I don't think your ability to learn decreases (that much) with age. However, being older also means more responsibility, which takes time. It also probably means whomever you're talking to already has a mean to earn a living, so to get into software engineering represents a rather large opportunity cost. It takes a huge effort to start over at the bottom, both in terms of salary and self-esteem. I talk to a lot of people who want to switch to software, few do.
Bootcamp is a really good shortcut. It's no surprise that most bootcamps arrived at the conclusion that front-end dev has a lower barrier to entry and focus on that. Kudos to them. It's a great way to get started.
Working a software-adjacent job can also lead you to software (I took this route), whether that is being a data scientist, data analyst, or any job that might benefit from a bit of python scripting. It greatly reduces opportunity in some cases (for example, a lawyer who leans to code to help his day job), in other cases, it simply delays it (if you really want to switch to SWE, you kinda still have to start at a junior position at some point)
Self-taught is absolutely possible. But it also means you have to do both the course planning as well as the learning, which adds another layer of challenge. It really takes a lot of dedication to go this route.
Software is unique in the sense that your skill becomes obsolete much quicker than other fields. It's a double edge sword - on one hand, you have to constantly learn new things, on the other, this dynamic creates a lot of jobs, because you don't have to wait for people to retire or switch jobs. A 3 year react dev is consider senior, same goes if you have 2 years of prod experience with k8s right now. You just don't see that in other fields.
Bootcamp is a really good shortcut. It's no surprise that most bootcamps arrived at the conclusion that front-end dev has a lower barrier to entry and focus on that. Kudos to them. It's a great way to get started.
Working a software-adjacent job can also lead you to software (I took this route), whether that is being a data scientist, data analyst, or any job that might benefit from a bit of python scripting. It greatly reduces opportunity in some cases (for example, a lawyer who leans to code to help his day job), in other cases, it simply delays it (if you really want to switch to SWE, you kinda still have to start at a junior position at some point)
Self-taught is absolutely possible. But it also means you have to do both the course planning as well as the learning, which adds another layer of challenge. It really takes a lot of dedication to go this route.
Software is unique in the sense that your skill becomes obsolete much quicker than other fields. It's a double edge sword - on one hand, you have to constantly learn new things, on the other, this dynamic creates a lot of jobs, because you don't have to wait for people to retire or switch jobs. A 3 year react dev is consider senior, same goes if you have 2 years of prod experience with k8s right now. You just don't see that in other fields.