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Comment by maruhan2 | Hacker News Reader

Wait. So, a high school student interned at Nvidia?

PeopleSoft came by my high school to solicit two folks in our computer class for internships. One was me, the other a friend of mine. I suspect our teacher played a part in setting it up; my friend and I had basically completed the coursework way early and were goofing off writing video games. This would've been in the late 90s.

I was a huge dumbass and turned them down.

Don't know if it's still the case but when I was at Microsoft in the late 90s this was common, and they were given real work.

Is there something more to the kids being software prodigies? When I was young, there weren't that many. If there were, they didn't make the news. Today, it seems like they are more frequent and that many are in software. Has there maybe been a societal change that allows more to blossom?

Broader access to technology? There weren't many online courses or cheap computers 10 years ago

After I typed it, I thought about the price aspect. Prodigies that made the news, back when I was younger, often came from wealthier families. Today, prices are quite low for a bunch of things.

That does count as broader access, methinks. So, I suspect you're right. There are many, many sources of inexpensive education. I don't know if that would, statistically speaking, increase the actual numbers/percentages - but if it doesn't, it would almost certainly enable them to go further.

Ever wonder what it'd be like to have had access to this stuff when you were younger? Personal computers didn't arrive until I was an adult.

Anyhow, kudos on the kids. That is impressive and certainly better than I can do.

I can't really wonder what it'd be like to have access to this stuff - I'm 17 myself, and am from a moderately wealthy family in the Bay Area so have had exposure to technology basically my whole life. I definitely think the culture of the area and growing up with a computer in my room contributed to my passion for tech.

Now they can write and publish apps to get noticed. Apple and co can run the story to encourage more developers to build for their platform etc etc.

My last firm had an unpaid high school intern. He was the son of one of our accountants. Despite the nepotism, he actually produced code that we used.

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