How we embraced coding mid-career, and flourished

As Singapore shifts towards computing as a subject for O Levels (high school equivalent), it shows how serious it is about speaking and writing code in the era of the Smart Nation.

But how about the working adults? Are we being left out? It is especially stressful for a late 30s, middle-aged, non-geek like me, who thinks coding is like a complicated chunk of jargon on the screen that looks like my five-year-child randomly pressed on the keyboard.

But to my pleasant surprise, age is not a factor when it comes to learning to code. To allay my fears and be inspired to pick up coding, I asked three people with no prior programming skills to share their journeys on how they did it mid-career, and who have not only adapted, but also flourished, in their newfound careers.

What led to the interest in coding

The desire to be a technopreneur

Elisha Tan graduated in Psychology from the National University of Singapore. In her last year, she was exposed to entrepreneurship in Singapore, Silicon Valley and Beijing. That got her thinking about starting a tech startup of her own one day.

She shares about what prompted her to learn coding.

 I decided to learn how to code to build a product myself.

“Almost immediately upon graduation, I was accepted into the Singapore chapter of the Founder Institute.

After graduating from that program, I was awarded a startup grant under the now-defunct Youth Entrepreneurship Scheme. With the grant and knowledge I gained from the Founder Institute, I sought for a tech co-founder, but I couldn’t find one. I felt I had what it takes to start up, except that I couldn’t code.

That’s when I decided to learn how to code to build a product myself.”

Exploring the techie calling 

Tracey Yuen graduated in mass communications before going on to teach and do a post-graduate diploma in Education at the National Institute of Education. While he did not receive formal training in computing, he describes himself a tinkerer and engineer at heart.

He elaborates, “I’ve always been a hands-on person, dabbling in photography and taking videos. I was in the United States when I was around 8-9 years old, and was doing some woodworking projects in school. I had taken a watch apart before, and played with electronic hobby kits.

The journey and challenges of learning coding

Embracing coding as part of their careers

Advice to would-be coders

Closing thoughts

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