Ryan Hoffman Posted January 27, 2005 Share Posted January 27, 2005 I was in a similar situation to yours when I was your age. Instead of charging my friends and family money to do small computer fixes, I took the high road and did it all for free. Why? Because they were my friends and family, and I'd like to think they would do the same for me. I sat in front of my computer for hours and hours studing programming languages. It became clear to me that the only way I could "establish" myself was to become a programmer, and a good one for that matter. Writing applications requries little/no money, and if you write some nice stuff you could eventually charge for it. And yes, I did this on a 350mhz computer with 32mb of ram (and this was only 5 years ago, so we had broken the 1ghz barrier and CPUs were over 3x faster). I'm now 18, and I think I've done pretty well for myself. I've written a portal that runs Bink.nu, a Microsoft ExpertZone Featured Community. I've mastered many programming languages and I'm working on becomming a very decent graphic artist. What's my point? Find something related to computers that won't cost you to get started and that you would enjoy. Get good at that, and yes, it might take a few years. There is no such thing as free money, and any money that you'll ever make will have to be earned. You're not going to be able to build a dual opteron dream system from a summers worth of odd jobs, but you could lay the foundation for a lifelong carreer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DELETEMYACCOUNTTTTTTTT Posted January 27, 2005 Share Posted January 27, 2005 Everyone putting this kid down has no clue what they're talking about. I'm 15 and pulled in ~$300USD last summer fixing PCs for people; classmates, family, neighbors, etc. Bought myself an iPod :) Just get the word out you're looking to help people with their PC's and start out doing it for free, if they pay you, good, if not, don't sweat it. Take all the tech classes you can; I just sat through the hardware half of a class for A+ certification and never had to pull more than 10% effort, if you're as smart as you say you are, things should either A)Already be common knowledge to you, or B)Be close enough to common knowledge that you can understand it with little effort. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zoue Posted January 27, 2005 Share Posted January 27, 2005 You want some advice? Study, study, study. Work hard in school. Get into MIT. Graduate from MIT and make $100k+ a year, screw that measly $35k for a programming job. Trust me you'll be happier for it, cause when you're 24 and still haven't gone anywhere with your life because you said screw school, you'll be sorry. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew Lyle Global Moderator Posted January 27, 2005 Global Moderator Share Posted January 27, 2005 well if i called a "professional" to come fix my PC, and i opened the door and some little punk 13 year old kid was standing there, i'd tell'em im not interested in girl scout cookies. LOL.... your too young to work period. your mommy might be scared if you cross the road by yourself. no one would hire a 13 year old kid to fix PC's and such. wait till your older (Y) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
=NickJ= Posted January 27, 2005 Share Posted January 27, 2005 Just wanted to say a few things, first of all kudos on keeping your cool with so many harsh comments coming from here, you've replied with the maturity of someone well beyond your age and people should respect you for that. Some of the replies to this thread have been appalling, you're only looking for a bit of guidance and some suggestions and people shouldn't jump straight down your throat. Back on topic, its good to see you have so much enthusiasm, but your age is going to be a bit of a problem with the general public. I know its a b*tch but people see a 13yr old and they see inexperience, even if you know you could do it yourself, without some references its going to be hard starting up. The place I'd start is by word-of-mouth, maybe do a couple of freebies to people you know to get yourself started and in return ask them to offer your services to people they know. If you do a good job you'll be hearing people coming back to you in no time. It is hard sometimes to just bite the bullet and accept that some people you're gonna lose because of your age. At 15 i was designing a website for a Garage Dealership that was running off a database, I'd designed an admin console, picture upload etc etc to manage cars up to the second they were sold/available, it was about 90% complete and then i got a letter saying my services werent required any more, and a cheque for ?100 saying that they hoped that would cover the costs. I'd spent about 150hours on the site, value ?1500, and they got rid of me with a ?100 cheque because I was too young. Cannot explain how utterly f*ckd off I was that some people could be so closed-minded about the age of a person, when the job was being done well. Anyways, don't give up, now im 20 and have earnt about ?4000 in sites in my spare time in between school & uni, so it will pay off eventually Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
russ0943 Posted January 27, 2005 Share Posted January 27, 2005 no offense kid....but u dont know **** about computers. The point where you finally realize that is when you hit maturity. And then you probably still don't know half of what there is to know. My advice. 1) Save your allowance. 2) go into the porno industry :hump: 3) i better remove this before i get warned Ok, sorry that was uncalled for. Don't do #3.....or #1 :ermm: ......and....this....thread....is....now....officialy......out.....of....control Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fmxer Posted January 27, 2005 Share Posted January 27, 2005 yeah dont bother trying to get a job at a pc store when your 13, i tried before i got my first pc. I emailed the shop asking if i could just come in and learn about pcs and stuff, sweep floors, just get to know them alittle better, shot down lol. oh well, maybe try to get some certifcates when you leave school, maybe join a local lan's site, get to know the people that post there, maybe one of them will work at a pc store, ask them if you might be able to come in and see what goes on, then maybe oneday you might get a job there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
waley Posted January 27, 2005 Share Posted January 27, 2005 learn some basic web languages and start building websites for local businesses and bands, thats what i was doing last year (when i was 13), for the businesses just plain ol' html (easy access) and for bands intergrate flash to make it look snazzy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fmxer Posted January 27, 2005 Share Posted January 27, 2005 3) i better remove this before i get warned 585365489[/snapback] damn straight, that was really, really stupid. What had happened if the kid had had a bad day, and done that? All because some idiot thought it would make him look bigger on an internet forum. IMO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goatsniffer Posted January 27, 2005 Share Posted January 27, 2005 Charge your parents to fix their computers, because if someone can't do the things you listed and want a professional to do it chances are that they won't trust you. Nothing against you, but the fact is that even if you are the next Bill Gates you won't get jack from adults just because you are a kid. History hasn't proven them wrong yet, so it's up to you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BoMBeR1027 Posted January 27, 2005 Share Posted January 27, 2005 Enjoy your days when you don't have to work, because when you do have to work to pay for a car, insurance, a girlfriend, etc. you'll be sorry you didn't. I learned it from experience, don't miss out. But, if ur determined. Word of mouth is ur best friend. Just fix people's computers and undercharge. Fix them good, quick, and thorough. Leave them happy and things will be easier. But, the people are right, you automatically lose face when they see that you're 13. Good luck on whatever road you take. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HeartsOfWar Posted January 27, 2005 Share Posted January 27, 2005 You know what??? I'm not being harsh... What if a person came to this 13 yr. old individual and said, I'm having trouble with my computer... That's it. They get the comp. and it's literally infested with spyware / adware / viruses. Would a 13 yr. old truly take the time to get rid of it all?? I'm talking about having the machine boot-up and there's over 78 processes running, and the machine takes 3-4 minutes to respond to a single mouse click. Or you get 40-70 pop-ups every 30-40 seconds. 17 viruses which do anything from restricting *.exe from running to malicious activity... Would they do it properly? OR would he say this is too much and just use that as an excuse to format??? This goes back to what I said earlier, a 13 yr. old isn't mature enough to understand all the inner workings or 'trade secerts' and will give-up too soon, and maybe even costing that customer their data. This is not acceptable... and besides... they're 13... they need to be living a adolescent life.. not a mature one just yet anyway. I have personally dealt with machines worse than what I have described... my record so far has been 1700 traces of spyware / adaware, & 35 viruses on a single machine... tell me... honestly... COULD a 13 yr. old have the patience??? I don't think so. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
M1K3L Posted January 27, 2005 Share Posted January 27, 2005 Good Luck!!! I was 18, Applied for a Network Admin Temp Job at the School District... Didn't get it. A few months later, I applied at Wal-Mart Electronics... Didn't get it. A few months later, I applied at Wal-Mart Seafood... Mananged to pull some strings and get the job after a very long painful interview. Stayed in that department for over 16 Months.... Wasn't easy always smelling like fish! By this time, I knew many of the manangers around the store. I am the only one in my store with the most expensive/high tech pda phone.. Me and the mananger of the electrioics area got talking a few times.. and he came by and offered me a job for electrioics.. I TOOK IT. Took me over two years to get where I'm at.. I'm 20 now, and will be 21 in Oct. I don't regret taking the job in seafood... My first impressions when the job was.. God this sucks! i won't last a week! I don't know how I did it, but I was still there 16 months later! I learned a lot about the wal-mart computer system, a lot about food.. really good experence! Knowing the computer system helped A LOT when going to electrionics! Plus since seafood is near deli, lots of young girls work there, and I ended up going out with one of them to a local club with some other friends of hers :-) so you never know what can happen! Good Luck dude... The real world is much different than you think. I'm also applied at Best Buy and several other stores.. and never heard anything. I love my job and it was worth all the work to finnally get in a job which will help my career! You have to start at the ground... your asking for a a high tech job at the age of 13.. It's okay to have dreams, but welcome to the real world. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
M1K3L Posted January 27, 2005 Share Posted January 27, 2005 and I'm not trying to be harsh, but if I didn't know much about computers... and I had problems and took it into a repair shop, and I seen some kid sitting there wanting his hands inside my $2000 computer.. There's no way in hell I'd ever walk near that store again! I'm not going to have some kid working on a $2000 computer... Also, Think about this. You have to be 18 to work at wal-mart for INSURENCE REASONS.. so you have to be 18 to even be a door greeter or cart pusher!! Do you REALLY think the insurence companies are going to let a kid work with electrical equipment? No way! If you really want to do this, do it out of your house with friends and family. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GrandMaster Posted January 27, 2005 Share Posted January 27, 2005 lol you dont know anything. youve just scratched the surface. if you want a job, look for long term. get a book and study it, learn java make some programs, make some money. learn flash/php/html and make some websites. learn .net and make some starting apps. Then use everything you made as a reference of your talents. Then you will be sucessfull. However, telling somebody "well i can kinda put together a computer, i think, and like, install windows" will not get you anywhere, especially if you are 13. They cant really hold you accountable for anything =\ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Storm Posted January 27, 2005 Share Posted January 27, 2005 Im 14 and i build systems for my mums friends, fix them, update etc, get about ?30-40 a job plus parts, but you have to make sure your reliable and do a good job! After sales support etc;)) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
-=NoX=- Posted January 27, 2005 Share Posted January 27, 2005 You need a good reputation... and a mature age :rolleyes: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Schmoove Posted January 27, 2005 Share Posted January 27, 2005 When I was 13 I played outside. Playing soccer with my friends all day....... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
-=NoX=- Posted January 27, 2005 Share Posted January 27, 2005 ^ Good-O :happy: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Josh Posted January 27, 2005 Share Posted January 27, 2005 im 14 and thats what im doing. it makes a lot of money, alot of dumass's have no idea whats going on and u can charge them ?40 for formatting and reinstalling windows, trust me, I knowdont let these guys crush ur hopes man 585364135[/snapback] :rolleyes:: roflmfao... RIGHT!!! j00 is t3h 1337 ne0w1n p00t3r g33k... C'mon guys... nobody with less than 3-5 years experience is even started to be taken seriously in the tech field. Woopdeefsckindoo... you can pop a case open and install a new modem. Install a server? I highly HIGHLY doubt it. Not trying to be rough, but don't act like you're 1) going to have your own business or 2) going to be taken seriously. You have next to no practical and useful real world experience. You have no certifications. You have no education hinting that you even had the basics of what's really going on. Fixing computers for your friends, parents friends, aquaintances... sure man that's fine!!! But don't go talking bigger than you are. I remember what it's like to be 13 and think you are soooooo smart and know so much. But trust me... as smart as *you* *think* you are, you're not. Just don't got trying to be bigger than your britches;)) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Milan - Posted January 27, 2005 Share Posted January 27, 2005 loli been trying that for ages its ever worked Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yvo Posted January 27, 2005 Share Posted January 27, 2005 Boy I'm 19 and and I remember when I was 12. Back when I was 12 knowing how to build a computer was actually a cool thing and a hard feat. But in today's world... knowing how to build a computer can be done by most DIY with a little free time. Most people are right that have replied to your post though, even though some of it was a little harsh. I'm 19 and I finally have a job in computers, but it took a while. I am also still going to school to get a Bachelors in IT. So just fix computers for friends and families but dont make a career out of it. Instead work a customer service job of some sorts (fast food, retail, call center) to gain experience in dealing with unique situations with customers. Having seen some of the things on this website... a lot of people dont know much though and they think they do. This problem is especially prominent in the young age group (12-17) here at Neowin when they think they are "sh*t" but really dont know squat. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Josh Posted January 27, 2005 Share Posted January 27, 2005 ^^^ Yup. Most of neowin's members are between the ages of 11 and 17 (yes, they lie to register), and they're hot shtuff... or so they think lol... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
King Raa Posted January 27, 2005 Share Posted January 27, 2005 woo, i'm not in your generic grouping - i'm fully aware that i don't know **** :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrStoo Posted January 27, 2005 Share Posted January 27, 2005 lol not bad 4 ur age, i remember building few computers a while ago :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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