At the age of 40, I plan to change the field of activity from 1C to Android? How much can I earn at the start?

Question

Career in IT

I am 40 years old, I live in Moscow, I have a higher education (direction "Applied Informatics", graduated from the master's program 4 years ago, I love to study and do it all the time), I have been working as a 1C programmer since 2003 (already 18 years old), I plan to change my activity, because I don’t want to depend on the local labor market, and, accordingly, earn much more.

The catch is that I have a family - two children and a non-working wife. There is no way to leave as a junior (if they take it at that age) for a penny.

I think to choose Android development, in the future IOS and then Flutter or an analogue.

Where to start learning? What is the learning roadmap?
How to get an internship without leaving your current job?
How realistic is it to smoothly switch to Android development with a minimum drawdown in money?
Is it realistic to earn at least $2K at the start (yet, I didn’t work as a bartender before, but also as a programmer, though 1C, jumping from language to language, from one technology to another is not uncommon for a programmer, everything changes very quickly)?
How do employers look at 40 year old programmers? Especially for those who start at this age?

Answer 1

Open vacancies, see how much juniors earn on Android.
Haven't you developed the skills of googling roadmaps in 18 years of active IT activity? Or are there thoughts that an individual horoscope will be compiled on the toaster, taking into account personal attachments? 40 years old, and questions like a 15-year-old.
No, no one will give you 2k from the start.
No, on android, those who are looking for a position as a developer will not earn much even as a mid player, because development there is not too difficult, the competition is high.
Those who were able to become co-owners or write and bring their application to the tops are a completely different case, but even more independence in activities is needed there.
40 year olds look good. And in general, this trend about young seniors exists only in the CIS, where commercial development more or less began after 2000-2005, and not in 1980 and earlier, as abroad.
Therefore, there are very few developers who up to this point have been actively developing something for money, and most of them have left. So it turns out that, say, 50-year-old developers who immediately started as developers and have been developing for 30 years - maybe a couple of thousand in xUSSR. But this is slowly changing - people are growing up, getting old.
Practice in Android is very easy to get.
You take and write software. Android is easy to buy, finding time after work is already unknown, your personal.
You can Java, you can Kotlin, I would advocate Java - in which case you can always move to the enterprise.
And you take a unit and write educational toys for your own children, or something else, depending on age. This is how you get your first experience.

Answer 2

Without a drawdown, especially at the age of 40 with children, it’s not realistic, perhaps, but IMHO this is from the realm of fantasy.

Answer 3

You have a wonderful age, now they don’t look at it anymore. Moreover, there is also excellent experience in the financial sector, most likely, the experience of collective development. This is exactly what distinguishes you from the green June.
But. In our team, we try very hard not to take married people. We don't care about gender, age, nationality, like all adequate people. But, unfortunately, the family takes too much strength and energy, consider this a second, even more responsible job. And in the mode of super-intensive development, as in a startup, the difference between a person without a family and with a family is immediately visible. Well, earlier in the office it was immediately clear that a person’s head is often occupied with the wrong things, and this affects the performance. Plus, it will be more difficult for you to devote the whole weekend to studying. Well, we are all human, we understand everything.
That is, to sum up, the lack of time and effort due to the family can greatly hinder. Now, if, of course, you get into some kind of half-asleep financial enterprise, it can be different there. So if I were you, I would be guided by this.

Answer 4

I'm in an almost identical situation. 33 years old, higher education, I have been working in 1C for 9 years, I am switching to Android, I have a wife and a child, my wife does not work. + Mortgage.
I've been studying for a year, recently I started trying to go to interviews.
My IMHO:
- Your experience in 1C is not relevant in "large" development, from the word at all. And not only in the opinion of the employer, this is true. Algorithms and data structures - you don't know. OOP - you don't know. Functional programming - you don't know. Architectural patterns, templates, SOLID principles and metaprinciples - not only do you not know, but you do not understand, you will need to practice a lot to understand. TDD - you don't know (although you might be lucky to work on projects where you tried to use BDD, but in 1C it's still a little different). Git - you don't know. Multithreading and client-server interaction - you just think you know. The OS device and other basic things of computer science have long disappeared from my head. Even corny English - you do not know. You don't know all modern approaches and tools.
- Java and Kotlin are now one, you should know both, without options. Start with anyone. In flutter, you still need to learn Dart. In principle, everything is very similar (but not to 1C)
- $ 1000 at the start is a very good option to switch, if they offer it, take it without looking. Many will offer less.
Your age doesn't matter as long as you don't flaunt it. For them, you are an 18-year-old aged June with no experience and behave accordingly.
- Cross-stack (ios + android) is not needed by anyone. But in flutter, experience in native development (there or there) is considered a plus. Jetbrains is also developing kmm, it may take off in the future, it's easier to get there from android.
- You will have to study 2 hours a day at night. Or early in the morning. If you go to work by car - take public transport, there will be extra time to read and watch. You will also have to study in the toilet, at lunchtime, if you can’t fall asleep in the evening, instead of movies / series / games, etc. A year minimum (you need a minimum of $1000, right?)
- There are plenty of roadmaps, look. You will also need to have a few polished pet projects.
- A good option is to find an internship somewhere in parallel with the main job. Stock up on corvalol.
- All information is available for free at https://developer.android.com/

Answer 5

A good topic, because I also started in 1C in the early 00s, and now here is Laravel / Vue web-dev :)
Kamrad, with whom I worked in the same 1C, recently retrained in Java and also successfully works somewhere there in their Moscow))
So there are precedents, at least.
Another thing - the loss of money will be inevitable. In addition, 1C is a good bread platform, it is always in demand and paid - everyone needs a 1C developer :)
Maybe you should start a Pet-Project after hours and develop it so that you at least understand what you are getting into?
And yes, I do not advise spraying on technologies. First Android, then iOS... If your goal is iOS and moving to California)))) then start right with iOS and Flutter, you can collect projects for iOS in Virtualbox, or on a cloud server. No need to waste resources on something that you are not going to do in the future.
I see it.

Answer 6

I would say that you have the wrong statement of the problem. Do not set yourself the goal of jumping from an experienced 1snick to a junior in Android, set a goal to get the necessary experience and go to a good position. Or start your own business.
The salary of a novice developer is about $ 1000, so the drawdown in money will be tangible, at one time he himself tried to jump from 1C to php.
ps write in TG, there are some thoughts

Answer 7

Is it possible to earn at least $2K at the start?

for pretty eyes?

I am 40 years old

ebanoe-it.ru/2021/09/27/elderly-it-specialist-2/
ebanoe-it.ru/2021/07/28/elderly-it-specialist/
Seriously? At 40, you were going to work as a junior with 23-25 ​​year olds, and your bosses will be people of 30 years old?

How to get an internship without leaving your current job?

No way. It's impossible. especially when

two children and a non-working wife

How do employers look at 40 year old programmers? Especially for those who start at this age?

Bad for 40 year olds. Not only programmers, but in general for those who SUDDENLY change their profile or field of activity at 40. 40 is an old man already. Employers are looking for bright-eyed youngsters to ride and plow.

Answer 8

Look for connections and acquaintances who would help you jump "even with a stuffed animal, even with a carcass." Modern IT is extremely overcrowded with a workforce. Moreover, is it worth switching to mobile development? There, even schoolchildren do good things because they have everything they need to learn and understand.

Answer 9

How do employers look at 40 year old programmers?

it's ok if with experience and if the head is still working

especially those who start at this age?

but on such it is bad, but experience can be acquired. for a year or two you can buy. and then "increase" it in the resume
so that "from 0" more or less tolerably master the new technology, you need to spend a couple of thousand hours on it, given that there is programming experience - not quite from "0"
"wife and children" - well, sell the car take a loan

Answer 10

18 years in 1C for programming on almost any other technology - almost zero experience, except that the algorithms should be well developed, perhaps the architecture, but it is unlikely that it can be transferred to a mobile platform. No OOP skills. In general, the experience is extremely irrelevant.
According to Androyd, I advise strictly Kotlin: you will write in Java using old (from the point of view of Androyd) technologies, that is, also not relevant experience. If there are plans for iOS, then you can think about Flutter right away.
Map: open any courses, take a list of topics there and spend 3 hours on theory for each, then 3 hours on practice. But, in general, the question is strange for an IT specialist with 10+ experience.
And write applications. Starting from simple ones, like an alarm clock or a weather application, and continuing with something more complex, preferably client-server.
About Unity is a separate topic in general, it is rather a game dev, not a mobile development. Those. experience will be relevant only for Unity jobs.
Age is not a problem. Zp no one above $ 1k will definitely give right away. But in a year and a half, with determination and a normal office (which is not always the first), you can rise to $ 2k.

Answer 11

Roadmap for android developer.
https://github.com/mobile-roadmap/android-develope...
I'm in the web, but I'm already tired of it, I'm slowly studying android dev, doing my own small pet projects. As they wrote above "do it for yourself and children", I developed 2 educational applications and a couple of remembering applications for people, one is connected by JS to the second notebook.
As for where to start, now there are a lot of available resources on which you can slowly take and learn. Acquired a course (s), such to itself. You can google a lot, there are chats in the cart.

Answer 12

Rather additional. the question is what to choose in the case of the author for development for Android in 2021-22 (!) - Java or Kotlin after all. Where is the advice...

Answer 13

How do employers look at 40 year old programmers?

Everything is subjective, but if you work normally, then generally like a drum.
Higher, of course, is a plus, those higher are even better, but by and large it will not be a decisive point, with 18 years of commercial development experience.

especially those who start at this age?

So you do not start, you just change the direction of development, this is a big difference.
The brain is already tuned for programming, the syntax and features of the platform are, of course, important, but it is not beyond the limits of work.

Answer 14

So many questions and so few answers...

I think to choose Android development, in the future IOS and then Flutter or an analogue

What for? I also understand with flutter on android - closer to the hardware, so to speak. And so, android, ios and flutter are different things with their own characteristics. Jumping on the tops everywhere is such a thing.

Tell me where to start learning?

From googling "how to start learning android". And there already choose the source to taste.

How to get an internship without leaving your current job?

Work less and practice more. You can also use the time flywheel.

Is it possible to earn at least $2K at the start? (still did not work as a bartender before

Well, yes. We also appointed a FSB major as a team leader. Still, there was a person in such a position.

jumping from language to language, from one technology to another is not uncommon for a programmer, everything changes very quickly

Of course, out there, back in 1995 we had Java, and now it's 2021, and we still have Java. Change is fast, I agree. One question: how is 1C (second without) related to programming in its usual sense?

How do employers look at 40 year old programmers? especially those who start at this age?

So for juniors or programmers? On the June - reluctantly, but on James Gosling, for example - with love on his lips.
On the other hand, if you do nothing, nothing will happen. So, I can only wish you good luck and patience.