Hi everyone,
My 17 y/o DS has been programming since he was 10 and it would be an understatement to say he is totally obsessed with it. He has a fairly substantial online presence / portfolio and as such has been approached by people the last couple of months to work on paid projects, so much so that he is working almost full time this summer building websites and web apps for various client - and getting paid great money (more than me at my actual job!). He's in his element.
He has an excellent academic profile - 10 x 9s at GCSE and 4 A Star predictions at A Level. He's looking at Camb / Imperial / Manchester for University. He's still working on his maths in his spare time for the entrance exams.
Obviously he still needs to go to uni as he wants a qualification. My question is - would the admissions academics at those unis think this experience is good and would it work to his advantage on his PS, or could it possibly work against him as they prefer someone with great potential that they can teach / mold in their ways from scratch, without the prior knowledge getting in the way? In other words, might his experience be a detriment to the teaching styles at these universities?
Would he be better off looking for an apprenticeship?
We live in the UK but I did not grow up here so this whole entrance process is new to me.
Thanks for your insight.