Anyone here recognise this programming kid from 1979?

[Mulletino]

Ended up on this video in my youtube travels somehow and wondered if this was anyone here or they could help the OP identify them?

 

 

From the description:

 

Thank you for all the suggestions as to who he is. I have checked and he is not Jay Tasman. I hope that someone out there in YouTube land recognizes this boy. I found this incredible footage that I shot in 1979 in my archives. I have no records to indicate who this boy genius in Cedar Rapids Iowa playing in a computer store is, but by watching the interview, I get the sense that he became somebody special. His father's name was Jef or Goeff or Chad and the boy's name may be Jay I believe. I hope this post helps me to find him.

[R.Cade]

I went to a different school about every year in the 80's. There were at least 5 of us like this in every school. Good luck finding them now!

[matthew180]

At a point during the kid's interview he mentions taking a college course and he says (paraphrasing):

 

"... it got really serious, because we had to take finals and tests ..."

 

Leave it to adults to take something kids are having a good time with exploring and learning on their own, and turn it into something tedious and serious.

 

The dad also talks about the new "portable" computer that his company is going to issue him soon. He describes it as being about the size of a typewriter. Probably the first Compaq if I had to guess.

 

Also, the follow-on video where the store manager was interviewed, and another adult who seemed to just be in the store, is interesting. The manager is giving his predictions for the future, and the other guy talks about how he and his son have been sucked into computers to the neglect of the rest of the family. Sounds just about right...

 

As for who the kid is, no idea. Did you (OP) try to find David Hoffman, who seems to have been the interviewer (solely based on the copyright on the video). If he is still around he might know who he was interviewing.

[jhd]

Are you able to travel to Cedar Rapids to do in-person research? If the time/money is available, I would propose searching old elementary school yearbooks for a photograph of this unidentified young programmer. Often the main public library or local historical society would have a collection of these yearbooks.

 

A handful of high school yearbooks from scattered years are available online, but nothing from local elementary schools. There is no substitute for "boots on the ground" research.