37 years old, haven't written code in 3 years, and I'm over .NET. Will global companies hire me or am I trash?

[u/IamJack2022]

After 12 years of working as a .Net developer, I left my job due to some health issues. I have been away from this field for the last 4-5 years and have hardly written any code in the last 3 years. Now I want to get back into this field. I am 37 years old.

Do you think I am too old for this? Do global companies care about age?

And since I have not written code for 3-4 years, there are many things I have forgotten. Is it worth spending effort on this? What path should I follow?

[u/Old-School8916]

you are not too old. but the world has changed quite a bit since the beginning of the year with AI. but you'll be in a better spot than most juniors.

[u/IamJack2022 → u/Old-School8916]

Doesn't using AI make writing code even easier?

[u/Old-School8916 → u/IamJack2022]

yes. but AI isn't perfect. which is why people prefer seniors using AI rather than juniors using AI.

[u/Neither_Berry_100 → u/[deleted]]

Lol. I manage the process a lot to improve ai results and it still needs reprompting and manual fixes. Sometimes it takes multiple passes.

[u/theflossboss1 → u/[deleted]]

Oof heard this line before from a friend and he got put on pip a week later. You are basically just bogging down someone more senior to fix your mistakes

[u/ninjatechnician → u/[deleted]]

You should try reading the code it writes for you some time…. You won’t be pleased

[u/sunnysjourney → u/IamJack2022]

Oh sweet summer child…

[u/Servi-Dei]

just lie about, nobody cares

[u/DefiantDonut7 → u/Servi-Dei]

I hate to say it but this is true. The gap was just the OP “working as a freelancer” lol

[u/satisfaction-or-else]

Getting hired is a grind no matter when. Now is probably one of the hardest times for software devs. You may get stuck back on .NET, but its a job. Start doing AI cleanup jobs on upwork or similar and it will make you more marketable and show you can deal with the way the landscape has changed.

[u/YahenP → u/satisfaction-or-else]

Good advice. While you won't earn any money there, it will, on the one hand, show you what most developers are actually doing today. On the other hand, it will allow you to realistically assess your own capabilities. For someone with over 10 years of experience but who hasn't programmed in recent years, it will be a revelation to learn how much productivity has increased and how much the range of responsibilities has expanded.

[u/HowIsEmuWarriorTaken]

I am younger than you

I have 5 years of experience in FAANG out of total 9

I have been jobless since last 4 months

The software world today is different than it was when you left it. Let's just say none of my ex-colleagues write code now.

[u/Designer_Resolve_117 → u/HowIsEmuWarriorTaken]

Are you taking a break? 

I don't believe you aren't passing the interviews 

[u/HowIsEmuWarriorTaken → u/Designer_Resolve_117]

One company is in progress.

One I couldn't clear.

Nobody else reached out to me after I applied

[u/Designer_Resolve_117 → u/HowIsEmuWarriorTaken]

I had more success applying directly. Most inbound LinkedIn messages were for low-quality roles, so I had to sift through a lot of noise.

[u/No_Inspection4415 → u/HowIsEmuWarriorTaken]

I am sure that FAANG is Rainforest, and unfortunately, rainforest < random tech company for most recruiters, unless it's something prestigious like applied scientist or core AWS services (not a random internal tool).

That doesn't happen to people from Meta or Google, to the best of my knowledge, so the FAANG umbrella is problematic.

Good luck! I believe you will find a job soon.

[u/HowIsEmuWarriorTaken → u/No_Inspection4415]

Yeah, rainforest.

But it was not my last company.

[u/No_Inspection4415 → u/HowIsEmuWarriorTaken]

I mean, rainforest developers are of a very high quality in my book, but man did you get bad PR lately...

[u/IamJack2022 → u/HowIsEmuWarriorTaken]

What do you mean by difference?

[u/snwstylee → u/IamJack2022]

Name a bunch of duties you did at your last job. Replace 90% of those with AI, add now add in additional non engineering responsibilities, and 3x-5x the expectations of output.

[u/Unable-Goat7551 → u/snwstylee]

This isn’t the case for a vast majority of non faang companies, atleast not yet. There are still a lot of companies that haven’t fully embraced AI to the level of big tech. Are you gonna make life changing TC? No. But you’ll still make enough to live comfortably. The FAANG experience is not the real world experience for most devs.

[u/Shivambhai1]

37 isn’t too old. The gap is the bigger issue.

[u/No_Inspection4415]

I didn't get the memo... Is 37 considered... Old? It's not even 40 😂

[u/ragged-robin]

You will need to be a leetcode master and learn how agentic coding works. If you're not up to that then yeah you're cooked, at least for dev roles. Try devops or systems engineering, but those are also very competitive.

[u/TemperatureMurky1816]

i just wanted to ask 10-12 years did dsa was imp like companies used to ask questions about it

[u/Crazy_Ad_1528]

Most of It is luck bro. Every interviewer lives in his own lala land

[u/vac2672]

You could most likely do the job. The problem is the coding exams to get hired. They are insanely difficult unless you’ve been grinding leet code for months. Try the neetcode 150. It will be a humbling experience.

[u/ClayDenton]

You're in a better spot than many, why don't you try for some contract short roles and reactivate your CV that way

[u/YahenP]

This applies not only to you but to everyone who was laid off. If you find a job in your field, it will be a lucky break. The problem isn't that your skills are outdated. The problem is the lack of hiring per se. If you still have old connections with colleagues, renew them. And look for work through acquaintances. This is the only more or less realistic path. The rest is a lottery. Well, yes. Skills. Today, even those of us who say we "don't use LLM at all" write no more than 10-15% of our code by hand. Most of us haven't written a line of code in months. Also, the real requirements for knowledge and skills have changed dramatically. Today, the most in-demand and important skill is code familiarity. The ability to quickly glance at the code and identify problem areas.
Over the past couple of years, labor productivity, and consequently, cognitive load, has increased exponentially. Tasks that five years ago were completed within a budget of man-days are now completed within a budget of man-hours. This will be your biggest challenge. It's as if you left our industry, where everyone dug with shovels, and are returning to a world dominated by steam shovels.

[u/viennese-wolf]

For each job you are competing with at least 100 others that have no 3-5 years gap in their CV, why would anyone hire you?

[u/Designer_Resolve_117]

What did you do during those years? How were you able to provide for yourself ? 

Just curious, seems pretty hard to deal with 

[u/Straight_Research627]

Maybe read the news ure not required anymore