Why not just learn another language like C++, Java, C#, etc, and spend the summer making a video game? Sounds like your skills are mostly web-devy right now. Branch out?
Ask HN: Internships for a 13-year-old?
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Re: Ask HN: Internships for a 13-year-old?
#22Once you get to college, you're going to realize that you'll never have a vacation like you did when you were young. Real life starts and it never ends until you die. Spend your summer doing something that you love. If that's coding, do that, and don't worry about getting paid for it yet. Also don't worry about building your resume -- you can start doing that when you're 14, if your heart is really set on it. No one…
Counter-perspective: I do wish I'd spent more summers working in software. Going to camp and doing regular kid things made me miserable. Working for software companies as a teenager absolutely helped me in my career, and it was absolutely worth the time.
Thanks for your perspective.
I guess I'll add this to my own comment: working at a real job as a teenager isn't going to make or break his career. He's a smart and driven kid, just as you seem to have been. If he enjoys coding more than socializing or traveling or whatever, he should certainly code, but he's already well beyond his peers (and always will be).
It's just very different to work on your own stuff at your own pace vs. working for a boss. I also suspect completing more of his own projects would actually be better for his career than whatever a company would allow him to do.
Re: Ask HN: Internships for a 13-year-old?
#23Have your parent or guardian create a profile on odesk.com and just get to work bidding on jobs within your skillset. Undercharge and knock them out of the park. Your terrific reputation will allow you to start receiving more work and build a brand. Perhaps one day you will be able to hire a freelancer to assist you in the monthly thread.
Re: Ask HN: Internships for a 13-year-old?
#24While US Law and I am guessing the laws in many other countries may prevent you from working for a company not owned by immediate family if you really want to get some experience in I would recommend looking into contributing to an open source project. OSS contributions look great on a resume, get you real world experience and contributions are judged based on the quality of the code, not the age of the coder.
Re: Ask HN: Internships for a 13-year-old?
#25Hi Lachlan!
I admire your work and ambition. I started my career at your age as well, mostly building websites for friends and family.
As mentioned in previous comments, there are US laws that stand in the way of companies actually hiring you, and nobody wants to break the law.
It might be a good idea for you and your parents to look up what exactly the US laws are that apply to your situation. Some online research might answer that question or you can send a quick note to your family attorney.
If you don't have a family attorney I'd be happy to put you in touch with my attorney, he started coding at your age too and I'm sure he could point you in the right direction.
That will tell you exactly who can and can not hire you and take that hurdle of research out of the negotiation process with potential employers.
After you know the legal details I would start looking in your direct surroundings for opportunities ( friends, family, classmates, classmates' parents, etc ) or with smaller companies that are more flexible to make changes accommodating a minor ( e.g. getting rid of the beer fridge temporarily ).
For example, I run a small engineering studio in Los Angeles, it would be easy for me to get rid of all of our beer compared to a big corporation that might have to make more extensive changes to their offices and have a request like this pass through many layers of corporate bureaucracy.
Good luck!
Re: Ask HN: Internships for a 13-year-old?
#26Consider Google Summer of Code.
Re: Ask HN: Internships for a 13-year-old?
#27Maybe not the most popular opinion here, or maybe it will be, but advice from a father of two boys: Enjoy your childhood for the remaining 3-5 years before worrying so much about your professional career. You have decades of working in software ahead of you, if you continue on that path. Just enjoy your childhood, go out and play, or even just work on projects you enjoy. Once your childhood is gone, you'll regret not…
It's easy to romanticize "carefree childhood", but I think that's baloney. I've loved working with computers for literally as long as I can remember. When I was 13, working with computers was playing! Getting paid to play would have been a dream come true for me at that age.
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Re: Ask HN: Internships for a 13-year-old?
#28Lachlan, make sure you're open to job opportunities that aren't initially in software. When I was 13, a doctor (and close friend of the family) hired me to organize sign-in documents for new patients at his office. While there was no mention of software at the beginning, you better bet that by the end of the summer, I had finished a tool that let patients sign in electronically and invalidated the need for my initial job.
Just don't be dismissive of initially non-software opportunities, especially because those are the types of opportunities you're most likely going to see from family friends (the only people who might be able to hire you at this age).
Re: Ask HN: Internships for a 13-year-old?
#29Why do you want to do an internship?
If it is because you like programming, I don't think anyone is going to hire you for a few years. Why don't you do a few projects on your own and see what you can come up with?
If it is because you're turning prematurely preprofessional, for god's sake enjoy your childhood. Go to a pond and skip stones on the water.
Re: Ask HN: Internships for a 13-year-old?
#30Lie about your age and work online.
That's not getting the kid off to a good start, lying to get in. Not good at all.