Hi Everyone! I'm a 14-year-old developer and already have 3 apps on the App Store. I was interested doing an internship this summer in programming (not necessarily for the iPhone, but that would be nice) or a similar technology internship. As I've been looking into it more, I realize that it is going to be tough to find a place that takes interns who are this young and with this little experience. I'm not looking to get paid, just to get experience and learn some things. I'm in California where you can get a work permit at age 14 (but with limited hours). Since many of you on these forums are in this industry or familiar with it, do any of you know a place for someone like me to find an internship? I'm not sure if I have a better chance looking into a big corporate business or a small indie company. I think Apple requires interns to be over 18 but does anyone know about Electronic Arts? I know some iPhone companies such as Tapulous and Freeverse have interns, but I doubt they take anyone who doesn't at least have a college degree. If nothing works out, I guess I'll just keep publishing apps to the App Store myself. Either way, I will continue to work on apps and build my portfolio to make it easier in the future to find a position. However, I feel like I've missed a lot teaching myself programming and an internship would be perfect to help me expand my knowledge. If anyone has any suggestions, I would greatly appreciate it. Thanks!
How did you start programming? I'm 11 year old (turning 12 in june), what is the best way to start programming?
I learned the best by watching tutorial videos, making the project in the video, and then seeing what I could add on to the project. The best thing to do is start with the Hello World App If you don't have the iPhone SDK yet, register (for free) here. Drewse, it's great to see younger people (I don't mean that with a bad connotation) programming Apps Good luck with all of your games! One tip, while you would learn a lot being an intern for a company like EA or Freeverse, I think that you learn a lot more, and definitely get more first hand experience, by making your own games.
Thanks WellSpentYouth for the advice. It's probably true that I would get more experience by just programming apps myself. Does anyone here us Cocos2d? I've seen a lot of apps lately using it and thought it would be a good way to jump into OpenGL. I'm not sure how good the documentation is though or if it works well with games. Anyone know? And to caterpi, if you haven't done any programming yet I would recommend starting with some more basic languages first and then working your way up. If you tell me if you've done any programming before (and if so, how much?), then I can give some good pointers of where to go next.
If you want to learn OpenGL then use OpenGL. cocos2d masks any OpenGL code from the end user and I wouldn't recommend it if your goal is to learn OpenGL.
So like, isn't that Pocket Game Of Life online somewhere? Anyway, I'm 15, interested in any internships as well..Prefably online, everything's in my signature as well Cocos2D is cool, but OpenGL needs to be learnt sooner or later.
Remember that internship is very different than just learning programming by yourself. You will get real-world experience by interning in a company, learn more about professional programming, looks better on a resume, and most likely get a good reference for future job searches. So I would highly encourage you to contact some companies in your area to see if they are looking for a summer intern. Alternatively, there are a variety of open source projects that are looking for online contributors, that might be a good idea as well...
