My 14 Year Old Son Built a Computer

Ethan, age 14, built a computer this summer. Starting at age eleven, he began asking if he could build his own computer. He "sold" the idea to my husband by saying "this can be a father-son project." He informed me my contributions would not be required. For the past three years, we've been planning financially for the special purchase of the appropriate parts needed for the build.

Ethan researched the best parts for the best prices for the computer he imagined. Late this summer we finally purchased all the individual parts (not as a kit like at least one Negative Nancy has already suggested). As the parts began arriving via UPS, excitement escalated, and we could see our son's eyes sparkle with anticipation.

First shipment delivered by UPS

When the first shipment arrived, the project began to feel real to all of us. This is really happening--my son is building a computer! Neither my husband nor I have any experience with building computers, so we relied completely on our teenager for leading this project.

Getting Started

Ethan was sure the project would only take a couple of hours, and he and my husband both welcomed my presence with the camera snapping photos (at least for the first two hours they welcomed photos).

Wearing gloves and electrostatic wrist bands

In Ethan's research and preparation for the build he learned he should wear gloves to avoid fingerprints and wear anti-static wrist straps as a key piece of safety gear that helps prevent the build up of static electricity. He told me "highly conductive threads on the wrist band lead to a ground conductor that discharges static electricity."

Part of Ethan's drive to build a computer grew from his desire to have a better computer for gaming, so this particular motherboard was important to him. He's also previously worked on creating a computer game, and he writes code for various purposes. What you see above reminds me of the circuit kits he used to play with when he was younger.

Knowing this would be his first build, Ethan selected a rather large case to make it easier to deal with all the cords. He customized aspects of what he put inside the case and added extra fans for cooling effects. His preference was for some type of water cooling device, but that was completely out of the budget.

Ethan Boss did it--built a working computer!

The smile of accomplishment upon completion (many more hours than he expected) was worth every penny we invested in encouraging our son to pursue his dreams and passions. His patience and perseverance manifested themselves in this project, and a "father-son" experience has been added to the books. When the computer was finished and my son proudly brought us all around to see it, my husband said "he did this on his own; I was merely the person who handed him parts and held the flashlight."

Since he is a teenager and not always wanting his entire life shared by his mom via social media, I asked Ethan's permission to write about him building the computer and he granted it, even saying I could take photos. His feelings of accomplishment upon completion of the final product caused him to say "I really did this, mom, blog about it and be sure to use my name."
Gladly. Ethan. Gladly.

Coding in December

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My thirteen year old tech-savvy son thought it was a hoot that I was the parent advocating for his middle school to participate in Hour of Code this year. Since my boys started school nine years ago, I've been volunteering in the public school system. I've chaperoned field trips, baked goodies, and sold refreshments at middle school dances, but the volunteering I've enjoyed the most has been the times I have been able to work directly with students. When I sign up for committees, I try to sign up for committees that might afford me the opportunity to interact with students. Maybe it's my former teacher self who misses regular interactions with students. Maybe it's my parent self who wants to know the kids my own children attend school with. Or, maybe, it's my school improvement advocate self who wants to know what students really think about school, and the best way to know is to be there with the students.  Regardless of the reason, I set my plan in motion in October when I first heard about Hour of Code via Twitter.

By working with the head of technology at the middle school my sons I attend, I was able to gain access to two teachers who felt they had room in their curriculum to squeeze in an hour of coding during the official week December 8-14. These teachers opened their classrooms to me, and I spent each hour working directly with students as they tried out the various tutorials on the Hour of Code site. The best part? Hearing kids say "hey miss--I got it! I figured it out!" None of the students with whom I worked had any previous experience with coding.

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Whatever field our children choose to enter as adults, their ability to succeed will increasingly hinge on understanding how computers and other technology work. Nearly 9 out of 10 schools do not offer any computer science classes. Yet, the demand for skilled workers to fill computer science jobs will continue to increase. Supposedly by 2020, there will be a million vacant computer science jobs. When I shared this statistic with some eighth graders, I saw their faces light up a bit.

Across the globe, schools are beginning to see the benefits of teaching coding. While jobs in the future might motivate some people to teach coding, I can imagine others are less motivated by jobs and more motivated by other benefits. Coding teaches students problem solving and forces them to pay attention to details, and if you have students work in teams on coding, they are also learning valuable skills as members of a team.

Business and community partners have everything to gain by volunteering time and resources in our public schools. Microsoft sends their engineers to schools to teach courses and volunteer, and several other organizations (including Facebook, Google, and the Ford Foundation) partner together as part of the #yeswecode movement. One of my favorite holiday activities this year was following Google's work with lighting up Christmas trees (an initiative aimed at getting more girls to code) and encouraging kids to use the Santa Tracker to code. Certainly, these activities are specific to people who celebrate Christmas, but since I celebrate Christmas, I found it fun to see the opportunities to make the holiday a continued learning experience.

Whether you are a parent, teacher, administrator, or community member reading my blog, I want to encourage you to support more coding opportunities in the area where you live because it's interesting to kids and it provides them valuable skills and experiences in life now and for their future.

Earlier this month, I attended and presented at the Achieve Annual Meeting in Washington, D.C. so my colleagues and I took a walk the first evening to see the Christmas lights. We were excited to see the trees that were lit because students wrote computer code to light them up.

 

Seeing my world come full circle this December along the Christmas Pathway of Peace delighted me to no end. Kentucky's ornaments this year created by students from the Warehouse After School Program in Danville. This is the very program co-founded by Kendra Montejos, the young woman I interviewed for a Cake and Whiskey magazine article. You can read more here.