Are there jobs for high school programmers?

Question

I'm an 18 year old programmer, rounding off my senior year in high school and about to enter college. I have a decent amount of experience in a variety of languages, the most prevalent being C# and Python in the desktop programming space, and PHP with MySQL in web development.

Currently I have an internship at a small company working on their web product (using PHP and MySQL). Unfortunately I have been working on this for several months now, and mostly because of the management, it's not really going anywhere and I'm very bored and would really like to look for another opportunity. So my question is: What kinds of other opportunities are out there for high school developers? Are there any at all? And if so, how would I go about finding them?

Answer 1

Be bored until you have an entire year of experience and then you can get a job just about anywhere else easily. You are WELL on your way to a satisfying career as a programmer, but the most important thing when you're starting out is to get that first year under your belt.

I know it's frustrating and/or boring as hell, but trust me - do your best, work as hard as you can and after a year of experience (even as an intern) opportunities will bloom like wildflowers.

In your free time, create a development blog and write about all the stuff you're learning/working on at home. This will be a huge asset when you go to find a job.

Seriously - you're in a great position right now. Stick with it.

If you're going to college in the fall, depending on the job market in your area you should be able to find an excellent contract position this summer. With a year's experience, and the skills that should go along with that you're ready to start making some good money.

Good luck!

Answer 2

It's going to be tough to find anything that pays whilst you're between high school and college... Internship work can be a bit lame, but it does get you some commercial experience which will look good on the resume/CV when you do finally start applying.

If you're working to get experience (ie not really for the money) then you could try getting involved with an open-source project. There's plenty out there and you're sure to find something you find interesting and challenging.

Answer 3

I got my first internship after freshman year of high school, working with C++ and COM. During summer between junior and senior I was already working on several C++ projects as a freelancer. I wasn't able to find new projects since depression peaked in november, though. But it just shows that any dumb idiot like me, who even failed several calculus tests in high school, can find a programming gig.

Answer 4

Go to the IT department at your college and see if they are hiring any student programmers. Every college I know looks to find good student programmers to hire and train. I know that in my department we consider it part of the educational mission of the institution to try and find places to hire students for IT work -- Help Desk, web programming, application programming, etc. Most colleges have several different departments that do programming and hire students. Ask around, go to the student job fair, etc. If you show good aptitude and works skills, it shouldn't be too hard to find a programming job on campus.

Plus we always like to hire the best students when they graduate so you might be lining yourself up for your first job, too.

Answer 5

Instead of looking for work elsewhere, you could create your own opportunities. Determine a problem that you want to solve and write the solution for it. You could narrow the scope of the problem, so that your endeavor doesn't suck away all of your study and social time.

If you create a reasonably successful product, then you have the crucial experience of actually shipping code. Your initiative will look great on a resume as someone who gets things done. You'll gain experience as a freelance/self-employed programmer for the future if you decide to go that route in your career. You could even hit the homerun on the first trip to the plate and create a strong profitable business.

This may not be the best route for you if you only want to write code. After the product is ready, your time will be spent on the business side of things. Running a business takes a lot of time and effort away from the writing of the code. You could find a business major to partner with to handle the biz side of things if it comes down to that.

You could check out the Ship It On The Side site and podcast.

Answer 6

Consider applying for the Google Summer of Code; the 2009 program has not yet been announced but it is a great way for you to get mentored experience working on real products (some open source, some not). You just need to be 18 and older, and enrolled or accepted at a university of some sort.

Or you could go and apply for Y Combinator's 2009 program.

Both will get you great experience and a little bit of money. At 18, experience is almost undoubtedly more vauable than money. Good luck!

Answer 7

When I was your age I decided to do "consulting". I told friends of the family that I'd help them with computer issues.

One time someone's hard drive was dying and wouldn't boot. I booted from floppy, ran a disk repair program, then copied what I could find. It included their critical data, and saved them a bunch of effort.

This was early 1990's and I charged $25/hr.

Answer 8

I'm 18. I did some freelance web work over the summer and one of the people I worked for ended up hiring me (and getting nice pay). My roommate tells tales of doing java work in a friend's Dad's basement, although I'm not quite sure how he managed that. Regardless, look around for very small companies who you can provide some work for, because they're the most welcoming for young programmers.

Answer 9

Hey there.

My name is Clayton Swindell and I have a possible opportunity for you. I'm looking for a programmer with skills and creative ability for a new project that just might be well worth your time.

If you might be interested, please give me a note at:

[email protected]