4 ms·
What were you doing at 14?
by wesselbindt 2y ago
What were you doing at 14?
- xnickb 2y agoNot the person you asked, but I (in 2004) was part of sysadmin team at the school. I helped developing tools for automating many tasks around teacher and student performance measurement and tracking. I also wrote a piece of software that went super viral among sysadmins all over the city and I was getting "thank you" emails for years after. Had anyone been developing RSS spec next to me I'd definitely jump on it. As any 14 y/o would. I don't think I'm particularly brilliant or even smart. Your circle defines you. Surround any healthy teenager with interest in tech with the right people and they'll have a lot to show in no time
- leoc 2y agoBeing well-educated and well-connected doesn't necessarily mean you aren't great. The Sutherland boys were famously hanging out with Edmund Berkeley at his computer lab while they were still children, thanks to their mum knowing Berkeley through the General Semantics scene https://spectrum.ieee.org/sketchpad https://spectrum.ieee.org/sketchpad https://archive.computerhistory.org/resources/access/text/2023/02/102738195-05-01-acc.pdf https://archive.computerhistory.org/resources/access/text/20... . It was also luck, as well as skill, that got Ivan enjoying sole use of the gigantic, cutting-edge TX-2 for hours every week in the early '60s. You nevertheless still have to hand it to him for creating flipping Sketchpad https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sketchpad https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sketchpad in 1963 at the age of 24. On the other hand, Ivan Sutherland had created Sketchpad before he turned 25.
- xnickb 2y agoI agree. My point goes rather in the direction that just because one doesn't have much to show by 14 y/o, doesn't mean they're less of a human than someone who does. Merit isn't a predictor of success, perhaps a requirement, but even that is dubious.
- dmd 2y agoI know what I was doing at 14, and it landed me in the NET.LEGENDS FAQ.