I´m thinking of studying “Medieninformatik” (Media - IT in English??) as part time course and hopefully getting a “Bachelor of Sience” degree.
But I´m not sure if I can make it, beside my normal work and ofcourse the music! The course takes minimum 3 years - depending on the plan: fulltime study vs. parttime study. My main work has nothing to do with Media IT or creative work or things that I like to do. It´s just a job. So my goal is it to change my job and working in field that I like.
I´m already 43 now. But we never grow old, right?
Did anyone had a simmilar point in life? Changing the job completly? Starting study in the mid 40s? What are your experiences?
Do it.
I started my course last February. I have about 1 year to go.
I actually quit my job because it was fucking with my head. Dont regret it at all.
Age was not even a concern. Gettin back into study after decades of not doing any took a bit of getting used to, but I it have way more motivation to succeed now then I ever did 20 years ago.
I will be qualified to work in field I enjoy, on my terms, that cant be fucked with by any body else.
So yeah. Do it. Get your education and change your life!
We are never too old … so do it Particularly if you enjoy to learn new things and to apply them in your live.
I would have had a quite boring live, if I could not learn new things every day. TBH I did not change my jobs completely or radical, but I changed and I had the luck that I could always take my experiences from the past to the next level. But there was always change.
My partner did this a few years ago (at 30) - remote learning degree while still working full time.
It looked to be very hard work and an intense 2 years for her.
However, she now has a far better job in the field she wanted, enjoys her work far more and has a better potential career path for the future.
It will be a tough period, but you will be thankful for it afterwards.
I once read this interview with a 94 year old master violinist and the interviewer asked him “at your age and level of experience, do you still practice?”
And the guy responded: “What do you mean?! Just recently I finally started to sound good, I din’t want to lose that!”
Lol.
Learning is the essence of aliveness, there is no greater investment or success. Enjoy!
For me it´s also a bit something music related vs. IT.
I know the music is my biggest passion. I can learn about music production all day long, whatching youtube tutorials, reading articles on the web etc … I mean I could also do this with IT stuff too and sometimes I do this for solving problems with my website for example. But I feel not so passionated about it like with the music.
I came back to study (a lot) when I was 37. I had a full time job in that era. Two years later, thanks to the study, I quit the job to start a new one, totally different than the previous. Hard years… but you can do it.
Do you want to study? Or change careeer? Often you can do the career change without taking 3 years for a qualification. If you want to get a job programming, for example, there are lots of ways to get better at programming that don’t involve formal qualifiactions.
I’m just curious, I think if you want to study, go study. I hope you are not too old, I am 47 and plan on changing my career and everything in a few years time when my kids are more independant.
I did an Advanced Diploma program last year after purposefully engineering my own redundancy from my last job.
Now I’ve just started a Bachelor degree in digital media at age 37 with the hope of changing career to become (ideally) a freelance sound/interactive designer, or at the very least find some gainful employment in the field. And from the Ad Dip, I got some credit, so the Bachelor degree is only 18 months vs. the three years it was originally.
I’m very lucky to have a supportive partner who makes enough money to take care of us both after my redundancy payout dried up. The tiny amount I get from Gumroad and other online things helps too
I think the key is to just do it, things will find a way of working out. For years I thought I wasn’t good enough / cultured because I never went to uni; now I’m at uni and am finding it a challenge, but a good one.
edit: Part time is a great idea, btw! Who cares if it takes longer. If you can’t do it any other way, go for it. At our age the years are going by quicker and quicker, it’ll be over before you know it!
What is “digital media”? that sounds quite insteresting! In Germany I can studio media-it (Bachelor of Sience) or media design (Bachelor of Arts) - which is more kind of painting and illustrating things with Photoshop and Indesign etc.
I do miss a programm which incorperates the sound / audio production side more deeply. Both programms are more about “seeing” not “hearing” so to speak.
2013 I quit my job and did a part time college course in mech engineering. Went to uni and studied music technology systems BEng (electronic engineering with an audio bias essentially) and I don’t regret it. Graduated in 2019 at 33 years old.
I’m not in the field currently but I’ve taken so much from it and I would recommend doing it whatever you want to do.
My advice is always do it. You wouldn’t want to get old and keep thinking, what if I did that?
It’s quite a broad program, technically it’s a Bachelor of Design, but it covers sound design / music creation for games/film/animation/etc, interaction design, 3d animation, film story writing, tons of stuff. Interestingly it doesn’t cover graphic design, but I’ve done tons of that over the past 15 years or so and want to do something different, so it’s not a big deal.
My focus this semester is on sound design and synchronisation to media and all the things associated with that, and will likely do interaction design/UX next semester. It’s not so much a technical skills oriented program (though the sound design class teaches some Pro Tools things, which I am finding super clunky), but at least in the specialty I’ve chosen, goes into a lot of the psychological / psychoacoustic things behind sound design and music composition. It’s fascinating stuff! Plus we get to work with students from other programs on projects such as abstract VR environments—a chance to put my hours upon hours of ambient noodling to use!
Next semester if I do the interaction design specialty, it’ll be focusing on inclusive/accessible design, something I’ve been thinking a lot about as I’ve been developing music interfaces. It doesn’t really line up with what I’m doing this semester, but I’m never the kind of person to pick one path and stick to it
Go for it! I started a part time Open University course in my early 50s, really enjoyed the learning and new ideas it brought to me. Unfortunately never completed the 3rd year which would have given me a diploma, due to personal reasons. But still enjoyed the experience.
At 44 I decided to take a journey in computer science at master level. I collected 10’s only but one day I stopped. With two little kids at this kind of age it simply was too tiring. I had to study/practice/go to the university for at least 100 hours per exam and I simply didn’t know how to find quality time for studying, i.e. enough energy very early or extremely late.
You should do it and you can do it with enough motivation.
Be careful: in my opinion not every type of study is suitable for any age / person / family or economic situation and so on.
Now, at 48, I am seriously considering to continue my studies in a new field due to the drastic change that I took in my professional endeavour.
I did a degree in nursing in my 40’s. It was great hanging out with young people and there were a few older ones like me too in the campus.
HOWEVER. I say this with all earnest awareness. DO NOT learn just to get a better job. If i could i would say study a subject that is your passion. It may never lead to a job, but you will feel more fullfilled . Im passionate about Egyptology. Yes nursing got me a good job but a Masters degree in Egyptology. I know what id rather have now im older and wiser.
I’ve considered retraining several times and regularly pray for redundancy
I’m (semi) trapped in current role. It’s not particularly challenging, a little boring but with a solid work/life balance amd it pays very well. I hope I’ll be able to retire in my early to mid 50s.
Would I trade that in to retrain in something more creative or “musicy”? At the moment, probably not. The scales are tipping into convenience too easily right now but I would’ve far more enjoyed being a teacher or doing something creative. I was actually pretty good at tech drawing back in school days.
But hats off to anyone bold and brave enough to go for it. I worked besides a guy in a high stress Finance role who was doing a doctorate and it looked like hell from where I was sitting but he seemed to be enjoying it. I think he completed things in The end and moved on to something closer to his dream job.
Particularly if you enjoy to learn new things and to apply them in your live.
