I am 17 years old myself and am still living at home, at least for a few more months till I move to London. My parents have been supportive since day 1 I picke

I am 17 years old myself and am still living at home, at least for a few more months till I move to London. My parents have been supportive since day 1 I picked up a programming book together with a business book; determined to create an e-commerce site for a local retailer. To be honest I see myself more as a business oriented person then as a hacker, but I thoroughly enjoy writing code nonetheless. While in high school (I am now in my last 3 days) I had to travel a lot for various business projects and all throughout my family has supported me and never stopped me to pursue my dreams and goals. Since September '07 though, my IB diploma has been my primary focus and I've had to put off my goals and ideas up until this Friday. I fully agree that work experience adds tremendous value to your chances of success because theory never quite cuts it in reality. For anyone reading this, my age or younger I can not stress enough to go out and get an internship at a company in the field you want to later be in. Get experience by listening to those older then you but never shy away from giving your input. The most important lessons I learned from real-life experience are: 1. Only surround yourself with people who want you to be successful. Find those people that have integrity and character and don't bother with the rest. 2. Never underestimate the power of networking, and make it one of your top priorities for your business. I am about to launch my first full blown company and will go to India for 2 months to work with a development team. It's an exciting time and my parents are very supportive of me and have faith in me. Which provides you with a great basis to start from because you'll run into enough people who won't.