Jacob Hotchkiss’ curiosity about computers started in high school after he and a friend had gotten bored of playing Xbox and paying $60 for the Xbox live membership every year. “We were trying to think what we wanted to do,” the Port Neches junior says. “My friend said, ‘Well, I’ve been wanting to build for a while.’ I thought, that’s perfect, let’s build computers.” Jacob began to dig around online and look for parts to start up his new hobby, but soon realized computer building is expensive. “We had to decide what we wanted and didn’t want, because building computers is all about budgeting,” he says. “(The parts) for our first computer cost around $900.” Jacob sold his first computer to a friend for $500. Building and selling computers is something that he’s thought about doing in the future as a hobby and it inspired him to be an electrical engineering major. “You know, some people flip houses and sell them,” Jacob says. “Maybe I can flip computers and sell them — who knows?”