A programming language for a 40 year old beginner?

Question

Programming

Dear, please give me advice,
I really want to work in the field of programming, but I'm almost 40 years old, I understand everything that I'm not young anymore, that there is a lot of competition ..... Please tell me in which direction should I move? So that I can be guaranteed to find a job and less competition, so that there are prospects, so that there is a chance if I successfully grow professionally, receive a decent salary and provide myself with a stable job for a long time? Which direction should a 40 year old loser choose? )
PS Now I have a job, but intuitively I feel that I need to change the field in the near future, I really want to retrain in programming.

Answer 1

I would advise starting not from the language, but from your current specialty and experience. Will explain.
It's easy to go into "programming in general", especially if it's on the web - it's really to face the wild competition of 20-year-olds who program, if not from the cradle, then from school for sure. And the chances of winning this fight, frankly, are few. No, you, of course, will find some kind of work - but it is unlikely that it will be very enviable.
You need to look for areas at the intersection of your experience and IT. For example, you are a doctor - look for places where medical systems are programmed. If a builder - systems related to construction. If a chemist is related to chemistry, and so on. Then your deep understanding of the subject area will be a big plus, which is not (and is not expected!) For those same 20-year-olds.
Find such places, explore the situation there, and that's what to teach.

Answer 2

Get started with Python! It is simple, accessible and used almost everywhere ... Then, most likely, you will stay on it ...

Answer 3

It will be problematic to fully jump into encoders.
If the goal is to completely change the type of activity, then it is better to think very hard.
If the goal is to get a permanent third-party income, then in my opinion there are 2 options:
1) PHP - work at least one place on freelance. Yes, there will be not such pleasant amounts, but as an additional source of income it is very suitable. The downside is that there is a huge competition, and as a result, the one who requests a smaller amount wins, you will have to take a normal number of orders. The advantage is that most of the tasks are solved very quickly. You can generally sit down on 4-5 projects to support the site and not strain.
2) 1C - there is also quite a lot of work. It pays very well. It is studied, especially for beginners, very easily. Heaps of excellent literature. The pros are that you can physically make fewer orders, but at the same time get more, a very fat plus that you can get a part-time job in 2-3 organizations in your city as an incoming worker and chop cabbage. The disadvantages are that you need to calculate your strength based on the task (it’s one thing to cut the base and make minor changes to the configuration and it’s quite another to add all sorts of pieces of iron to 1sk or tricky exchanges between different software.)

Answer 4

I do not advise you to choose popular languages ​​- very high competition.
Further depends on tasks and one preparation. If you have a good mathematical background, you can start with Haskell. If engineering/science - R or Julia. Designer or there is a desire to do front-end - ELM.