Test your chops. I wrote my first contract program when I was 17 on an Apple IIe for a local bookkeeper. Once I did that I finally realized that I could take my skills and make something of value (Instead of just playing at programming where you never actually deliver value to anybody)
There's a difference between idle and productive dreaming. I had a hard time with this when I was your age. Productive dreaming is envisioning something just outside of your reach and then making it happen. You string together enough of these and you can go anywhere. Idle dreaming, on the other hand, is thinking about some ideal future state with no idea at all how to begin. It's a lot more fun -- but it doesn't take you far.
So test you chops. Prove you can code something somebody likes. Then prove people will pay you for it. Continue along this pattern.
Comments
Test your chops. I wrote my first contract program when I was 17 on an Apple IIe for a local bookkeeper. Once I did that I finally realized that I could take my skills and make something of value (Instead of just playing at programming where you never actually deliver value to anybody)
There's a difference between idle and productive dreaming. I had a hard time with this when I was your age. Productive dreaming is envisioning something just outside of your reach and then making it happen. You string together enough of these and you can go anywhere. Idle dreaming, on the other hand, is thinking about some ideal future state with no idea at all how to begin. It's a lot more fun -- but it doesn't take you far.
So test you chops. Prove you can code something somebody likes. Then prove people will pay you for it. Continue along this pattern.
My advice only -- good luck!