I started developing Android apps in 2009, teaching myself gradually by building a GitHub client (as the official app did not exist then). Three years later (2012), I graduated from high school. I was offered a chance to intern for the summer at GitHub, but a few things got in the way of me doing that.
However, nearing the end of July I stumbled into my first contract job after helping out in #android-dev on Freenode. I'm now almost a year out of high school, still indecisive as to whether I'm going to college in the Fall (the same things that prevented me from interning at GitHub prevented me from going to college last year), and I am gradually building up my portfolio. Every recruiter I've talked to over the past few months have made a point to note how filled-out my resume is for someone my age. I guess my point is that I probably would not have been in that chat room at that time had I been interning in California.
However, nearing the end of July I stumbled into my first contract job after helping out in #android-dev on Freenode. I'm now almost a year out of high school, still indecisive as to whether I'm going to college in the Fall (the same things that prevented me from interning at GitHub prevented me from going to college last year), and I am gradually building up my portfolio. Every recruiter I've talked to over the past few months have made a point to note how filled-out my resume is for someone my age. I guess my point is that I probably would not have been in that chat room at that time had I been interning in California.