> Most nontechnical parents who see their son or daughter spending countless hours on a computer just think that he or she is wasting his or her time.

I definitely encountered that. The same parents who called me lazy for sitting in front of a computer from ages 14-18 are now quite happy with how things turned out--a day job with a high salary and a startup in the works lol. You never know what that kid could really be up to...!