By the way... what's "too old" supposed to even mean?
It was great to see even more people across social platforms jump in and share their success stories.
And no, AI isn't taking our jobs. Not yet.
📄 Auto-Generated Transcript ▾
Transcript is auto-generated and may contain errors.
hey good morning uh just leaving CrossFit here the uh the typical back out of this sketchy spot kind of thing I uh definitely went a little too hard this morning couldn't uh I finished the warmup which is like a 20 minute it's called an eom every minute on the minute so it's like rowing then a dumbbell snatch where uh it's kind of like a floor to overhead movement and then lunges and it's like not complicated I don't think there's anything particularly like challenging kind of built into it but the uh I just underestimated my ability to recover because when you're going every minute on the minute you only have so much time to try and complete the uh the movement right so um the the actual work out was supposed to be the exact same thing but uh double the amount of repetitions per per
minute and when I finished the 21 minute warmup I was like like I can't I can can't breathe anymore like I looked at my wife and I said I have to go home so no it was good she's like you got to you should stay so kind of peer pressured me into staying and I just stuck on the rower and uh very slowly got an extra like 40 or 50 calories kind of thing so brutal though um good start to the day I guess uh I do feel much better today in terms of my cold I am pretty sure it's still lingering a bit like I feel it a little bit in my chest especially when I'm when I'm this winded uh but kind of kind of expect that so I'm going to be heading into the office today which will be nice to get
back in and uh yeah like uh things I want to talk about this morning are the YouTube video that I recorded and put out for today is about uh you know there's a lot of people that are trying to get into software development of course and uh it's pretty competitive right now especially uh for for juniors like people that are are breaking into the industry it's very competitive um even people that are saying like they've been in industry for a while and they're switching switching roles switching companies they're noticing that it's quite difficult then when you layer on like oh there's this fear of AI taking all the software engineering jobs like uh like you know understandable that there's a lot of a lot of competition a lot of fear um so totally get it but the video that I put out I wanted to
talk about um like there it's not really too late ever and I and I believe it by the way um it's not like a clickbait title kind of thing like I mean actually I think I use a bit of a clickbait title but the clickbait um sorry the the title's not meant to be misleading or the the topic is not misleading I genuinely believe that uh you know if you if you're getting a later start than the sort of the average person that goes into software development it's not too late for you um and in fact I tried to call it a lot of examples in the video where uh that that kind of prove that right where people were later than you know the college grad kind of thing or the boot camp student that's or like self-taught kind of like you know or
before you're 20 or like uh you know early 20s kind of getting into software um it's totally doable it's challenging like I'm not I'm not trying to mislead people and say oh it's so simple it's not simple for anyone um like that's that's misleading like I I got a job out of University but I had I had six internships so like that obviously helped me because by the time I graduated I had two full years of work experience so that made it significantly you know easier for me but I still had to go do the work so I don't think that it's easy for anyone but um folks that are you know switching careers are getting started a little bit later um I I don't want to like be dismissive about like people's experiences like if you are older and having challenges getting into the
industry I'm not trying to say like you invented it in your head like that's not my point but my point is is that it's possible my point is that if you stick to it you will be able to so it's kind of like you know you've only you've only not succeed it if you if you stop trying and it's competitive for everyone um and yeah I just I I wanted to make that video to kind of help demonstrate to people that it's it's definitely doable so what was cool about that was that I had posted some stuff on social media prior to give me a little bit more evidence and material that I could use in the video so it was nice to have uh folks from LinkedIn and Twitter be able to kind of chime in with you know their experiences saying like hey
look like I got started at this age like that's what I was looking to do it um and especially on on Twitter there's a couple people that I that I admire um not the people not that I don't admire the people on LinkedIn but there's a couple in particular from Twitter that are kind of stand out for me and I think um they've kind of made like a uh a pretty good impression like on on social media and I'm sure they're like their personal brand for people they're working with and stuff like would believe it too but um there's Dan whose code wrinkles on YouTube and Karen Payne I don't think Karen has social media outside of Twitter maybe LinkedIn or something I'm not sure but she's active on Twitter but both these individuals like I think Karen said that she got her first s
software engineering job when she was 35 and she's been a Microsoft MVP for 11 years like it's definitely doable uh Dan said he got started when he was 29 sorry I'm dying here um and like he's been a very successful software engineer he does public speaking and stuff he has his YouTube channel like he's he makes it very evident that like that he knows what he's talking about that he's he's been around to be able to talk about these things and he got started like right when he was just about 30 right so it all stemmed from a a Reddit question that was like Hey I'm 30 like is it too late and uh I genuinely don't think so so anyway I'm I'm hopeful that that if it helps one person and they're a little bit older than uh like I said like maybe the
the stereotypical software engineer coming out of college kind of thing um if it helps one person then I'm happy like there's nothing in it for me I'm not like trying to not trying to promote something that somehow benefits me in like a sneaky way like yes there's a there's a CH advertisement in my video but there's a course advertisement every video so I'm not like trying to promote some weird like thing that is related to being older in software engineering I just I I don't like uh I don't like gatekeeping and I think that there's enough gatekeeping going on and there's enough like like self-doubt in software Engineers or like aspiring software Engineers where like there's so many barriers that it's like you don't need to create create your own to like hold yourself back so let's not do that that's kind of the the
goal of the video so uh I'm hoping that it resonates with a few people but we'll see I find uh sometimes these types of videos on my channel don't do well because they're not uh CP and net related but that's uh that's okay like I said if it helps one person then I feel good and uh interestingly enough my my Google interview one where I explained that I failed my Google interview that it's one of my best performing videos uh lately and that has nothing to do with CP and.net but I think which I hate to admit but I know this kind of thing is true um thumbnails make a ridiculously big difference thumbnails and titles right you can make the best video in the world and if no one clicks it to watch it no one will ever see it and then it never
spreads so it doesn't it actually doesn't matter how good the video is to get people to click it right I don't like if you're not a YouTube video creator then you might not realize this but um I'm not I'm not saying the video is going to be good if you you know purposefully make it bad but if your thumbnail and title aren't there um then then no one comes across it in their feed and goes I want to watch that so those two things are incredibly important I feel like I happen to get lucky with the the Google interview one I've had right when it launched like today's video the the two old decode video I had one person say like hey like awesome job on this thumbnail and the Google interview one so maybe maybe this one will stand out um but I don't
know like I said goal is to help at least one person uh not hold themselves back from trying to be a software developer and I have my fingers crossed that happens so the only other thing I wanted to mention about that is uh I mentioned Dan from code wrinkles um and I I mentioned this I think in the video directly but I'll say it again here like Dan uh I think Dan's channel is 28,000 subscribers so just under 30 I think at the time I'm making this and if I'm not mistaken uh a little bit earlier than this time last year like maybe it was in the summer um I think I think Dan's channel was like 7,000 I could be wrong maybe it was more so he's his Channel's grown quite a bit in in the year which is amazing he's he's a great
Creator but what I wanted to mention was that if and I might have the subscriber count wrong but the point is around a little bit earlier than this time last year um Dan made a video on YouTube about some up and cominging creators that we're under like a th000 subscribers and uh and he mentioned my channel and it was super cool uh you know I hadn't I hadn't talked with Dan before that point so it's not like I was like hey man like please promote my channel like he just did it and I thought that was super cool that he had come across my channel had seen some content and was like I want to mention this person so uh that meant a lot to me Dan's always been super awesome to to talk with on social media uh I think he's a great guy
from at least what I I've never met him in person but from what I know about him from our social media interactions I I really enjoy engaging with him um so yeah if you if you got a chance go check out code ringles on YouTube and he's on Twitter and Linkedin and stuff as well so great guy uh but yeah at the time I think I had around 300 subscribers and I remember I don't I don't know what I was thinking when it happened but basically my subscriber count like doubled it like I got like 300 subscribers or something ridiculous like overnight uh or in the next like 48 hours so it's super cool I was kind of freaking out I'm like oh my God I'm going to be famous but yeah just a really nice gesture okay hopefully no more coughs but yeah that
was today's video I am going home now and I have to do an interview for my podcast at 7:45 it's 10 after 7 right now so I the problem the problem is that I'm exhausted and I need to go to the office and what I've been doing is I've been able to try and get a nap in cuz crossfit's at I wake up at 5:00 in the morning so I can go to CrossFit for 6 and I'm absolutely exhausted right now so if you usually been napping and I'm not going to be able to do that today so so we'll see I might um if I can wrap up the interview on time I might try to squeeze in like a 20 minute power nap and then and then head into the office but like um I can I can I already feel in my
like the front of my head I'm like not not doing so well so we'll see uh but yeah it's it's good I I got to get more interviews scheduled this one I think is um there's a couple of people I've talked to that I'm due for an interview but I haven't uh we haven't got them scheduled so we'll get that sorted out cuz I like to have a bit of a I think I mentioned this before I like to have a bit of a pipeline I have um one more podcast that's kind like kind of primed and ready to go and then I have this one that's to be recorded but I got to get more back in the calendar it's kind of nice to not have them because then I get more time back but that's the name of the game right I got
to be on top of the content I also have to pay attention and get over a couple Lanes uh cuz I need to exit like right here whoops come on Nick wake up we're good we did it no worries but yeah just to show like I'm a little bit tired but what I might do cuz I might have like 20 minutes before this podcast um I might just like lie down in bed I don't think I'll sleep but um see it's working I'm convincing myself sometimes it's nice to just like I've notice this um when I go to nap and stuff sometimes if I if I don't even fall asleep if I go to have like a 20-minute power nap I might have my eyes closed for like a you know somewhere between 8 and 13 minutes I know it seems oddly specific Civic but
I've done this enough to know um somewhere between 8 and 13 minutes I'll wake up or like just kind of be in bed and I don't think that I've actually slept yet and I'm like you know what like I actually feel okay like sometimes I just need to like turn my mind off a little bit and if I go lie down in bed without sleeping it still seems to work so I might do that oh my my body is very sore I can't even reach over for this but I might might need that I got to get some water in me too I can feel um as I'm talking here I need to get more water like it's it's very obvious in my face and I don't think there's anything too crazy going on at work I mentioned before I have like a I have
an overnight on call shift coming up on Friday and Saturday and not I'm not like happy about it I guess I don't think anyone would be happy about like an overnight on call shift but um but I am I think I said this in yes one of yesterday's Vlogs or maybe before but I am happy that uh for the people that I'm going to be working with like I know I'm going to be very supported and um kind of kind of gets me a little bit motivated like I want to be able to support when I'm the backup on call I I want to do a good job because I know the other people will for me so um that's that's the only thing I'd say like if if we get paged right at the beginning of the shift and then we're fighting fires the
whole time I at least know I'm going to be working with someone that I like to work with uh she's talented just a a woman on my team um very smart she knows her way around like our our our service and stuff like that so um I feel like I said I feel supported and if we if that's how we have to have our whole shift I'm not I'm not stoked about it because I don't want to stay up from 600 till 6 but um you know if we got to do it then I'm in I'm in good company so that'll be cool but we'll see I think we're planning on Friday before 6 so Friday we're still working right it's like the work day into this overnight on call um I think both of us were saying like right before the end of the
work day will probably uh cut out from work a little bit early um and then not that not that I'm like monitoring people when they're working but uh we like she explicitly said to me like she'll be she'll be doing this and I think it's a good idea I'll probably do the same but cut out a little bit early and just try to get like a nap in or something so that um we have a little bit more energy hopefully for if we need to go overnight ideally ideally we keep our phones on we have the ringers there and we don't get paged and then that's it then we can sleep in a little bit on on Saturday that kind of thing be good um and the same thing like if we can have that over Saturday night you know keep our ringers on if
no one's messaging us or paging us cool like you know uh the problem with my phone is that I can't just configure like I don't know like my Outlook email I get a lot of email and I can't just I can't put a ringer specifically for like an email filter from what I've seen on my phone so if I could then I could say okay if you get like certain type of email like if someone's tagging you directly they're saying like hey on calls like can you look at this then use a different ringer otherwise silent like leave me alone uh that would be nice um unfortunately what it probably means is it'll be sleeping in the in the spare room with my phone uh ringer on and be waking up like all throughout the night to any email that's coming in or any uh
I don't get like a lot of messages um least not directly like if I'm getting a direct message and it's not from someone on my team it's it's like only when I'm on call basically otherwise everyone uses email where I am so teams will be pretty quiet unless someone really needs help and uh emails the noisy thing so I'll probably just be up like all throughout the night oh you want to come in here okay that's good plan these guys driving um what was I going to say about that that's something else I wanted to add into there related to on call but okay no big deal not that important of I can't remember yeah I don't know what of my NE my next shift after that should be a while out we had um we had new employees that joined our team earlier in
the year and now that they've been around for long enough they'll be put into the on call rotation so that actually might move my next on call out even further cuz I had I had a couple back to back like uh to explain I had my can't remember exactly the dates but I had my on call shift and then like a couple weeks went by and someone asked to swap me because the one I was supposed to have is at the end of this month but that's when I go to Hawaii so um it was good to swap that but it meant I had two back toback now this weekend one uh so I don't think I should have on call for a little bit which will be nice but we'll see we will see and then so I'll be at the office today and
then in the evening I got to get through a few YouTube videos I want to make sure I can get two done um I'm late on them like it it needs to be it's tomorrow's and uh and Friday's YouTube videos so it's not really fair for my Editor to give him a video and then like be like hey man like do this before I wake up in the morning cuz he's 3 hours behind me too um now he's got kids sometimes he'll edit stuff like overnight I don't expect it but um that's why I said it's not really fair if he's able to do it it's great but it might be that I I don't get one of my videos out this week that I wanted to that's kind of my fault or he'll get it done and it'll be like instead of me posting it for 5:00 a.m.
it'll just be later in the day so we'll see but that's my goal um cuz I want to I want to stay on the the three YouTube videos a week kind of thing I told myself and I I believe I've said this on I don't know if I said it on this channel but in general I've said it in a recorded video or live like the making three YouTube videos a week is for me is like not sustainable uh I I fully acknowledge that that's not sustainable and I just to give you a brief idea like I wanted my goal was to do three YouTube videos a week okay so that's been the thing I've been trying to sustain for uh 202 month this is the 22nd month now of trying to make three YouTube videos a week but it's not quite like that anymore
because it's three YouTube videos a week plus at least one live stream plus a podcast okay so now uh if each YouTube video is 20 minutes of content let's say the live streams at least an hour that's double the amount of video okay sorry someone was taking their sweet time to come through the intersection so if I didn't go it's going to be there for like a day um so adding in the podcast literally doubles the amount of video content I put out in a week just by volume then the live stream is at least doubling the original volume as well so it goes from around an hour of video content a week to three sometimes I do two live streams and sometimes the live streams are closer to 2 hours versus one so I've added a ridiculous amount of video content per week now
no not this one sorry couldn't see where I was turning um now I'm doing these which is cool but I don't edit these and it's not taking up extra time for me right right so that's the that's the nice thing about these is like I can just crank these out and just talk to you folks and this is just extra so it's a little cherry on top but my core YouTube content I can't uh three videos plus a podcast like it's not sustainable I'll need to drop it down and probably soon so we'll see how that goes but I'm going to go and try to power nap thanks for checking it out I'll see you soon
Frequently Asked Questions
These Q&A summaries are AI-generated from the video transcript and may not reflect my exact wording. Watch the video for the full context.
- Is it too late to start a career in software development if you're older than the typical college graduate?
- I genuinely believe it's not too late to start a career in software development even if you're older than the typical college graduate. I shared examples of people who started later, like at 29 or 35, and still became successful software engineers. It's definitely doable, but it requires persistence and hard work, and it's competitive for everyone.
- How do I handle the fear and competition when trying to break into software development?
- I understand that the software development field is very competitive, especially for juniors and career switchers, and there's also fear about AI impacting jobs. My advice is to not let gatekeeping or self-doubt hold you back. If you stick to it and keep trying, you can succeed. The only way to truly fail is to stop trying.
- What strategies do you use to manage your content creation workload and stay consistent?
- I aim to create three YouTube videos a week, plus at least one live stream and a podcast, which adds up to a lot of video content. I acknowledge that this workload is not sustainable long-term, so I might need to reduce the number of videos soon. For now, I try to stay on top of scheduling and editing, and sometimes I do quick videos like vlogs that don't require editing to help manage the load.