6 ms·

He has support from his family.

hnthrowaway0315 5y ago
For sure, but I bet not all kids with support from their family do cool things. Or put it in the other way, you have to prove yourself worthy before getting any fund (even from parents).
- JohnBooty 5y ago
  Yeah, absolutely. I think the best way to understand this kid is that he is definitely at the intersection of privilege and talent. That is not to take anything away from his achievements. This kid's kicking ass.
  - quickthrower2 5y ago
    The other factor is access to youtube to find likeminded people and have things explained and see what is possible. When I was young I loved computers but even install Linux or learn machine code seemed like this impenetrable world that was “for adults”. I think the modern internet is great for people sharing knowhow. That said this man is a genius!
    - 0xedd 5y ago
      Disagree. Didn't have YouTube, Google, etc and still cracked video game protections when i was 10.
      - quickthrower2 5y ago
        What were your resources to learn this?
        bradlys 5y ago
        "Unzip rar file, copy, paste." Probably just used warez from torrents like everyone else did when they were that age.
      - JohnBooty 5y ago
        Nobody is saying that Youtube/Google/etc are necessary. Clearly people managed to do cool and clever things before those resources were available. It's beyond obvious, though, that having good resources is helpful and opens this kind of thing up to a larger number of participants.
  - jeegsy 5y ago
    > That is not to take anything away from his achievements The entire purpose of mentioning his privilege at all is to take away from his achievements. Otherwise, why mention it. Surely it is obvious to all who read the article that you would have had to have access to capital to do what he did?
    - JohnBooty 5y ago
      If you want to believe my opinion is something other than the one I'm explicitly stating, that is a very strange decision. For the record: I'm not sure how much more clear I can be, but I do not feel that it takes away from his achievements whatsoever. I made my statement in reply to another poster who seemed to have the impression that this level of opportunity was the norm in America. That was the full extent of my "purpose."
- sabhiram 5y ago
  What this "kid" has done in his garage would still be impressive with more than modest support from the venture community.
- bradlys 5y ago
  > Or put it in the other way, you have to prove yourself worthy before getting any fund (even from parents). I really don’t know where you got this mindset but it’s 100% not true. I know many parents who throw many resources at their kids whenever their kids show even slight interest in something. Even if they don’t show interest in many things - they still get great access.
  - 0xedd 5y ago
    An exception to prove the rule. Throwing money at a kid, unwarranted (slight interest makes it unwarranted), spoils the kid.
resueman 5y ago
So basically a member of the middle class in a developed country. How remarkable.
- ad404b8a372f2b9 5y ago
  I don't know many middle class families who would buy 10s of thousands of dollars worth of equipment for their kid.
  - resueman 5y ago
    Well that goalpost sure made a leap. Spread it out over six years and imagine the kid is pulling in real cash with a youtube channel showcasing his projects.
    - ad404b8a372f2b9 5y ago
      The 1000 dollars bill is for a single piece of equipment, a full lab is considerably more. The median household income is 70k in the U.S, in western Europe it's closer to 30k. The income distribution on youtube follows a power law. I don't think that puts it within reach of your average middle class family, even over 5 years.
      - resueman 5y ago
        How about the distibution of income for youtube accounts with millions of views? which is what the article says he has. He also has a patreon account linked on there.
  - emteycz 5y ago
    Many. Middle class is a lot of people. Usually it goes into sports, though.
  - bpodgursky 5y ago
    There are a lot of middle class families who spend 10s of thousands of dollars on sports camps, dance lessons, ski instructors, piano tutors... if their kid was really excited by electronics instead I can see a lot of families helping with that hobby. Like yes that is a sizeable sum of money worthy of consideration but it's not at all prohibitive or unusual for a middle class family.
zomglings 5y ago
That was necessary but not sufficient for him to have built what he has. He deserves credit for what he has done.
steve_taylor 5y ago
Thanks for not politicizing this kid’s achievements.
bsder 5y ago
His efforts are really cool. However, that garage space alone is expensive. It's larger than many small hackerspaces. I know of very few children who have access to that much lab/storage space all to themselves.
missedthecue 5y ago
So did I and I'm not that smart

For sure, but I bet not all kids with support from their family do cool things. Or put it in the other way, you have to prove yourself worthy before getting any fund (even from parents).

JohnBooty 5y ago
Yeah, absolutely. I think the best way to understand this kid is that he is definitely at the intersection of privilege and talent. That is not to take anything away from his achievements. This kid's kicking ass.
- quickthrower2 5y ago
  The other factor is access to youtube to find likeminded people and have things explained and see what is possible. When I was young I loved computers but even install Linux or learn machine code seemed like this impenetrable world that was “for adults”. I think the modern internet is great for people sharing knowhow. That said this man is a genius!
  - 0xedd 5y ago
    Disagree. Didn't have YouTube, Google, etc and still cracked video game protections when i was 10.
    - quickthrower2 5y ago
      What were your resources to learn this?
      - bradlys 5y ago
        "Unzip rar file, copy, paste." Probably just used warez from torrents like everyone else did when they were that age.
    - JohnBooty 5y ago
      Nobody is saying that Youtube/Google/etc are necessary. Clearly people managed to do cool and clever things before those resources were available. It's beyond obvious, though, that having good resources is helpful and opens this kind of thing up to a larger number of participants.
- jeegsy 5y ago
  > That is not to take anything away from his achievements The entire purpose of mentioning his privilege at all is to take away from his achievements. Otherwise, why mention it. Surely it is obvious to all who read the article that you would have had to have access to capital to do what he did?
  - JohnBooty 5y ago
    If you want to believe my opinion is something other than the one I'm explicitly stating, that is a very strange decision. For the record: I'm not sure how much more clear I can be, but I do not feel that it takes away from his achievements whatsoever. I made my statement in reply to another poster who seemed to have the impression that this level of opportunity was the norm in America. That was the full extent of my "purpose."
sabhiram 5y ago
What this "kid" has done in his garage would still be impressive with more than modest support from the venture community.
bradlys 5y ago
> Or put it in the other way, you have to prove yourself worthy before getting any fund (even from parents). I really don’t know where you got this mindset but it’s 100% not true. I know many parents who throw many resources at their kids whenever their kids show even slight interest in something. Even if they don’t show interest in many things - they still get great access.
- 0xedd 5y ago
  An exception to prove the rule. Throwing money at a kid, unwarranted (slight interest makes it unwarranted), spoils the kid.

resueman 5y ago

So basically a member of the middle class in a developed country. How remarkable.

ad404b8a372f2b9 5y ago
I don't know many middle class families who would buy 10s of thousands of dollars worth of equipment for their kid.
- resueman 5y ago
  Well that goalpost sure made a leap. Spread it out over six years and imagine the kid is pulling in real cash with a youtube channel showcasing his projects.
  - ad404b8a372f2b9 5y ago
    The 1000 dollars bill is for a single piece of equipment, a full lab is considerably more. The median household income is 70k in the U.S, in western Europe it's closer to 30k. The income distribution on youtube follows a power law. I don't think that puts it within reach of your average middle class family, even over 5 years.
    - resueman 5y ago
      How about the distibution of income for youtube accounts with millions of views? which is what the article says he has. He also has a patreon account linked on there.
- emteycz 5y ago
  Many. Middle class is a lot of people. Usually it goes into sports, though.
- bpodgursky 5y ago
  There are a lot of middle class families who spend 10s of thousands of dollars on sports camps, dance lessons, ski instructors, piano tutors... if their kid was really excited by electronics instead I can see a lot of families helping with that hobby. Like yes that is a sizeable sum of money worthy of consideration but it's not at all prohibitive or unusual for a middle class family.

zomglings 5y ago

That was necessary but not sufficient for him to have built what he has. He deserves credit for what he has done.

steve_taylor 5y ago

Thanks for not politicizing this kid’s achievements.

bsder 5y ago

His efforts are really cool. However, that garage space alone is expensive. It's larger than many small hackerspaces. I know of very few children who have access to that much lab/storage space all to themselves.

missedthecue 5y ago

So did I and I'm not that smart