Hi Evandro,
speaking from slightly similar career change, I switched to developing with Outsystems last year, at age 50, allthough maybe the step for me was not that big, as I had always been a software developer.
In my opinion, as a senior, diverse knowledge is preferred over specific knowledge.
A lot of value lies in ability to understand business requirements, solve problems, be creative, work in a team, see all the details and interdependecies in complex systems, be patient and thourough, etcetera.
As an almost 50 year old, you probably know your own strengths and weaknesses in these type of things and should use that as a measure for how likely a career in IT will succeed.
The specifics, of course you also have to master those at some point, and I think Outsystems is a good choice, for 2 reasons :
There is a well developed training system
- massive amounts of free online courses
-ranging from beginner to advanced
- almost limitless ability to practice in a personal environment
- forum where you can get help or find inspiration for additional problems to try and solve
- certifications that, as far as I can tell, have some (not decisive, though) value when looking for a job
Low code is forgiving to people with non-IT background
When developing with low code tools, it is much more about what than about how. You tell the platform what you want the software to do, the platform will make sure the necessary performant and secure code is generated.
This feature will allow you to get some sort of quick start as a beginning developer.
I do think however, that you will need to be curious about the how to become a good developer.
For this, I would suggest also studying things like sql, css, javascript in their own right. I think resources like W3C school or the like, offer good free materials for this.
So, to wrap up, I share my path :
- was a software developer in another outdated low codish tool.
- started online Outsystems courses in spring of 2019 (age 48)
- started actively searching the forum for interesting problems in summer of 2019
- have done some certifications, but am studying to do more
- did a small in-between Outsystems job last summer
- am working full-time with Outsystems since end of last year
I am carefull to take on jobs where I can work with others and learn from them.
The toughest for me was to decide that time of preparation is over, and to actually take the step. I think because I was assuming that as a senior (if not in maturity, certainly in age 😉 ) I´ m supposed to master things to get the job, or something. But that was just in my head, I don´ t have any proof of that.
Best of luck to you, whatever you choose to do,
Dorine