yep, been my whole adult life. I’ve got a long-term prospectus on a career in driver training through a well-respected school but it’s been held up by a change in ownership that’s taking 18mo instead of 6mo due to a major data hack.
Yeah, when I got back from Aus and started looking into possible course, Cyber Security was something that did come up multiple times along with UX design. Logically I think Cyber Security could be the better option as it is an industry that will only grow as scammers get smarter and more sophisticated, although I have watched a few videos on youtube and not entirely sure I fully understand how they manage to do some of what they do.
BTW, no idea how old you are, but if you think you are too old, just remember.
Donald John Trump changed careers in his later year and became the greatest US president of all time, at the ripe old age of 70.
I’m not sorry at all for the wind up 
My experience: I was highly paid in M&A for 13 years, lawyer trained but worked deal side. Quit 6 years ago and became full time house husband to allow my wife to become a professor while retrained in psychology. Have been practicing last two years in addiction and exec coaching with a mix of private client and volunteer work which I have found hugely rewarding.
Don’t miss the workplace, the big dick agro and bastardry which really was bleeding into my private life and don’t even really miss the money (helps that I was always fairly frugal even when earning big bonuses and the only expensive habit I got was an nice home and garden). Instead I got and get to spend loads of time with my boys, my wife is fulfilled and I am doing something where people really open up to me and I really feel I am helping.
If you can do it - do it!
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My story is that I started doing geomatics in uni, but found it much too surveying (of the theodolite variety, though first year peasants only got to use dumpy levels) and changed after the first year of uni as I really wanted to focus on GIS. I moved into a Bachelor of Computing while focusing my electives on GIS (remote sensing and GIS).
I worked most of my career in GIS but it eventually branched off into Highways Asset Management. I’ve only ever worked state or local government; never private sector. I’m still in Highways Asset Management mostly doing data analysis. As much as GIS has become huge over the years, pure GIS jobs are dying out as it becomes a part of the package of other careers: in my line of work for instance, having experience in GIS is a ‘good-to-have’ rather than a ‘must-have’. And when I’ve been an interviewer having actual work experience in what we are looking for absolutely trumps university qualifications.
So how does all that spiel relate to your situation? Well, I think you’d need to be realistic about this being a long road to the kind of job you may wish to get into. Coming out of university, you are going to be fighting other graduates for the same jobs, and it’s a coin toss sometimes as to whether an employer sees an older person with a career change (demonstrating that you have held down jobs is a positive) as more valuable than a young mind they can mold into the position.
As has already been pointed out, I would be very careful about which path in computing you take and whether it will be around in the future. For example, I would hesitate going down the GIS route at uni if I had to tread that path again.
The only hesitation for me about career changes is taking on uni debt later in life and knowing that it will take a while to dig out of that hole.
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I might be looking at a career change this summer, not through choice. Will have to see if I get through the redundancy process, but the payout will soften the blow a bit.
Why is that prompting a career change and not just looking for something else in the same sort of area? Is the redundancy a reflection of how the field is changing that makes you think this is the time to go in a different direction?
We’re seeing signals we might be having layoffs on Friday. It’s possible we’ve completely made this up in our heads, but the signals are familiar 
I’d be very fortunate to get another job in Environmental Campaigning crop up round here. I originally got the job 17 years ago in London and brought it with me when I moved north, so I’d probably be looking at some sort of shift in focus.
The redundancy pay would be substantial enough to carry me for quite a while, so I’ve reached a point of thinking if I do want a big change, now is the time.
Especially if you go to some IT related field, I would recommend not to go to university for 6 years for a career change. This is all nice and well if you start your life and want to get to the bottom of things and happy to explore the whole field, but if you have family/financial pressure, etc, you can definitely find shorter pathways that will bring you to the same outcome.
Few years back I did a 9 months training (I did have tech experience, but not in programming properly), and it was enough to get me a job in a good place. I was lucky and had knowledge already in the field previously, so I’m not promising anything, but 6 years sounds like much too long.
I am a bit unusual, I did 5 different degrees in different areas (medicine, bioinformatics , medical engineering, biochemistry chemical engineering) 
it took me a while to figure out what I enjoyed !! I figured life was too short to do a job I didn’t enjoy.
I was lucky that I had a wife willing to work, while I stayed at home with my daughter and studied at the same time. One of the key things is I have forgotten 99% of what those degrees taught me. But they unlocked doors and they trained me how to think. Mental models around subjects and concepts.
My first recommendation is that you should not study IT as a stand-alone subject. The NVIDA CEO Jensen Huang last month said that kids should no longer learn to programme because of AI. My daughter recently made an app using AI without any programming knowledge. AI is causing many software companies to lay off people. Just a few weeks ago a major movie studio halted a 0.8bn expansion due to AI.
Instead explore subjects at the interface. My recommendations would be:
Exploring Large language models, as many organisations will be looking to onboard their own bespoke ChatGpt or Claude (I have just commissioned this at my work to capture 80 years of data). Experts in this area command very large salary.
Data science. Transforming large amounts of data into something useful. This is the second half of the equation to AI. Most organisations will need both.
Bespoke applications for example interface with biology, engineering, security, ethics etc (bioinformatics, chemoinfomatics, civil engineering informatics etc) perhaps leveraging off something you already have real world experience of.
Most employers will see these skill sets as being of benefit to them. If you have a good one the first thing is you should explore if they would support you. I am doing that for a member of my team. He gets full pay, a degree, time off to study. I get someone up-skilled, I keep a good employee, and helps create a positive culture.
I presume that you are looking at undergrad degrees given you are looking at 6 years part time ?
If you don’t already have a degree I would recommend you instead explore enrolling in a postgraduate diploma. Many universities offer this to those with industry/management experience, which can be converted to a full masters degree with a a thesis. This takes 9 +3 months full time, 2 years part time. I have sponsored people on this route in both UK and NZ.
Also don’t forget scolarships.
The key is figuring out what interests you, what can you leverage from your past and how to get someone else to pay for it.
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I 100% agree with staying away from the 6 year path. The interviewing process in the IT programming world has become a brutal affair, much different to what it was 15 years ago. Not sure if its the same in other industries.
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Decided its time to go back to work.
Got an interview tomorrow.
It’ll be the first one in years.
They better be up to scratch, and answer all my questions to a satisfactory standard
I’ve never thought of a career change but in a way I have evolved throughout my career. I started out as a Biochemistry graduate and then did a PhD in Development and Cell Biology. For the first 15 years of my career, I studied how amoebae hunt down their prey (bacteria) or undergo development, and how their cells organise and move to do either… Then for the next decade, I changed tack towards studying a human disease linked to skin blistering and how that particular form of the disorder can contribute to cancers. For the last 6 years I’ve moved into drug discovery and developing new cancer medicines - a long way from how soil organisms move…
I guess it is a long way of saying that if opportunity allows retraining then it is never a bad thing. I’ve been lucky enough to have stumbled in to jobs that I like and moved/evolved to things I enjoy more. This was really only possible as until a year and a half ago, I was within Academic institutions (with the mechanisms within that allowed the course changes) to change quite significantly over time from the my original trajectory. It has never incurred a break in employment, which is both the key and the lucky part for me, and in some ways is the key consideration - can you take a chunk of time off to retrain?
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I’d agree with this point too.
There’s nothing the 6 year college route gives that can’t be gotten quicker , easier and cheaper by courses and certifications and post graduate diplomas (at the very worst case).
Having lost my job 4 years ago due to COVID and remaining unemployed for 2 years have a whole new perspective to ‘career’. At 50, changing career is no longer about progressing in corporate life and making more money. I can’t speak for someone else but I would be miserable if I continue that route. Nowadays I do some freelance work, take home 25% of what I used to take, and spend alot of time doing standup comedy, in fact I just did 2 comedy sets in comedy clubs in Montreal and will be doing one tonight in New York. Now I just want to do things I really enjoy. Lesser money but more life. It can be stressful on finances at times but adjusting lifestyle and expectations help alot.
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But don’t you need to be funny to do standup comedy? 
Thanks for your perspective. The freelance that you mention is definitely 1 aspect of my thinking as is remote work options. I don’t have an issue with doing the work commute per se, but having the ability to not have to do it is something I would like to have the option to avoid at times
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No you don’t have to. You just have to be thick skinned enough to stand up there and deliver monologues no one is interested in 
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Sounds like my posts
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That’s all well and good, but are you press resistant?
I must say I’m a bit surprised, I’d expect you to be more in the graphical scene, based on the talent you showcase here.
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What is that term they use to describe genius…oh right, multi talented…