Remember This Kid? Here Is What Happened To Him 41 Yrs Later 

"I made friends" - and just like that, we lost one more great programmer.

David Hoffman isn’t just into film He’s also into investigating and tracking people down 😂

I was like, is 1979 over 40 years ago?! Then I remembered I was born in '79... I'm turning 41 this year. And now I feel old *and* stupid. smh

'my daughters think I'm a big dork" - sums up Fatherhood accurately

I can’t believe you found them

As Paul Harvey used to say: "and now you know the rest of the story...." Thanks for your work on this!

*_This is really a blast from the past. When they said one day a computer will be so small it will fit on a desk, I didn't believe it. When they said within 20 years every home will have a PC in it, I said no way. It's great to see this. I personally still have & love my library of books that range from the late 1800s to modern-day. I'll always prefer a solid book in my hand when reading. Thanks, David. Your the best_*

Being a programmer in the 70s potentially could have made him a billionaire by the 90s.

They say he looked like a dork, but they probably think the Stranger Things kids are adorable 😂😭

He wasn't a savant. He was one of the kids fortunate enough to have a parent who gave him the opportunity to learn and grow. This isn't to say that he was a failure, but rather that his dad was a good parent. Good for the two of them.

His daughters need to appreciate the greatness of his moppy haircut and ‘70s clothes!

Short answer: He discovered Girls. The End.

This is so frickin' cool, David! Glad to know he's doing alright. Edit: Glad to know BOTH of them are doing alright!

His mother embodied every single mother out there: “Oh cuz your dad such a SAINT! I Bust my-“

I bet he “burned out” in high school........it was the 80’s baby.

Love this video. There is a pattern when there is so much attention to a child prodigy very early in life. They normally do not develop to achieve the anticipated expectation. Sometimes, it is important to protect your child from the camera very early in life so that they can grow to their fullest potential.

I remember my father brought home an Apple II from work in 1984 and my brother exclaimed "You got a computer!!!" My first question as I ran into the room to see what the fuss was about was "What's a computer?" I had never heard that word before. I had never seen one. I was 8. I instantly took to it and spent hours loading programs from disks and learning how to program in BASIC. I probably used that computer more than anyone else in the household. One of my favorite programs was Print Shop. I'd constantly make pictures and homemade cards for the whole family. I wasn't allowed to play video games, but when I discovered computer games were ok...oh lordy! I was in heaven! I'm female, but my dad encouraged me every moment he got. No one ever suggested computers were a 'boy' thing, for which I'm very grateful. My dad and I were the only tech-minded people in our family, so we bonded over computers and Star Trek. We'd take father/daughter trips to Fry's for fun. In college I learned how to build a computer from spare parts. I even majored in Engineering for awhile. Eventually I went on to become a Molecular Biologist and Geneticist, then a professional musician and composer. I do all my own recording engineering. I love manipulating sounds in the DAW and yes, I love using Photoshop to make artwork, too. And I owe it all to that big ol' Apple II with the noisy dot matrix printer and the support of my parents. I guess, in hindsight now, it's really amazing that my mother never discouraged me. She had a lot of rules about what was "appropriate" for little girls to do or not do, but computers were never on the 'no' list.

I love when dads are so humble and encouraging to their sons. My dad always shot down my dreams. Once I have a son I’ll be like the father in his video. Edward Van Halen, despite his faults was also like that with his son and we have Wolfgang to thank for that bands second wind

I have wondered “what happened to that kid” at least 100 times since first seeing that video haha. Love your videos!!!

I am so happy that you found these two. I have been trying to look them up for a while now. I love that you were able to interview them again 41 years later. This is awesome.

This is beyond...time capsule...GOLD! Oh the irony...watched this update in the palm of my hand on my mobile device!

A lot of parents were like that in the youth of GenX: fairly hands-off (in that they let kids have their own world) but very loving and letting you try different things you were into. It was a good parenting style for sure! And a special kudos to Jay's Mom! Thank you, Mr. Hoffman.

I appreciate the update. I also appreciate the open honesty of these men. Thanks, David.

Fantastic to catch up with Jay and his father after many years. Many of us wondered. Thank you.

He discovered Girls and Beer. Probably at the same time..

Thank you David, appreciate your work!

Great follow-up. FWIW I was this same kid in my town and ended up working at Apple, for 25 years or so now. But similarly there were a few years in college that I had to take a break. 😎

I felt like I waited so long for this. Your channel is amazing, man.

The interview has finally arrived! I'm glad to hear from them (and the wonderful mother, by proxy) and that they're doing well. It is really nice to hear how she pushed her son and husband to a new field. Plus, I imagine staying up to date on technology is hard. Also, I did not expect when we saw a wider view of the father's room that it'd be filled with rifles, haha!

He didn't need to fear AI in the future. Just the year 2020

Ray Kurzweil ‘The Singularity’ came to mind here. I loved how this came full circle. It’s a great story and I’m sure their mother is looking down very proud. May she rest in eternal peace. You could tell they were a good family and I’m happy to see them both healthy and happy. I’m sure his daughters are proud too!! Great work.

8:20 That's one mystery solved.... now we got to find THIS GUY

Something that I really miss from that time period up to the 90s was how simple programming was. We all thought it was complicated back then, but compared to today, it has become much more complex.

I find it interesting in all these old videos people were more articulate even in a casual interview. They rarely used "um" and "ah" or any other filler words.

He is like 99% of software engineering and computer science graduates

I'm 41 and grew up with the NES on the mid 80s in fact I was the first kid on the block to have one and it was "Amazing" on how many friends I never knew I had wanting to stop by and play when word got out. Anywho, I was watching my friends 10 year old boy a few weeks ago while they were out and I wanted to show him the NES on what I grew up with. So I hooked it up and had a few hundred games in my collection to pick out. The kid looks at me and says "Man you're old, my grandpa has one of these. These are old! So you must be old too" He's a little smart mouth kid but a good kid. I just stood there wanting to laugh which I chuckled and gave him the eye stare for a few haha. He actually had fun playing since I have all the good games and told him stories about when I was his age and showed him pictures of my friends and I. He made fun of our hair and clothes. I told him "Don't laugh, you're kids will make fun of you're hair cut and clothes style just like their kids will make fun of theirs and that's how it goes" this video reminded me of that. BTW, his parents told me that he now only wants me to watch him from now on, they said "Because I have all the cool games" I thought that was cool.

As a father of five year old, this serves me as a reminder to not be an overzealous father. I don't claim to know all and don't want to pass judgements on the prodigies father and sure hope they are all happy in their lives. I just hope I do good by my son and serve as a beacon to him.

This was just terrific to see; I remember the original clip and wondered at the time where he was now.

Thank you for the update, Mr. Hoffman!

the interview with the shop owner was super insightful as someone living in the present and seeing what folks envisioned the future as in the past. my father was a truck driver, and i always wondered how difficult his job was before even mapquest was a thing. i would love to do an interview like this was filmed, cause they asked all the right questions and they got all the right answers. its insanely strange how right they were about the future than they were wrong about it.

This 1979 video was the reason I subscribed to your channel.

The clothes were typical 70s wear at the time. Even the clothes I wore looked the same at that time. Memories.....

Thank you for uploading this, keep making these awesome videos 📹

Oh how I remember this time .. I'm still pretty much an amateur on the computer, but a lot less intimidated by them than I was back then. Classic material.

I was 14 years old in 1979. That year my father bought his first computer, a Texas Instruments TRS-80. He was a university professor and used it for his statistical simulations. I learned to program BASIC on it, but never became obsessed with computers (mainly because my father would hardly let anyone touch his computer). When I decided to do a B.A. in economics, my parents were so upset (I was supposed to become an engineer or architect) that they insisted I take programming courses in the summer, which I duly did for several years. After my economics degree I did an engineering degree (I'm a now a professional engineer), and my first jobs were essentially programming jobs, but I would get terrible head-aches. I had a talent for programming, but would become far too focused on it. I haven't done any programming in over 20 years now.

Thanks for tracking down these guys. I love finding out what happened to these people. I'd love to see what happened to that Boston accent guy.

impressive work David!

Your channel is one of the best things I’ve found recently. Internet can be a force of good. All your films are Unpretentious, real and educational. Thank you.

David, thanks for bringing this full circle by tracking down and interviewing Jeff and Jay! I saw your original film but this is like going to a surprise party in the future except that the future is now! How exciting! ❤️

Such a great story! Wonderful family story! Thanks for posting this update!

"once you start you can't stop" lol he was sooo right! I went back to college in 1987 learning computers and programming in different languages and quickly learned that I want to learn everything these things are capable of!! lol

This was cool David. Well done. Full circle.

I was the same age, looked almost the same, and often wore my yellow football jersey and, always, the stripped dolphin shorts. The late '70's was a great time to be a kid.

It’s so awesome to know the rest of the story. I’m sorry that people tracked them down though. That’s creepy. With exception of your investigative skills David. We honor parents that always give their kids the opportunity to be more. This is fun. It would be interesting to do interviews right now when times are more uncertain than in recent history (40 years) and ask what the future looks like.

This is one of the most underrated RU-vid channels.

It’s a wonderful peak back to and you can feel the peace from that time - Just lovely thank you

Thank you for tracking this wonderful family down. Interesting to watch

This is amazing to see, love this kind of content!

That's so cool 😎! I saw your first video and I recognized the little guy. Great video sir! Thank you for the update!

This is so wonderful 👏 🙌🏽We're all honoring your mother now too!! 🙌🏽🙌🏽 Thank you Mr. David Hoffman!

Your videos are amazing. I'm not even from the US, I'm argentinian but it's so interesting to know what people years ago thought and feel, they way they saw and see the world and how they experience it

Thank you for making this video, David!💖

Bless you for this, Mr. Hoffman. I think I'm about a year older than "that kid" and I definitely was neck-deep into programming, at the time the TRS-80 (Model I, naturally). This video put a huge smile on my face. Thank you again.

I got married in 1992 at 19. My wife hated computers and said she will never touch them. I told her she will not have a choice, since she is a nurse. One day everything will be computerized. There will be no cable, all TV will be over the internet when it gets faster. Just download or watch a video over it. Well I was wrong about the no cable. My wife always uses a computer now hooked up to our main TV for all of our entertainment. She does Ancestry, Facebook, watches RU-vid, and we don’t have cable. I have always been into computers, since my first one the Commodore Vic 20 in the summer of 1980. Hooked up to the internet with AOL in 1993 with 5 free hours a month. Was in the beta program with Cincinnati Bell being one of the first 50 families to have DSL with a 768 KB connection. Went from downloading 2 megs that took 14 minutes to DSL that took 30 seconds. What a big leap that was. DSL also freed up the phone line.

This is so awesome, David and everyone involved! Great job and thank you for coming on David's RU-vid and giving the people an update. This is truly wonderful and wholesome to see.

Nothing but quality to be found on this channel. Thanks again David

So great to see this followed up. Thank you

I can't be the only teenager who understands why what he was doing was impressive in 1979. I've always been interested in computers, and when people are interested in something they usually seem to know the history of it, so maybe that's why?

Thank you David, that was fascinating. I watched both parts.... It' s amazing to see 41 years condensed down to several minutes.

This is why this channel is in the RU-vid 1% for quality of content.

Thank you for all you do. Your archives are a treasure and I'm so glad you're posting them. And this video is such a cool follow-up.

I remember this 'kid', wow time flies, it's really cool to see what he was up to and how life went for him.

This was the best “Where are they now?” Thanks again David for great content!

Wow can't thank you so much for this wonderful footage and I hope all is well my friend.

Thank you sooo much for a follow up!! It is so rare someone does this!

That is just so poetic to see. Amazing and talented!

Lol, the guy looks just like his dad back in the '79 video! 😆 🤣 😂

Love this. So happy I found your channel.

Thank you David for these glimpses back in time. It's a great reminder of where we came from what thoughts were back then and a little help in reconciling how we have gotten where we are now.

I really enjoyed this update. Wonderful family, wonderful video.

Wonderful video! Thanks for putting in the work. It was very interesting to witness them reflect on their statements and thoughts back then.

Love the videos and thank you for the update. I remember seeing this when you posted it a long time ago.

Seeing this video takes me back. I was 8 years old in '79. My father worked as a programmer when I was growing up. I was learning Basic early on myself. When I went onto college I didn't bother to further my interest in computers. I had other intersest. I went on to work in Finance. What amazes me though nowadays you can't get around not knowing Tech. It can be death of you in the current work environment. I do miss the simple days when people would interact. Now, it's all through your phone or online. Loved this video! Thanks for sharing.

Love your vids! Keep thinking we met once in Los Angeles.. 20 years ago when I was playing for a Geffen artist. Time flies! Keep up the excellent work my friend

To go full circle it would be amazing to get his daughter on there, and have a similar set up interview to the one from 79.

Very nice followup video, thanks!. I was looking forward to seeing this, and RU-vid bubbled this up in my recommendation :) I truly wonder, if 40 years from now, would we all be digital natives or would we be burnt out from using computers so much that we would go back to our old ways, we would have to watch & see

I literally just watched that clip yesterday from my suggestions, and RU-vid recommends this to me today. Amazing follow up

Wonderful catch up with the father & son . The son is only a few years older than me and I remember in the early 80's my friends saw me as some wizard because I used to write programs in BASIC for my Atari 400 ,the school's BBC Model B and friends' Sinclair ZX81, Spectrum , Commodore 64 & Vic 20 .. At 51, I'm a computer Dunce lol .

Cool retrospective! Now, since I live within an hour or so from Cedar Rapids, I wonder if that building still exists and what purpose it serves over 40 years later.

What a shame that he stopped using the computer. What a rare position that kid was and what a futurist his father was.

I find the burn out factor with kids interesting. When I was a kid I did a lot of sports. I did really well in them. But junior year of high school, I completely burned out. Something I used to do for multiple hours per day - I completely stopped. I started using the family computer more. I got a degree in computer science. And have been doing software development for the past 20 years now. Whenever I met people after that burnout, they were surprised I used to be so into sports.

I spent a few years as a Robotic Technician and I can say that robotics and CNC have eliminated a lot of jobs, and computers and phones have rapidly destroyed the ability for people to socialize face to face. It's disgusting to watch people now whether they're on a date, both transfixed on their phones, or a family reunion where most everyone is on their phones, or just simply sitting around at lunch break at work and everyone is fixated on their devices... I've had enough of watching the decline of civilization... I'm no exception as I sit here filling the void of a lack of social life and companionship. Tech has had a slight benefit to humanity, but is far more detrimental to it

Haha! Fantastic! So glad you guys finally all got caught up, great to see everyone now looking well and healthy (especially considering we're still in the midst of COVID at time of posting!) Great stuff - thanks David 🙂✌️ (and Jay, and Dad AND Mum ... Or Mom as you'd say) 😁

Nice follow up. I always wondered where the kid ended up. Thanks David. I love your videos.

I sometimes forget that you still are a filmmaker. You not only show us the films you made when you were a filmmaker, you still are making them. And you are very very good at it. Thankyou!

God bless his Mom! I hope to be as good with my sons - appreciate the inspiration from way back when to now. Thanks Mrs. Ehrlich! 💗💗💗

Thank you for this great story david👍👍

David, I am so thankful to you for your work. It is history being recorded as it happens, which history books do not do because they are all written in retrospect. God bless you. I hope many young people find your work for many years to come. ❤❤❤

He says he’s not as good of a father but he’s still a good man. The fact he’s able to look back at what he has said in the past and change his mind or grow his perceptions attests to that.

Ok David, you got me on this one. I even upped my Patreon support because you are pure gold. Thank you sir. This was a treat.