from Hacker News

Ask HN: Software Engineering Internships for 14 Year Old CS University Student?

by OafTobark on 7/27/23, 9:15 PM with 1 comments

We’re from the US. My 14 year old son is a senior college student studying Computer Science with less than a year left till graduation.

All of the software engineering internships I came across don’t list any specific age requirement except those geared towards high school students (which my son doesn’t qualify for). Mostly if there is a requirement, it mainly refers to college grade level equivalent (freshman, sophomore, or junior usually) with some requiring a minimum of 1-2 years post internship before graduating. I assume this is because most expect college students to be over 18 and on the traditional 4 year track for getting their Bachelors.

Majority of these don’t have public contact information and before I start randomly hitting up strangers on LinkedIn, was hoping to see if anyone on HN might know if there are any internships that would be a fit for my son’s situation.

I understand labor laws for 14 year olds could be a huge limiting factor here. Any help or advice appreciated!

  • by diavelguru on 7/27/23, 9:36 PM

    Hi, I started coding in my teens but didn’t start university till past 18. My advice is to definitely find remote work as a minor will require your consent to enter any contract especially for work. Remote will limit social interaction but at his age those interactions will be possibly overwhelming for him and other co workers who are adults. I had a friend and his son came from Croatia at 16. In Croatia he had his license and smoked and drank (lower age), had a girlfriend and found that life in the US was stifling. He left 3 months later back to his home country where he felt like a man and not like the boy that he was and forced to be in the US. If there is a focus (AI, DB, ML, Web, API, focus on that if the desire is to work immediately post graduation. With an age under 16 most folks at that age don’t get to work full time. Perhaps exceptions may be made but check with your local, state and federal laws (I’m thinking with parental consent.). Be sure to interview any potential manager within this company that needs the skills of your child. Be sure to set boundaries in the contract that you must sign as his guardian. This is a great world being in CS and my question is does he want to go theoretical or practical or computational. Graduating with a CS degree is anything but easy and once those theoretical classes drop you either love em or hate em. Same for the practical such as compiler or computational such as AI or ML. Starting working so young while his brain is still developing makes me want to implore you to seek out psychological help (even if he is super well adjusted). As even those of us who are the most mature and with high emotional intelligence, we have our tough days and times. Life experience let’s us fight the stresses and find a balance which will be up to you as the parent/guardian to help manage. Also handling failures will be very important life lessons, though going through a CS program is stressful enough.