Is the age of 20 too late to start getting into CS and programming? I'm currently at university and feeling very enthusiastic about it but at the same time I'm surrounded by loads of people who started much earlier, which makes me feel pathetic most of the time. Am I too old? Is it time to off myself?
No its never too late
just remember at work you'll always be the 25 year old fresh grad, while people of your age are hitting it big already
>>51874421
Yeah, programming is like learning a foreign language. If you don't start when you're 3 years old, then you're absolutely fucked. Your brain will just never be wired to do it effectively. It's why white people can never know Chinese at the same level as a native speaker.
>>51874433
>programmer
>hitting it big
Surely you jest.
>>51874433
>hitting it big
cancerous apper detected
>>51874451
>be on /g/
>emacs vs. Vim
>Why haven't you faggots learned LISP yet?
>Anons should I learn C# or C/C++?
>Guy checkout my new keyboard, I code so fast now!
>Check out my desktop, tiling window manager for multiple text editors, you guys are not as 1337 as me!
>Daily programming general
And yet the common consensus is that programming is shit?
>>51874421
I don't know about programming, but you have missed the entire age of CS: v1.5 was released in about 1999.
>>51874486
Nah, it's just hitting it big implies unrealistic expectations. Average engineer salary isn't hitting it big these days
>>51874486
Not shit, just drudgeon work.
>>51874525
Probably because everyone goes for the standard stuff, got to find a niche in a day where programmers are 10 a penny.
Learn Cobol.
>>51874421
no, not too late
No, not at all.
>>51874486
>you guys are not as 1337 as me
but being 1337 is so lonely anon
>>51874421
not at all bruh, you still got plenty of time, but once you hit thirty if you're not well on your way somewhere, you're probably not going anywhere ever
I started university at 25
>>51874561
Learning cobol is actually pretty smart
>>51874421
It's not too late, but it's getting there. I don't know many great programmers who started >15 but I'm sure it happens.
>>51875754
if your school made you program at 15 and you were acceptable at it and enjoyed it but couldn't pursue it at home (because no computer) would you still consider it starting at 15?
>>51874421
I always thought I was late to the game, starting at 15/16 with, if you can believe this, Turbo Pascal for DOS. Even still, my impression was that school, college included, was very slow. The first 3/4 of college was basically Java for DOS/UNIX. It was the 1/4 where I got to do something interesting or hard, like Assembler or MFC (Windows GUI). Today I write software like nobody's business and run circles around framework-cobbling webdevs.
So while you're behind, you're not fucked if you're really passionate about it. I suggest learning as much as you can by doing projects outside of school. And don't be a framework-cobbler. Seriously learn how this stuff works so, when you get out in the real world and face word salad errors or silent failures, you have the skills to fight through to a solution without ripping your hair out or crying in a corner.
>>51874421
>Is the age of 20 too late to start getting into CS and programming?
No, I didn't know any programming and hardly knew anything about computers, much less computer science, before starting uni at the age of 21.
>I'm currently at university and feeling very enthusiastic about it
That's great
>I'm surrounded by loads of people who started much earlier, which makes me feel pathetic most of the time.
You shouldn't. Work hard and you will get far. Too many people think CS is a cake major because they know some programming from before, and these people tend to be drop outs.
>Am I too old? Is it time to off myself?
No, just work hard.
I hardly knew anything at all when I started uni at 20/21. Now I'm 29 and just started doing a PhD in CS, and I have two and a half year from the industry as an embedded programmer.
>>51874421
ffs man 20 is not too late to start anything
you still have 3/4 of your life to live probably
>>51876472
>run circles around framework-cobbling webdevs
but knowing a framework seems like a different skill in itself. Being able to write good C or C++ won't automatically teach you large frameworks like django or RoR.
You're fucked, give up.
20 isnt too late. Youll be able to easily learn until at least 24.
>>51876529
>probably
tfw we could all die tomorrow and it wouldn't even be a particularly improbable occurrence
>>51874421
Wtf is that foul beast
i started at 22 and graduated college at 28 m8 ur ok
If you didnt alredy code when you were 13 you wont make it
>>51874421
Since you're posting a fugly OP, I'll assume you're a woman. The answer is obviously yes in that case. If you're posting that OP to just be SJW, then gtfo.
If you're a misguided dude, then no, but getting a life first is a higher priority for you. Focus on that instead.
So, in you're case OP, the answer is pretty much yes in any case.
>>51874433
"hitting it big" does not at all mean you're good at programming or CS.
>>51874421
>thinking age matters in job opportunities
>thinking a few years difference from the undergraduate script kiddie fucks is gonna make any difference
