Get ready to feel pathetic

This kid:

Santiago Gonzalez, 14-Year-Old College Student And Prodigy, Dreams In Code

They touch on it but for those outside of Colorado, CSM (Colorado School of Mines) is one the top engineering and science universities in the world. The only places higher have names like MIT and Caltech.

Colorado School of Mines - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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lordy

Being in the intellectual top 1% isn't as much fun as it may look.

Mike-Mike

oh yeah.... trying being one of the top 1% of the most handsomest people in like the world.....

it's rough

Roguetadhg

It's probably a tad boring to be that young in college.

However there is a beauty in code. The way the code flows, it's artistic. And there's definitely more than one way to go around a problem. I mean more than just placing ASCII Art in multiple Echo commands :P

I don't care for programming, mostly because of my Website Design/Programming days with CSS/JavaScript/PHP/HTML (Har...Programming). I've spent days and nights programming and crafting JavaScript codes. *Cringe*

MSP-IT

The way he described dreaming doesn't seem too far off from a lot of people I've talked to. When I spend a lot of my day doing something, it's not uncommon for me to dream about that activity, whether it was working on a network or enjoying a video game.

Being relatively young, I find myself relating to Santiago. I feel my overall health may have inhibited me in the past, and I chose to respond to the social pressure in a different way than Santiago. I wish I could have grown up in a atmosphere that nurtured and incubated such talents.

boredgamelad

lordy wrote: »

Being in the intellectual top 1% isn't as much fun as it may look.

Quoted for truth. I was identified early on as a 'gifted' student (I don't remember the exact term but that might have been the one they used, back in the late 80s). I often found myself unchallenged by my school work, unimpressed with my classmates, and unable to connect with other people my own age. Unlike Santiago, I didn't really grow up in an environment where intelligence was nurtured and appreciated. Instead, I spent most of my elementary and secondary school years as an outcast. It wasn't until high school that I was actually able to make friends--usually with kids two or three years older than me--and even then I found I related more to my teachers than my classmates.

Being intelligent isn't really comparable to being good looking, or being born rich. It might sound ridiculous, but there really is a whole set of social challenges that come with high intelligence that are not easy to overcome. Even though I'm not a super genius 1 percenter, I had to deal with many of those challenges growing up and don't envy those who have to face them.

Back to the subject at hand: He's clearly an amazing kid, and watching him talk about programming as art makes me jealous because what I do envy him for is his passion. I wish I had his motivation--I've never had that kind of driving passion for anything. I'm glad that unlike me he's been given opportunities to grow, develop, and flaunt his intelligence rather than being forced to hide it or dumb himself down just to fit in with his classmates. It'd be awesome to see where he ends up in ten years.

lsud00d

boredgamelad wrote: »

Quoted for truth. I was identified early on as a 'gifted' student (I don't remember the exact term but that might have been the one they used, back in the late 80s). I often found myself unchallenged by my school work, unimpressed with my classmates, and unable to connect with other people my own age. Unlike Santiago, I didn't really grow up in an environment where intelligence was nurtured and appreciated. Instead, I spent most of my elementary and secondary school years as an outcast. It wasn't until high school that I was actually able to make friends--usually with kids two or three years older than me--and even then I found I related more to my teachers than my classmates.

Gifted programs are a SAVIOR. I had very few classes with regular/honors students and in those I contemplated seppuku daily

NavyIT

That's pretty amazing. I do envy his ability to learn, but I also feel sorry for him. He will never get to experience things that other children get to be a part of growing up. High school football games, school functions, parties on the weekend or a high school sweetheart. There is a lot to be gained by having a gift like this, but also much to be lost.

About7Narwhal

NavyIT wrote: »

There is a lot to be gained by having a gift like this, but also much to be lost.

When he is worth a billion dollars I'm sure he will take the opportunity to catch up on lost time.

**EDIT**

Plus, he is using Apple products.. he must be the Bee's Knees on campus.

MSP-IT

About7Narwhal wrote: »

When he is worth a billion dollars I'm sure he will take the opportunity to catch up on lost time.

**EDIT**

Plus, he is using Apple products.. he must be the Bee's Knees on campus.

It's a good thing he's in programming. I doubt there would be much of a future ahead of him if he was an Apple fanatic and wanted to go into corporate networking.

About7Narwhal

I was thinking the same thing. If Apple works for you; Great! But maybe you should leave the rest to the Windows and Linux / Unix guys.

powerfool

lordy wrote: »

Being in the intellectual top 1% isn't as much fun as it may look.

I have to agree... being surrounded by so many inferior folks either drives you batty or makes you consider world domination...

NavyIT

About7Narwhal wrote: »

When he is worth a billion dollars I'm sure he will take the opportunity to catch up on lost time.

Too bad he will be too socially awkward to actually enjoy it. You can't catch up on lost time from when you were 15-18 when you're 30.

Valsacar

Psh, apple... Though I can relate with a lot of the things the kid talked about. I took my first college course (pre-calc) in 9th grade, and went full time the next year. Wish I had the backing he has from his family though, my mother was more of a "do it the normal way" kind of person. I ended up leaving college after I got my first full time internship and prefered working (coding), then ended up in the Army (yeah, not sure what I was thinking there, but I don't regret it).