does outside of school coding prowess matter?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My DS, currently a high school freshman, has been all in on coding for a long time. He's regularly engaged in high-level chats with the guy who wrote Python, has had his projects featured in podcasts and newsletters, has companies paying him to use his work, and has written a program that is part of Python's standard library. BUT, this is all he wants to do. He doesn't play sports; he participates in one extracurricular. He refused to join the coding club. His grades are good (mostly As).

Should I be tiger momming him to do more, or just let him do what he loves? He's happy (has a good group of friends and is a normal sweet kid at home), but I don't want to fall down on the job.

Nope leave him alone.

Absolutely leave him alone.

He will major in CS and graduate and have a fantastic job and it won't matter what school he goes to either. And he has a great advantage to interviewing for these jobs as most have tests or projects that involve coding and many can not pass them because they didn't do what your kid has already done.

Mom of a similar DS.

AMEN

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Your kid may want to skip college or go into the workforce and take night classes.

It's absolutely an option if you will allow it. The traditional 4-year residential college is not for everyone.

I can see your kid bored/disinterested in many of the general requirements, as well as the intro level courses even in CS.

If anything, encourage your kid to start a hackathon competition team. I bet he thinks the coding club is boring, but a competition team can just pull two or three other experienced coders and then enter Bishop Ireton, TJ, Blair, Georgetown, UMD.

Don't listen to this. Truly bad advice. Any higher level job wants a college degree.

It's best he be well rounded but if that's it, that's it.

Not all HS have computer science clubs. Ours doesn't.

not true. if he is very talented he could get a job after high school and do quite well for himself. if he has contacts who want to hire him, i don't think college is absolutely necessary. look at some of the founders of the tech companies as examples.

This back-and-forth is exactly why I asked the question. I don't know that he cares to go to college, and what he is doing now is beyond what they teach in college CS (from what I can tell but I'm a layman looking in at a world beyond me), but that feels very strange to me. In my family, the rare people who didn't go to college didn't go because something was really wrong from a mental health perspective. I don't know whether to doubt my paradigm, or to doubt him. When it comes down to it, this would be quite the fight to pick if I were to pick it. He wouldn't be happy, and I could very well not win the battle. But, I felt like I had a fiduciary duty to at least consider it.

He needs to go to college. That poster is talking about outliers. Most higher level jobs require a bachelors. A masters isn't necessary except some jobs but it does look better on a resume.

I would find a sport or other activity he's interested in.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Your kid may want to skip college or go into the workforce and take night classes.

It's absolutely an option if you will allow it. The traditional 4-year residential college is not for everyone.

I can see your kid bored/disinterested in many of the general requirements, as well as the intro level courses even in CS.

If anything, encourage your kid to start a hackathon competition team. I bet he thinks the coding club is boring, but a competition team can just pull two or three other experienced coders and then enter Bishop Ireton, TJ, Blair, Georgetown, UMD.

Don't listen to this. Truly bad advice. Any higher level job wants a college degree.

It's best he be well rounded but if that's it, that's it.

Not all HS have computer science clubs. Ours doesn't.

You actually don't know what you are talking about. Please, stay out of conversations where you actually have zero true insight.

Go to SFO right now and walk into Open AI, Anthropic, and any number of hot startups and you will find a decent number of people working at those companies without degrees (and yes, a decent number with PhDs and everything in between). These aren't HS dropouts without skills (nor are they the classic Stanford dropout Sam Altman excluded)...they are kids like the OP's kid. You don't have a kid like this so you don't understand.

That said, I didn't say don't get a degree, however, the traditional 4-year college may not be the best fit.

Stop with your non-sense. Those people are few and far between. My spouse is in high level IT and no one is getting those jobs without a degree. Basic jobs, sure. A good friend doesn't have a degree, equally skilled and he has a much harder time getting and keeping jobs.

And, yes, I have a kid like this who wants to go into CS. They know they need a bachelors and we are pushing for a masters as its good to have. You are giving bad advice that will hurt someone in the long run.

I guarantee your spouse is nothing more than a hack high-level IT person. I am giving actual real-world advice. Do you live in SFO? Does your spouse actually work for one of the hot AI companies such as Open AI or Anthropic?

Really, is your kid having conversations with the creator of Python and all the other things the OP mentions? Really (I will answer for you...no your kid isn't)? Just admit your kid is not like this kid (or my kid).

Get off your a** and go out to SFO and report back. Stop wasting our time with your nonsense.

OP, once more...I never said don't go to college, however, the residential, 4-year college experience may not be their cup of tea. Your kid is young, so I agree he will do well in life. Let him pursue his interests.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My DS, currently a high school freshman, has been all in on coding for a long time. He's regularly engaged in high-level chats with the guy who wrote Python, has had his projects featured in podcasts and newsletters, has companies paying him to use his work, and has written a program that is part of Python's standard library. BUT, this is all he wants to do. He doesn't play sports; he participates in one extracurricular. He refused to join the coding club. His grades are good (mostly As).

Should I be tiger momming him to do more, or just let him do what he loves? He's happy (has a good group of friends and is a normal sweet kid at home), but I don't want to fall down on the job.

I would consider sending him to a college that might be less selective but located near CS-heavy areas where he can explore his psssion and find interested local employers.

You are already lucky that your child has a talent, is happy, and has friends. You are winning now. Don't underestimate how good his life already is.

What more ECs would do is position your kid for a more selective university but demonstrable job related skills can outweigh the status benefits of a name degree.

Some ideas to explore:

1) FRC robotics as an EC
2) connecting with college faculty early
3) graduating h.s. early
4) colleges in California or Boston that are not ultra-selective

[Anonymous]

Your kid sounds awesome and talented. The question is do you want him to broaden his horizons by also learning other things in high school or college? Not sure there is a right answer but there are two different paths - he can continue to focus exclusively on coding and likely do very well, or he can go to college and have a more broad-based education, which may or may not change his path. I don’t think he needs to do other ECs for college admissions purposes. It’s more about what kind of learning he wants to do.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I agree with the posters who say he may want to skip college. Computer science may be one of the few types of jobs one can do based on skills vs degree. My brother skipped college and makes a lot of money doing computer stuff. When he hires it is based on coding ability and not degree.

That's not to say your kid shouldn't go to college. I think he's doing everything right and he'll be fine no matter what. I think your kid sounds really impressive and passionate.

x10000

This is the smartest thing I have heard on the DCUM college boards. If s/he likes coding. Let them code. They are not IT, they are not "cyber security" (catch all for non math people) they are not IT (more catch all for non math people). \

They will be fine. Let them code.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My DS, currently a high school freshman, has been all in on coding for a long time. He's regularly engaged in high-level chats with the guy who wrote Python, has had his projects featured in podcasts and newsletters, has companies paying him to use his work, and has written a program that is part of Python's standard library. BUT, this is all he wants to do. He doesn't play sports; he participates in one extracurricular. He refused to join the coding club. His grades are good (mostly As).

Should I be tiger momming him to do more, or just let him do what he loves? He's happy (has a good group of friends and is a normal sweet kid at home), but I don't want to fall down on the job.

I would consider sending him to a college that might be less selective but located near CS-heavy areas where he can explore his psssion and find interested local employers.

You are already lucky that your child has a talent, is happy, and has friends. You are winning now. Don't underestimate how good his life already is.

What more ECs would do is position your kid for a more selective university but demonstrable job related skills can outweigh the status benefits of a name degree.

Some ideas to explore:

1) FRC robotics as an EC
2) connecting with college faculty early
3) graduating h.s. early
4) colleges in California or Boston that are not ultra-selective

This is bad information, for the record. I wish people who do not really know, in the DMV area would learn to shut it. Truly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My DS, currently a high school freshman, has been all in on coding for a long time. He's regularly engaged in high-level chats with the guy who wrote Python, has had his projects featured in podcasts and newsletters, has companies paying him to use his work, and has written a program that is part of Python's standard library. BUT, this is all he wants to do. He doesn't play sports; he participates in one extracurricular. He refused to join the coding club. His grades are good (mostly As).

Should I be tiger momming him to do more, or just let him do what he loves? He's happy (has a good group of friends and is a normal sweet kid at home), but I don't want to fall down on the job.

MIT is waiting for your kid

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My DS, currently a high school freshman, has been all in on coding for a long time. He's regularly engaged in high-level chats with the guy who wrote Python, has had his projects featured in podcasts and newsletters, has companies paying him to use his work, and has written a program that is part of Python's standard library. BUT, this is all he wants to do. He doesn't play sports; he participates in one extracurricular. He refused to join the coding club. His grades are good (mostly As).

Should I be tiger momming him to do more, or just let him do what he loves? He's happy (has a good group of friends and is a normal sweet kid at home), but I don't want to fall down on the job.

I would consider sending him to a college that might be less selective but located near CS-heavy areas where he can explore his psssion and find interested local employers.

You are already lucky that your child has a talent, is happy, and has friends. You are winning now. Don't underestimate how good his life already is.

What more ECs would do is position your kid for a more selective university but demonstrable job related skills can outweigh the status benefits of a name degree.

Some ideas to explore:

1) FRC robotics as an EC
2) connecting with college faculty early
3) graduating h.s. early
4) colleges in California or Boston that are not ultra-selective

This is bad information, for the record. I wish people who do not really know, in the DMV area would learn to shut it. Truly.

PP. Explain. My assumption is that OP wants her kid to go to college. Or to evaluate that path. The do nothing and let kid code path requires no suggestions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Your kid sounds awesome and talented. The question is do you want him to broaden his horizons by also learning other things in high school or college? Not sure there is a right answer but there are two different paths - he can continue to focus exclusively on coding and likely do very well, or he can go to college and have a more broad-based education, which may or may not change his path. I don’t think he needs to do other ECs for college admissions purposes. It’s more about what kind of learning he wants to do.

+1 To this. I have a colleague who is probably not unlike your son — brilliant and capable of taking on very high level projects at a young age — and thus can confirm it’s absolutely possible to get a good software development job and excel in it without a college degree. (In my colleague’s case he got his job while still in college and has since finished his degree.) The only problem with that path is that it limits what you learn somewhat. Perhaps this isn’t a problem for people who have the absolute focus to learn so much in one subject by the time they’re teens — perhaps they will be happiest doing their one thing their whole life long. But it would make me miserable to be stuck that way, so I would be tempted to encourage college for some suggestion of distribution credits and more diverse friends. You know your soon best. That being said, whichever route he/you take, it really does sound like he’ll be able to find a good job when he’s ready!

[Anonymous]

AI is going to destroy 90% of the coding jobs in the next five years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:AI is going to destroy 90% of the coding jobs in the next five years.

AI may destroy 80% of all jobs according to the pundits. However, somebody making additions to the Python source code isn’t working a coding job.

It definitely not doing this in the next five years.

[Anonymous]

Wow. Your son sounds very impressive and you should be very proud of him. You have nothing to worry about. I am amazed that he has already written a standard Python library at age 14. Be grateful that he is not spending his free time playing video games and he is doing something very useful with his brain outside of school. I’m sure he will make smart decisions when it comes time to really deciding the right path. Keep in mind that he can always get a high paying job where the employer pays for him to attend college part-time. Most big companies pay for college classes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:AI is going to destroy 90% of the coding jobs in the next five years.

AI may destroy 80% of all jobs according to the pundits. However, somebody making additions to the Python source code isn’t working a coding job.

It definitely not doing this in the next five years.

?!?!?!!??

What do you do think the Python source code is made of? Hint, it's one of these three words: "Python source code"

What is task of making Python source code called?

[Anonymous]

BPSCCFL

(Benevolent Python source code coder for life)

IYKYK