Is it ever too late to pivot into a STEM career? I’m looking into a career change in my early 30s and feeling the age gap anxiety. If you started your career a little later (late 20's and up), did your previous work experience help you, or did you still feel behind?

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I pivoted into STEM at 32. Started with entry level IC role and now I am a director at age 38. Took only 6 years to feel caught up with the rest of my peers. And in some cases, I have peers who have been in tech longer and are still in entry level roles. Sometimes when you enter later, you're more ambitious and hungry and can excel faster because of the motivation to catch up. Use it as an advantage; don't let it be a stumbling block.

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I assume you like teaching - an easy transition would be to move into L&D or Corporate Training within the industry. I have my M.Ed and work in Change Management and Learning & Development. Happy to talk about other career paths too

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Not at all. I pivoted into tech at 33. No degree or anything. I was able to land a role based on a couple of showcase projects and how I implemented some automation in Excel with a previous role. Got my start there, and now moving into a Senior role here less than 3 1/2 years later.

To piggyback off an earlier comment, I definitely am hungrier than peers who have been in the industry longer than I have and it shows. It can be frustrating at times to defer, but I haven’t let that stop me and I plan to continue climbing.

Bottom line, it’s not too late. Go get it.

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Early thirties with your foot in the door in education? In STEM employers are constantly clawing to get more from less. I spent 10 years sitting on a college degree just to start by opening and breaking down cardboard boxes. I paid for my own education and training while industry preferred shoo-ins from overseas. ABSOLUTELY DO NOT bail out of steady teaching work, unless you have a compelling reason.

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I always felt behind, but I learnt the politics game

It depends how relevant your past experience is but at the end of the day, most jobs are the same transferable skills and you just need to learn the technical knowledge.

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