2
catasaurus
190d

I am 13 y/o dev, not in college
two years of experience as an ML intern at a startup, a year of experience contracting as a SWE

I go and try to get internships at a larger company, and just get rejected
people say my resume is fake (nothing to say except IT IS NOT)
they cite labor laws (this I get)

the most frustrating thing though is that I see all these devs with much less experience than me, the only difference being that they are older and in college, getting internships at FANG COMPANIES. most of these people have never had an internship or worked as a developer in any way

one of the most frustrating cases came on a contracting project, where there was this other college dev, who was the worst I have ever worked with
he needed help with EVERYTHING
his python env,
"wHerE dO I IntEgrATE my CoDE?",
1.5 months into the project, he had not pushed a single USEFUL line of code that was actually what was needed from him

and guess where he is heading this summer?
jane street

and yet I cant even get a single interview, with internship season coming to an end?

Comments
  • 3
    Hey super coding kid, wrong tags.
    Don't compare yourself with older devs. You are not at a disadvantage, you got yourself a head start.
    Try going for _changas_, smaller jobs that get you some money and experience, and be happy with it.
    Don't focus on building a career, focus on building yourself as a person. Look around your environment at the professionals you come into contact with, and learn about where they fail, so to not make the same mistakes.
    And of course obliterate every free course out there.
    I understand your frustration, I like the rant, I've been where you are! Just, I hope this is not something you are stuck with.
    I hope my comment is useful! Welcome around!
    Btw, you may not be too young for coding, but you seem too young for this site... and, well, the internet in general, maybe? Try to 1up those before you and ignore some shiny dots on your screen forming curse words.
    I know this all may be old news but I risk being repetitive because I'm rooting for you, kid!
  • 2
    13 and looking to build a career is too young. It's too young to be working in my opinion. I'm not surprised you can't get an internship.

    If you keep on this path though you'll crush it when you do enter the job force! You'll likely have to get a few generic customer service jobs under your belt to give you experience. (Dealing with managers is a lot like dealing with screening customers at taco bell). There's nothing wrong with that!
  • 3
    lol wanting to work for those companies.
  • 4
    Go enjoy being a kid, you will miss your best years…
  • 2
    The best advice anyone ever gave me about being in high school (I feel like I’m qualified to talk about this being in high school and also doing some programming on the side) is, “Spend as much time as you can with your buddies, but also especially with your family. Everything just changes once you graduate.” For reference, this was said by my cousin who graduated at the end of May this year. He ended up getting a full ride scholarship to a good university. Don’t waste your time trying to just build a career. Invite some friends over. Don’t think about your career all the time. Also, family is realllly important. Don’t forget to spend time with them too. I don’t mean you shouldn’t think about starting a career, but you’re 13. You’ve got plenty of time. If you play your cards right, you could leave high school with a lot of experience making side projects and be able to get any job you want after you graduate. Wishing the best for you and I hope this helps!
  • 0
    At this rate. you'll probably have enough contracting experience to never needing a job.
  • 1
    Although your eager is admirable, you at your age should not be working for anybody else but yourself. Aside from child labor laws, just enjoy whatever you want for yourself! If it's coding and projects, do it. If it's assembling Warhammer figurines and paint them, do that. If it's also going outside and set things on fire... You might want to reconsider that.

    Point is. Dont work for anyone but yourself. Enjoy life to the fullest

    /t old people advice.
  • 2
    Been around the Dev world I can tell you collage means nothing a a company that knows talent, I am a manic depressive person that found tech to manage my mine I never finished school let alone collage but always got my work and ideas out there, and I was head hunted, thankfully I put health before money as that would of been a bad path to take but kido live your life as a kid the right project if there is such a thing will find you, but with the rise of AI leaning on a large catalogue of coding research your really fighting a losing battle.

    Use the keyboard for your passions not a payment, money is the root of all unhappiness, live your childhood, enjoy what we have left of this wonderful world.

    The days of been stuck behind a screen will come one day what ever job it will be so grab that moment of freedom now

    Like yourself many of us started young it's how we was able to understand the tech world now, but understanding doesn't mean you need to run out and burn the candle just yet.
  • 3
    I understand your perspective but let's look at it from the company's perspective. I'm in my late 30s and I would feel very uncomfortable working with a 13 year old, and not because of my fear that you are a better programmer than me (you probably are). You are young enough to be my kid. How should I treat you? If I lose my cool and yell at you maybe I'll get in trouble for yelling at a minor. At your age I worked a trivial job but I wasn't mature enough to work in am office setting. If you're good enough you can make your own product and sell that (or offer lessons to your classmates or something) but it's highly unlikely that a company would hire you.
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