
Meet This 14-Year-Old Self Taught Hacker - bjonathan
http://techcrunch.com/2011/05/22/meet-this-14-year-old-self-taught-hacker/
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dkersten
Fair play to the kid and I wish him success.

But... they make him out to be some kind of genius. Hes not, hes a kid who is
skilled at programming (just like some kids are skilled at football or
whatever). Hell, I learned to program from uni books when I was his age,
because I didn't have internet at the time - this doesn't make me a genius.
I'd even go so far as to say I'm lagging behind a lot of people here on HN.
Still, this guy has a lot of opportunities ahead of him and its awesome that
hes doing well.

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delinka
I'm in agreement with your point. The media doesn't take this kind of interest
in kids that excel in plumbing. Or painting walls. Or woodworking.

Probably because so much of the public has this perception that "computers"
require exceptional genius.

~~~
follower
On the other hand I would suspect much more media attention _is_ given to kids
that excel in throwing or catching a ball.

While TC isn't exactly mainstream media it's nice to get some coverage.

I always thought it was slightly odd but nice that The Late Show with David
Letterman occasionally featured "kid scientists" in the line-up.

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delinka
That was me with my brand new Apple //c, but no Internet, no one locally with
similar interests, and not much encouragement from family. I'm not
complaining- I really enjoyed the solitude and few distractions.

When access to this world-wide network came along, it saw the potential for
this kind of thing where like-minded people could connect from half a world
away. (not to mention the research capabilities we have now.)

Oh, to be young today with access to the Internet and a thriving hacker
community.

