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11-Year-Old Becomes Network Admin for Alabama School

Posted by Soulskill on from the hope-he's-salaried dept.

alphadogg points out a story about 11-year-old Jon Penn, who took over control of a 60-computer school network in Alabama after the old administrator suddenly left. Penn provides technical support, selects software, and teaches his classmates about computers. From NetworkWorld: "The first thing Jon found as he leapt into the role of network manager was that he had to map out the network to find out what was on it. He bought some tools for this at CompUSA and realized there was an ungodly amount of computer viruses and spam, so he pressed the school to invest in filtering and antivirus protection. 'These computers are so old they don't support all antivirus programs,' Penn says. The school took advantage of a Microsoft effort called Fresh Start that offers free software upgrades for schools with donated computers, switching from Windows 98 to Windows 2000."

3 of 345 comments (clear)

  1. invested in filtering and antivirus protection by tokul · · Score: 0, Troll

    So they got some noob who wasted money instead of using free tools.

    Get him some books or training courses. Not in CS, but in Economics. He is already good enough at buying stuff at compusa. Now it is time to learn how to save stuff.

  2. Re:His fellow students won't remember him for this by morari · · Score: 0, Troll

    I spent plenty of time burning my hands on soldering irons, but I was more of an art geek overall. Besides, I was smart enough to beat the shit out of anyone who thought of bullying me. No sympathy should be rewarded to those that are stuffed into lockers, even if they do block access to something as horrid as MySpace.

    --
    "He who can destroy a thing, controls a thing." --Paul Atreides, Dune
  3. Re:While these stories are interesting... by jsimon12 · · Score: 0, Troll

    I was going to say the same damn thing. Seriously he "buys" software, says the computers are "too old" (are they Apple ]['s or something) and then signs them up for "Fresh Start". Not only does he lack experience but his strategy reads like a Microsoft shill's play book. If the kid had downloaded some open source tools, used a couple free spam/virus scanners and then setup a Samba domain controller, well then I would have been impressed. I mean my 3 year old knows how to use Windows.......