Career Change to Tech at 30 Reddit Threads: What They Actually Say
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Career change to tech at 30 Reddit threads almost always open with the same nervous question, typed by someone with a full-time job and a lot riding on the answer: am I too late?
I spent an evening reading them. Trucking, hospitality, the military, TV production, warehouse work. Different people, same 11pm worry.
And the replies are brutal. Some of them are useful, too, and those are the ones I want to walk you through. Below is what people said at 30, at 35, at 40, and without a degree, with links to every thread so you can read them yourself.
Fair warning: I'm not neutral. I've been teaching career changers since 2016, and my bias is that "can I get into tech?" is too fuzzy to answer. The people in these threads who made it all answered a smaller question first, which was "which job, exactly?"
What Reddit says about a career change to tech at 30
The cleanest thread for this age is on r/careerguidance: Is it too late to pursue a career in tech in my 30s, can't code, and only have hospitality experience? The poster had spent their twenties in TV and event work and watched friends in software make more money with better hours.
Plenty of replies say the market is rough. That's true, and I won't pretend otherwise. But the most useful comment reframes the whole thing: "Tech is an industry or even a class of jobs, not a specific job."
Another reply adds the part beginners miss: "There's plenty of jobs in tech that aren't coding." That commenter had worked with a trade-show coordinator at a tech company who came out of Vegas hotel management.
So at 30, the thread's real advice is to stop aiming at "tech" and aim at a role. Event person? Look at the systems events run on. Content person? Content operations on a CMS is a whole career, and it's the one our Web Content Manager path trains for.
At 34 and 35: lots of self-study, and nobody hands you a ladder
Two threads sit right here.
On r/learnprogramming, a 34-year-old trucker asked about switching careers into programming. The replies swing hard. One person warns "the job market is really tough right now, you sure about this?" Another calls web development "way more saturated than everything else due to the lower entry barrier."
Then a commenter tells their own story. Twenty years as a military mechanic, a year teaching themselves front-end work, a four-month unpaid internship at a digital marketing agency, hired full time at 39. Three years later they were a senior developer, still without a degree.
Over on r/AZURE, a 35-year-old with no tech background asked about a career switch into cloud at 35. Someone who made the move at that exact age answered with something I wish more beginners heard on day one: "I have noticed in tech its entirely up to you to make your own progression."
Their warning was just as honest. It's a lot of self-study, and you have to actually like the material, or the learning turns into a grind you'll quit.
Nobody is going to schedule your promotion for you. You need a plan you can follow alone after work, which is a big part of why I built complete career paths instead of a pile of loose courses.
At 40: go in sideways, not from scratch
The r/womenintech thread How is the job market for a 40-year-old woman just starting in tech? has some of the sharpest advice I read all night.
The poster was about to enroll in a programming diploma. The top reply pushed back: starting from zero means starting at the bottom, with your old experience counting for nothing. Their fix: "Target a specialty that you have the bulk of your experience in and learn that tech."
Another commenter said it better than I could: "Shimmy into the job you want sideways!" And then, on whether to go back to school: "Basically at 40 there's no reason to shell out the cash for another degree."
Yes, people in that thread also talk about ageism and layoffs. I'm not going to wave that away. But look at what the useful advice has in common: pick a role that uses what you already know, learn the tech for that role, skip the multi-year detour.
Think of the store manager who already thinks in orders and inventory (that's the Ecommerce path), or the ops person who's sick of copy-pasting between six tools and could be building AI automations for a living.
Career change to tech without a degree: what Reddit says
Degree threads get heated. Here's the line from the 34-year-old's thread that explains why: "The degree isn't for the interviewer. The degree is so that AI doesn't immediately filter your resume into the trash."
That's a real problem, and it's a résumé problem as much as a credential problem. Screening software throws out applications that don't match what it's scanning for. It's the reason CodingPhase members get a résumé builder built to pass ATS screening, so the human on the other end actually sees what you built.
In an r/csMajors thread on landing a tech job without a degree (the original post is deleted, the replies are still up), one reply says it plainly: "smaller companies and startups are your best bet - they move faster and care more about what you can actually do." Another says the more of your work people can see online, the less formal qualifications matter.
There's a full breakdown of what people say about tech jobs without a degree on Reddit, so I'll keep this part short. Across every thread the pattern holds: show the work, because a portfolio beats a promise.
The advice that keeps coming back
Read enough of these and the same few points repeat.
Pick a specific job, not "tech." Every helpful reply narrows the target. The vague posts get vague answers.
Use the career you already have. The 40-year-old thread said it best, but the 30s thread said it too. Hospitality experience, ops experience and marketing experience are assets once they're pointed at the right role.
Expect a tough market and prepare for it. People with years of experience in these threads are sending a lot of applications. That's not a reason to quit. It's a reason to show up with proof.
Build things people can see. Portfolio over certificates, every time.
If you keep one line from all this, make it this one: at 30, 35 or 40, your old career is the head start.
Where remote work fits in
A lot of these posters want remote work as much as a new job. Reddit has a lot to say about that too, and most of it is about which listings are real. If that's you, read what people say about work from home jobs on Reddit and the beginner version, entry level remote jobs on Reddit.
The remote threads land in the same place as the career-change ones. You still have to be good at something a company will pay for, and the location comes after that.
So what should you actually do?
If you're 30-plus with a job and limited hours, here's what I'd do, built on what those threads got right.
- Choose one role that pays well and doesn't start with years of computer science. The three our members pick most are AI Automations, Web Content Manager and Email Marketing Specialist. These are the people who build the automations, run the websites and send the email programs that bring companies revenue.
- Follow one path from beginner to job-ready so you're not rebuilding the plan every week.
- Build portfolio projects as you go, and put them in front of hiring managers with a résumé that gets past the filter.
- Get people in your corner. Self-study alone is where most career changes stall.
That's what a CodingPhase Diamond membership is built for. You get 90+ courses, guided career paths, portfolio templates for every path, the ATS-ready résumé builder, a job board, and an 80,000+ member community. You also get two live calls every week: Accountability on Wednesdays at 7 PM ET and Money Talk on Sundays at 8 PM ET, run by instructors with 10+ years in the industry.
Diamond lists at $60 a month or $365 a year, and there's always at least 30% off, which puts it around $42 a month or about $255 a year. There's a 7-day money-back guarantee. Our students land roles paying $75k+, though individual results vary. You can see what's included on the pricing page.
FAQ
Is 30 too old to change careers into tech? No. The Reddit threads include people who switched at 35, 38 and 39. In the stories I read, the ones who made it picked a specific role and built proof they could do it, and they talked about that much more than their age.
Is 35 too late to get into tech? Not if you pick a role that uses your experience. The r/AZURE commenter who switched at 35 credits months of self-study and genuine interest in the work, and a structured path takes the guessing out of what to study next.
Can I get into tech at 40 with no experience? Yes, and the best advice on Reddit is to go in sideways: choose a tech role close to the industry you already know, then learn the tools for it. That way your 15 or 20 years count instead of resetting to zero.
Do I need a degree to get a tech job? For roles like AI automation, web content management and email marketing, employers care most about what you can show them. The bigger hurdle is the résumé filter, which is why an ATS-ready résumé and a real portfolio matter so much.
What tech jobs don't require coding? Plenty. Web content management, email marketing and no-code automation work all pay well, and most of the day is spent in tools, not code editors. I wrote more about tech jobs without coding if you want the list.
If you've been lurking in those threads at 11pm wondering whether it's too late, you're in good company, and some of the people replying in those same threads made the switch themselves. What you need is a direction and some people to keep you honest while you get there. Pick a path, come to a Wednesday call, and say hi. We'll help you with the rest.
