I had a friend who claimed he was an elite hacker (we were both 13). I wanted to be an elite hacker too, so I borrowed his book on Visual Basic 6. As it turns

I had a friend who claimed he was an elite hacker (we were both 13). I wanted to be an elite hacker too, so I borrowed his book on Visual Basic 6. As it turns out, he was not an elite hacker, and I wasn't going to become one by learning VB. That said, it set me on a path (and maybe pattern) of self-learning that I think only the internet made possible. My real programming mentors were some cool folks on some online bulletin boards, who helped out serious n00bs like me along the way. My parents were computer illiterate (I must have been the last kid in my 'hood to get a computer), and they never thought my little programming hobby would develop into anything of use! Now I'm 27, have had a fun ride so far, and have to credit it to some power users on, wait for it, extremevisualbasicforum.com PS: Of course, I moved away from that and like most at HN, do back-end/front-end of webapps now.