When Bill Gates was in the eighth grade he took an interest in computers and programming. He learned BASIC and found bugs in computer software. At age 14 he made $20,000 with a friend by making traffic counters. By age 21 he joined forces with that friend (Paul Allen) and started a company called Microsoft. The rest is history.
The Bill Gates story is not unique. Linus Torvalds started Linux at the age of 21. Steve Jobs started Apple at 21 out of his garage. Larry Page and Sergey Brin founded Google in their early twenties while studying computer science at Stamford. Jerry Yang (co-founder of Yahoo) and Jeff Bezos (Amazon.com) also started young. The one thing they all have in common? They all loved computers at an early age.
At the ripe age of 15 months Charlotte loves computers. At this pace she will re-design the internet and create a new programming language by age 10. Dad is expecting she will learn type before she can write (and he will help her accomplish this). She has already begun using the touchpad on the laptop and loves to hear the click of the keyboard. She loves surfing the internet for Disney Shows and can't believe the magic of downloading the Wiggles videos online. Yes a monster has been created.
However we have made a pact to ensure she is never allowed to put tape on her glasses or wear a pocket protector. Maybe having a "geeky" girl is not such a bad idea. Dad won't have to worry about her dating at an early age. He wont have to worry about late nights at parties. Instead she will be hanging out with her computer geek friends making spyware and viruses. He also won't have to worry about handing out gobs of money for her to go mall shopping. Instead, he will just have to fork over thousands of dollars for new computers ever 6 months. Not a bad trade off.
I know it's a lot of pressure for a 15 month old. Dad really wants to make sure Charlotte is kept grounded...you know, make sure she knows where she came from. So for every leap in technology she is exposed to, dad ensures she has something non-technological to play with. See example below:
Tupperware on the head. The least technological thing in the world.
1 comment:
If she wants she can stand in for me on a few of my consulting gigs. When ever she wants to come over and use my lab she is welcome to it.
Post a Comment