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Tech Jobs For a Student?
Nick Manley writes "I turned 17 back in August and have been fascinated with technology my entire life. I have a special interest in software and computer programming. I am really hoping to find a job, or at least an internship, where I can learn more about my field and expand my knowledge of software development. Does anyone have recommendations for someone like myself, without any college education, for ways to get a head start on my career? Preferably, one that doesn't include selling iPods to kids at Best Buy."
...Shouldn't this be "Tech Jobs for a Non-student"?
When I was a founder of a startup back in 1999 I had the opportunity to hire a 16 year old as an intern. (We also hired a 17 year old). Being a startup company in silicon valley we tried to get the most for our money, and these two certainly provided. I was able to lay out a very clear project description that was not too large, nor too small, along with a lot of strategy for implementation. The guy coded it up quite nicely, though I found myself lecturing him about coding style. Note that now he works at google and codes rings around me. We found out about him simply because his father knew a guy in our company. When I interviewed the kid he showed a 3D visualization program he'd written in C++. I checked out the code and it looked good enough. I had been a high school teacher (briefly) and could tell he was smart, and thought he'd be trainable, so we went for it. It was amazing what a good decision that turned out to be.
Interestingly, having been a teacher, I have very mixed feelings about education. I don't have a lot of faith in the educational system. See for instance "An Underground History of American Education" by John Taylor Gatto http://www.johntaylorgatto.com/chapters/ for a critique. In regards to college, my advice is: if you want to go and you know what to focus on, then go. If you're not sure, or you'd like to take some time off to do something else for a while, then that is a much better choice. That's the route my daughter (now 21) took, and I think it served her as she is able to treat study more like a job, and less like high school with ashtrays.
And as to the military (as another poster mentioned): recruiters will tell you anything to lure you in and then you're a slave to the system--you have to do whatever they tell you to, and it's not usually what you want to do. Don't go over to the dark side; you'll do much better in civilian life.