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Comment by burade | Hacker News Reader

Did he? Because most of these stories turn out to be "It was really his parents who did most of the work"

Not all the time, and I personally don't consider it nice that you would assume that. There are indications in the story that the organizers know something about the full story, and I doubt they would actively perpetuate a fraud.

For reference, I started programming when I was 6, did a little hardware design (easy stuff, interfacing DACs and RAM chips to 8 bit CPUs), wrote an assembler at 9, got a patent when I was 12, etc. My dad did a lot to inspire me and provide me with resources, and had some knowledge of electrical stuff (he had been an electrician in the Navy in WW2), but all the programming I did was very much mine. So it's not hard at all for me to believe that this young man completed a training course intended to get people up to speed on this technology.

That's amazing. I Googled you and was very happy to see that you are still creating new things, after all these years. I aspire to that!

If you were a teenager in the 70's it would be unusual if your parents would have granted you access to a computer. You most likely would have had to learn in college. One of my colleagues who had learned programming in college was in a shouting match with a somewhat younger programmer, and said to the younger programmer, "I've been programming since you were in diapers." The younger one replied, "So have I."

It's not essential to make equipment available to people before college. The most important thing is to make sure that everyone can get into the field who can prove themselves.

It's voluntary, no reasons for the parents to be involved.

Also, his parents weren't in the zoom call?

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