Is It A Right Age To Start A Career In Designing

Careers & Mentoring
#1

Hello everybody!

My name is Brenda and I’m 28 years old. These days I’m planning to start a career on web design as a freelancer but I dont know if I’m too old to start it.

I have 5 years of experience as computer operator and making different excel sheets for my company. But now I’m bore from my work and not enjoying it. So I am deciding to change my field.

It’s worth to say that I got 2 clients in the last month but the only thing I did for them was to get a hosting, domain, installed wordpress with a wordpress theme and personalized it. Not much of web designing or programming, just a little html tweaks.

I’m studying a book to go in depth with my html and css knowledge and I’m planning to study javascript and a little of PHP.

I thing I have the profile to be a web designer. I love to learn new things constantly, I have a sedentary way of life (I can sit in front of my laptop all day), I have knowledge in programming basics, I’m an expert to get the info I need on the web, I’m a little geek. My only concern is that I’m 26 years old, turning 27 in November.

What are your thoughts about it? I’m I too old to start a career as designer and developer?
Sorry if my English is poor, it’s not my native language,

Greetings!

#2

Hi Brenda, Welcome!

Personally I don’t think you are ever really too old to start something new, if you have the willingness to learn and grow, and the basic soft skills required.
Generally the things that impact on people’s decisions are more along the lines of how to get into a new job, how to get experience for it, the change in pay etc.
This community is a great source of information and support if you have any further questions :), although we do lean more towards User Experience than full design or development. Most of us dabble in multiple areas.

#3

Hi Brenda,
Great to have you here.

I agree with Natalie – age shouldn’t be a factor. I have dramatically changed careers 2 twice in my life now (from architect to software developer to community manager) and the last of those changes was at age 35.

If you have the opportunity to learn the new skills you require while you’re in your current job, and then do some part time work on the side to build your experience, I think you’d be onto a winner.
Best of luck. Let us know if there is any way that we can support you on your journey!

#4

Hi Brenda,

I’m a little late to the party on this one but just thought I’d add my two cents.

Age really isn’t a factor. Some people will tell you it is and I usually tell them they’re wrong. I’m 28 myself and I’ve had multiple career changes already! I started university when I was 22 and my mother laughed at me and told me to give up and that I was too old- she could not believe that I thought it was ok to graduate from university at 26! I did it anyway and graduated with a bachelor of industrial design at the age of 26. There were no jobs in Canberra (Australia) in industrial design so I reinvented myself as a graphic designer/marketing person… And then there was a call centre job… And then I got a public sector job and I reinvented myself as an information designer and then finally as a user researcher and designer. It’s like Natalie said, it’s all about a willingness to learn and grow and just keep pushing past all those doubts. All of my different jobs shaped who I am today and made me a better designer.

All the best Brenda :slight_smile:

#5

Call me crazy, but I’m working on getting into the UX design field (taking classes, developing small projects for my portfolio) and I’m 56! It won’t be easy to get that first job I figure, but I’ll just keep learning and practicing my UXD till I get there. You can too!

#6

Here’s a great article about age concerns with starting a UX career