I am old AF. I graduated college. I've been programming professionally for 8 years. I've been beaten up and rejected a lot in this field and continue to be. I want to impart knowledge to you folks learning how to program or looking for a job in it.
I'm seeing a lot of posts here and other meme forums about guys or gals grinding really hard at learning this stuff. I've been there. Having studied a different field in college, I felt like an underdog and worked my ass ragged. I got very tired. I isolated from friends and family without realizing it. After merely a couple years of working in the field full time and reading up and doing side projects in my free time, I was burned up and in very precarious mental health.
The tone and stress of your posts make me feel you're on the crazy train of crashing and burning. Don't do it. Get off the train a sec and listen to me.
(
Don't keep studying when you feel like you've had enough
When you read blogs and books and anonymous reddit posts, you get a lot of opinions and information. You know the old saying, opinions are like assholes: everyone has one.
Think about why you started bothering with programming. I'm sure it wasn't to impress some fuck on Reddit that you are a master at the Javascript framework meme of the week and they're plebian fucks if they don't use the alpha version of said framework everyday that has 200 issues open on Github and is only 2 weeks old.
Anyways, run-on sentences.
You have to know what you want to do. If it's to get a job, build something. If it's to build something, then build that thing. If it's to make a new app, build that thing. Just dive the fuck in the water. You'd be surprised how much is on Google already. You don't have to memorize every paragraph of "Javascript: The Good Parts" to build a freaking TODO app. WOW!
The key word is "build." Even if you get tired of it and don't finish it, you've learned more than reading the same repetitive crap over and over. You don't need a certificate. You don't need approval from anyone. You don't need anything to prove yourself. Programming is a "fuck you" to the gatekeepers. I hate rules and gatekeepers if you haven't noticed.
Apply to jobs even if you think you suck ass
I'm saddened to see people who are obviously great programmers and better than me and others I work with, yet they doubt their own abilities. Self-esteem gets clueless Chads jobs.
Just build some meme app, apply to the job, do the phone interview, or in-person, get rejected, repeat. You could get rejected a lot at first. That's fine. Everyone has gone through this. If you're rusty with interviews or resumes, invest in a mentor. The money paid for a good professional adviser is well worth it. It helps if they do a mock interview with you.
I'm not kidding here. Doubt yourself to the moon, but keep clicking that submit button on applications or going to networking events. I swear my social skills improved more than my technical skills as a result of the grind for the first open door. It's exhilarating. It also gets you out of your room studying useless edge cases you'll never see at work.
Life is long and you'll find you tried way too hard
Don't burn out before you even achieve a fraction of your goal. Burn out nearly drove me into MARKETING. Let that sink in. An introverted programmer thinking he'd be better off in an Oxford shirt in the fucking marketing department. That's the depths of depression from burn out. Don't do it.