I mean if you're 30 and (taking from the article) married badly, chose sciences instead of humanities or did a misjudgement, you absolutely definitely can fix it up. Even at 40, it just gets harder and people don't always find the supposed effort worth it but you totally can.
I am in my fifties and taking a masters degree mostly for fun while keeping my software engineering job. I am working a lot harder than I have in a long time, specifically in an intense super hard homework due in 8 hours crank it out way. I do learn a lot of complicated stuff at work, but mostly can optimize for well rested and ready to learn and don't use it till I am confident kind of mode. Kids and work was hard but for different reasons. But when I forget my age and just dig in, I do feel younger. But also I am way more mature and able to talk to professors with less fear and like send that email asking stupid question or let people know ahead if I will have logistic problems etc. Best of both worlds except so much hard work.
Well done! I've studied with people in their 60s who decided they wanted to expand their knowledge or change domain, very inspiring.
Recently, I also decided to improve my knowledge and went on doing 2 more masters in UX/UI and design, as I felt I was lacking those "softer" skills. I was surrounded by 20 year olds but it didn't matter and by the end I feel this choice was as natural as any other I took before.
I'm not in my 50s yet but I still hope I will do like you did :D
(although I'm quite done with writing papers/theses, so maybe not yet another master :P)
