I'm excellent at learning new stuff as I go. And at problem solving, critical thinking, creative solutions. However, I never get the chance to prove this, as I never get the chance to even interview. No call backs from resume submissions. Very little feedback from anyone. One recruiter did say that her boss saw my resume, and said "oh he's a real jack-of-all-trades", with a harumph, and then walked off. I have worked on a myriad of different projects in different industries, from semiconductor fabrication (and writing automated test scripts for the test machines) to Hollywood props (wearable technology, worn by some high-profile performing artists, during the Superbowl no less!). Perhaps the super-serious industry engineers see the Hollywood stuff and get mad and can't take me seriously? While simultaneously the entertainment-types see me as too boring, serious, should-work-a-regular-job-at-some-corporate-office-park type of guy? I honestly don't know. The question is: will switching to programming allow me to be able to get a job, ANY KIND of paying job, even if it pays not that much? One can only be out of work for so long...

I can certainly write code that could pass both those tests, even with my current basic level of programming competence. And I might be able to do it in 15 minutes. But I can't tell you what a "non-standard hashing function" would look like (just a standard one), and I can't really explain what an API is to anyone's satisfaction.

I've tried that, but can't get any response/call-back from submitting a resume. I got one rejection letter, once, but the rest of the time I don't even get that. Just crickets.

Yes, I'm lost with just the lingo. "standard container" ? I know what a hash function is, but a "standard hash function" vs a non-standard one? I'm lost. Already. Obivously, I can't fake my way through an interview. I don't have the computer science background, just the ability to hard-code things when necessary (and I took enough CompSci classes to learn what object-oriented programming is, and can write classes and make objects, but that's the most advanced I ever got). I can certainly learn more advanced stuff, if I apply myself, but the question is: will it pay off? or will I be forever chasing something that stays just out of reach?

Yes, but if you've been out of work for years and years, you'll take $30 an hour!

Yes, but I'm talking about STARTING programming at 40, with a resume that shows very little programming background (some embedded microcontroller, some C++ from 10 years ago, some Visual Basic). I'm an excellent engineer, but I can't make heads or tails of a complex Java program. I COULD get good at it if I focused on it (I have the right brain for it), but I have to have some feeling/idea that its the right direction to go. Right now, finding engineering jobs has been all but impossible. I went from having people banging on my door to hire me, to COMPLETE ghost town. I can't even get a phone interview. But if I were a programmer things might be different...