You act like 25 is the end of your life or something. First of all, get over it. Second of all, I got out of the Army at age 23 with barely a technical bone in my body. I took courses and took on projects where I could learn new things in a different field all the time. You should never stop learning - many people don't become "technical" until later in their careers, contrary to the startup tabloids and HN news/comments you see here. Younger people THINK they are technical, but really don't know the first thing about what their doing until they've been in the business at least 5 years or more (college does not make you "technical", it gives you enough background to survive, but not to thrive). I've had the perspective now of looking back at my 25 year old self and realizing that even though I thought I knew it all, I knew nothing really - and there is SO MUCH MORE to the IT field than software development.
So, with that, there is a burgeoning field that combines business and technology - think of it as being a "translator" of sort, turning jargon into actionable business information. There is also Project Management, which is where most semi-technical folks go to and end up earning twice what most developers do (and end up becoming their boss).
So, keep learning and move into project management where you'll work with both the business side and technical side alike while getting paid handsomely for it. That's my advice.
I too recently transitioned out of the Army at 27 after 7.5 years in EOD. I dropped out of film school my sophomore year and joined. I've since landed a job as a developer and CTO at a robotics company in Maryland. I also have government agencies beating down my door with interest on a white paper I submitted unrelated to my 'day job'. It looks like I'll get funded.
I've always believed that you have to make yourself relevant to the position that you want, and then shoot for the one above it. Hell, I'm a college dropout raking in 6 figures a year and I get paid to hack away in Python and travel the world to teach people about our robot systems. It's truly a dream job.
> So, with that, there is a burgeoning field that combines business and technology - think of it as being a "translator" of sort, turning jargon into actionable business information.
Does this field have a name? It sounds like what I enjoy doing.
So, with that, there is a burgeoning field that combines business and technology - think of it as being a "translator" of sort, turning jargon into actionable business information. There is also Project Management, which is where most semi-technical folks go to and end up earning twice what most developers do (and end up becoming their boss).
So, keep learning and move into project management where you'll work with both the business side and technical side alike while getting paid handsomely for it. That's my advice.