I was teaching myself computers and programming while also playing games as a child but I didn't really start doing any lasting/significant work until I was you

I was teaching myself computers and programming while also playing games as a child but I didn't really start doing any lasting/significant work until I was your age. As another person mentioned, you aren't going to grok much as a child. You should be having fun but if your pursuits involve scrolling social media or otherwise engaging with big tech I would be concerned somewhat...depending on the child. Nonetheless, you have plenty of time if you can start now. Try not to get sucked into the grind of work until you have had time to explore technologies on your own. I worked in a family retail store at about your age which gave me unlimited time to read books, tinker with Linux, and start some serious coding while handling an occasional customer. I also freelanced as a computer/network support person for small businesses. After that, my wife worked for a few years while I stayed home with our son and programmed nearly 24/7, testing ideas that had bloomed while working in the retail store. That time was priceless in regard in to my technology skills. The low level inner workings that I explored across a variety of tech put me way ahead of everyone I ran into once finally taking a job in tech. I belong to an elite contracting firm now (software engineering and data engineering) and have my choice of client and tech to work with. There was more, after my wife worked a few years she went to college while I worked, and then I followed and did the same...studying math, accounting, and electrical engineering, eventually obtaining an associates degree in MIS and joining the corporate world. That was ten years ago, now I desperately want out of the corporate world.