Tech

John Carmack

Sent to a juvenile home at 14 for breaking into a school to steal computers; wrote the engines that built 3D gaming.

Born: 1970 · Shawnee Mission, Kansas, US
Roots: White American
Family: Middle class; A TV-journalist father; after his parents' divorce, the rules-heavy household chafed against an obsessive, computer-starved teenager.
Education: One year at the University of Missouri–Kansas City (left to program)
Started with: A juvenile evaluation; Caught at 14 breaking into a school for Apple II computers; the psychologist's report described 'a brain on legs.'
Affiliations & societies: None documented.; Information only — claims like these are often unverifiable and may be wrong.

The pathway

1984 · age 14
The break-in
A thermite-and-vaseline window trick, a silent alarm, and a year in a juvenile home.
1990 · age 20
Smooth scrolling
Replicates Mario on a PC at Softdisk; the demo team becomes id Software.
1992 · age 22
Wolfenstein 3D, then Doom
His engines define the first-person shooter; id releases the Doom source code free in 1997.
1996 · age 25
Quake and Ferraris
True 3D; he hands modified Ferraris to tournament winners.
2000 · age 30
Armadillo Aerospace
A rocket company on the side, funded from his own pocket.
2013 · age 43
Oculus CTO
Joins the VR startup pre-acquisition; leaves Meta in 2022 to chase AGI at his own lab.

Sources

Compiled from these references and contemporaneous press reporting. Figures are approximate; verify before relying on them.