Find the hardware
A retired office desktop, an old laptop, a second-hand mini PC. Businesses throw out perfectly good machines constantly. The whole thing can start at nearly zero cost.
For kids & teens
IT tutoring for kids and teens
For the kid who wants to build things, break things and understand why they broke, not just use an app somebody else made.
The gap
Being good at using computers is not the same as being good at computers.
This generation is completely fluent at operating a device and, in most cases, has never once been shown what is happening underneath it. They can navigate any app in about four seconds flat, and could not tell you what an operating system is.
That gap matters, because the industry does not hire people who are comfortable with technology. It hires people who understand it. The difference between those two shows up immediately in a job interview, and it is almost entirely a matter of whether anybody ever gave them the chance to go one layer deeper.
School is not going to close that gap on its own. There is a good computing syllabus in NSW now, but a class of thirty on shared, locked-down machines cannot give one kid root access and let them destroy a server on a Tuesday afternoon. That is what I do.
The centrepiece
Build a real lab. Then learn on it.
You cannot learn infrastructure from a textbook any more than you can learn to drive from one.
Build it together
Install a hypervisor, spin up virtual machines, put Linux on one and Windows Server on another, wire up a network with real addressing and real rules.
Break it on purpose
Then fix it. Diagnosing a broken system you built yourself is the single most valuable skill in this trade, and it is impossible to learn without the freedom to break something.
The ground we cover
Everything a first IT job assumes you already know.
- How a computer actually works: what the parts do, how to build one, why it is slow, how to fix it.
- Operating systems: Windows properly rather than by accident, and Linux from the command line up.
- Networking: IP addressing, DNS, routing, firewalls, Wi-Fi. The subject that separates hobbyists from professionals, and the one most self-taught people skip.
- Servers and virtualisation: running services, managing virtual machines, containers, keeping things alive.
- Cyber security fundamentals: how attacks actually happen, and how defenders think. Taught defensively.
- Scripting and automation: PowerShell, Bash, Python. Making the computer do the boring parts.
- The professional habits: documentation, backups, version control, and how to research a problem instead of guessing at it.
We do not march through that as a curriculum. We pick something the student actually wants to build (a game server, a media library, an ad blocker for the house network) and the topics arrive on their own because the project needs them.
For parents
What this is, and what it is not.
It is not a holiday program, and it is not a franchise coding club with a curriculum written by a marketing department. It is a working IT professional sitting beside your child with real equipment, teaching them the trade the way an apprentice would learn it.
It is also not a substitute for school. I am glad to support the NSW syllabus subjects directly: Computing Technology, Software Engineering, Enterprise Computing and VET IDT . Plenty of students book for exactly that reason.
On safety: sessions run in your home with you present if you would prefer, or at my place in Warners Bay. You are welcome to sit in on any session, always. My NSW Working With Children Check application is in progress and lessons for under-18s start once it is issued.
On cost: $65 per hour, with no packages and no lock-in. If your child loses interest after two sessions, that is genuinely fine. Better to find out cheaply than to have paid for a term up front.
Straight answers
Questions people ask
My child already spends too long on the computer. How is this different?
There is a large gap between consuming a computer and commanding one. Most kids are fluent at the first and have never been shown the second. We build, configure and fix things. The screen stops being entertainment and starts being a workshop.
What age do you start from?
Around 10 for the hands-on hardware and networking work, though it depends far more on the child than the birthday. For younger kids I focus on typing, safe searching, and genuine curiosity about how the machine works.
Do they need their own computer?
Not to begin with. For home lab work an old desktop or a retired office machine is ideal, and I can help you find one cheaply, often free. Spending a lot of money at the start is usually the wrong move.
Do you have a Working With Children Check?
A NSW Working With Children Check is required for paid work with under-18s and my application is in progress. Until it is issued I am glad to talk with parents about what tutoring would involve, and lessons for under-18s begin once the check is complete. A parent is always welcome to stay in the room.
Is this the same as a coding class?
No, and that is deliberate. Coding classes teach one skill in isolation. The people who get hired in IT understand how machines, networks, operating systems and code fit together. We cover the whole picture, and coding is one part of it.
Will this help with school subjects?
Directly. I tutor the NSW syllabus subjects: Computing Technology 7-10, HSC Software Engineering, Enterprise Computing and VET IDT. See the school IT subjects page for what each course covers.