I hear you Trinity!
My Dad was a programmer back in the day when computers filled entire rooms, big rooms ...LOL. husband is an attorney, but has a legal office management software company on the side. easy child is an Artificial Intelligence graduate and computer engineer & difficult child is majoring in Computer Science but already has a booming independent consultant business on the side. He's known as the "go to guy" for serious IT problems by local businesses. However, they have to come pick him up and then drive him home. People do it, because he's fast , cheap, and gets the job done. He doesn't know how to "work it".
No....there's no autism in our family
Valerie
Marg's Man,
Thanks for sharing this. difficult child 1 became interested in computers when he was seven. His entire world revolves around them. When he was younger, whenever he wasn't able to use his computer, he was miserable to be around. We tried unsuccessfully to get him to develop other interests too. Nothing we did worked.
When he was fourteen, we brought him to see a therapist who gave us very valuable advice. He told us that difficult child 1 is not going to change. He told us we needed to let difficult child 1 pursue his extreme interest in computers and guide him toward a career in this direction. So, while difficult child 1 continued to do poorly in all subjects he wasn't interested in, he became involved in a dual enrollment program provided by our local high school. He took computer courses and not only received college credit for them, but also credit towards graduation from high school.
To make a long story short, he spent as much time as possible with the IT employees at the high school, learning as much as he could from them. They gave him old computer parts and difficult child 1 used them to fix and build computers. His room was a disaster zone!!! When he wasn't fixing computers for others, he wrote code for hours on end, and spent the rest of his time gaming.
Now, he is almost finished with his first year at our local community college. He has an apartment nearby. Like Valerie's difficult child, he makes money by fixing computers for local businesses, students, etc... He doesn't drive and many people just drop off their broken computers at his apartment. Needless to say, his apartment is filled with computer parts, manuals, tools, etc...
He is majoring in web design and is thinking about transferring to a four year college when he graduates next year. While he still has many issues, he is doing much better than I ever imagined he would. He is happy!!! He has a small group of friends for the first time in his life. He enjoys his work and excels in his computer classes. He is learning to take care of himself!!! In the not too distant past, I NEVER in my wildest dreams, imagined he would be able to do this well. I'm just so proud of him!!!