Children as young as 7 years old can start programming and learn the basics of programming. In fact, coding for children has rapidly gained popularity in recent years as technology becomes more and more a part of everyday life. Children who learn to program at a young age can set themselves up for a lifetime of successful opportunities. I closed that business in 1993 and then modified 300,000 lines of code overnight until it worked the way I wanted it to in 1996 (at the age of 4).
It is still entirely possible to learn to code and have a successful career change into software development after the age of 30, and there are actually some advantages to learning to code later in life that might give you the edge over your younger peers. But if you are learning to code after 30, there are certain things you should consider to set yourself up for success. That's not to say it will be easy (learning to code and finding your first job will probably be one of the hardest periods of your life), but if you find it's something you enjoy, that hard work will pay off. I'm 57 years old and I'm thinking of learning to code (JavaScript) in the hope of getting a part-time remote job.
I'm now learning the hard skills to find out what it's really like to be at the coal face of coding. Developers are expected to learn fast, with little guidance and little more incentive than the faint rattle of the pink slip guillotine. However, my code was also pretty awful and unreadable, so much so that I had to unlearn all the bad coding habits I picked up when I went to university. If you regularly pay attention to the cultural goings-on in Silicon Valley, you've no doubt heard of the "Learn to Code" movement.
If you stay focused and keep learning, you'll eventually get to the point where you can say you really know what you're doing. My job is to use computer programs that, of course, include code, but in a kind of native software language similar to Java and MySQL. Some preliminary neurological research indicates that learning to code can have a cognitive effect similar to learning a new language. This language is mostly used in machine learning, but can also be used to automate complex processes, clean data and create graphical interfaces for applications.
Do your research and ask the interviewer beforehand what the dress code is when making an appointment for a face-to-face interview.