14-Year-Old College Graduate Runs Two Companies Says His Secret Is Video Games

Like many other college graduates this May, Mike Wimmer donned his gown and cap, walked across the stage and received his diploma. Unlike other graduates, Wimmer is only 14 years old. In his early years, the guy graduated from high school and college in 3 years while managing two companies. Why video games are part of his daily life, the publication said CNBC.

Photo: IStock

Wimmer, a member of Mensa (the largest and oldest society of people with a high IQ), from Salisbury, North Carolina. This spring, he graduated from Carolina University with a degree in computer science.

The teenager did it by running two tech companies and founding another, sometimes receiving commissions from the U.S. military for his expertise in artificial intelligence and machine learning. He specifically works with Atlantic Lionshare, a Bermuda-based organization that aims to protect underwater ecosystems by regulating invasive lionfish species.

If Wimmer's life seems eventful, it is.

But, like any teenager, his daily routine includes a fair amount of what he calls "childish time" - car racing games with friends, swimming, playing basketball or building Lego.

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"People think, 'Oh, you didn't have a childhood.'" And this is not true,” the guy assured. “I did everything a normal high school student did.” I'm still a child".

Some may view video games and basketball as distractions from work. Wimmer sees it differently, saying his hobbies are more about personal productivity than anything else.

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When Wimmer's intelligence was tested before he went to preschool, a child psychologist told his parents that he had exceeded the IQ scale. Since then, he has been on an accelerated path of intellectual development, skipping classes and completing a yearly curriculum in months.

This, he said, means he is usually "the youngest person in the room" and his parents never wanted their son to be lonely.

“That’s the only thing my parents made me do,” Wimmer says. “They convinced me that I was still a child.”

Playing video games or discussing car racing with his friends, Wimmer has no doubt that he is still 14 years old.

Hobbies are a constant reminder that he has a fulfilling life outside of his academic and professional accomplishments, especially as studies show that friendship and communication are important components of happiness.

His parents, Melissa and Mark, encouraged him from the age of 3 to enter into controlled social situations from shaking hands with a cruise ship captain to ordering food from a waiter at a restaurant.

"That's why he's so outgoing today," Melissa explained.

"Clear Your Mind Completely"

Wimmer and his friends love car racing simulation games and he often plays them during his work breaks. According to him, he has a "class A license" in an online game called iRacing.

“To succeed, you have to forget about everything else and focus completely on this,” says Wimmer. “If I've been working hard at school or on projects or whatever, I can just go out there and completely clear my mind.”

According to a 2014 study published in the Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, engaging in creative activities helps us recover from workloads and perform at a higher level. Researchers in 2011 found that taking time off also correlated with feeling more professionally involved in work.

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That is, the occasional distraction can be beneficial to productivity. According to him, work should be fun.

Taking a leave of absence to celebrate his college graduation, Wimmer says he's looking forward to getting back into his business, especially the lionfish project in Bermuda.

He developed an artificial intelligence system called ALFREDD that helps the Atlantic Lionshare Reef Sweeper equipped with cameras and harpoons to automatically identify and hunt invasive lionfish.

“I’m really excited,” Wimmer says. “I’m going to have a lot of fun and hopefully spend some time in Bermuda, as well as continue to explore other opportunities to further my education in the future.”

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