Are you as likely to wield a mouse as a Frisbee? Surf the Web instead of the waves? The word is, you've got tech skills many adults don't - and firms are offering top dollar for the computer savvy of high schoolers like you. "I hire teens because they've never known a universe without e-mail, cell phones, instant messenging or the Internet," says Raj Goel, president of Brainlink, an Internet service provider in New York City.

Tugrul Galatali, 18, now a freshman at New York University, wasn't looking for a resume builder when he landed an internship with Brainlink. He was broke and bored; funds for college were tight. A friend told him about Brainlink, and he decided to put his network experience to use. His know-how impressed Goel, and, in a few months, Tugrul accrued prestige, responsibility, and bucks - enough to pay for his first year of college. "More than anything," says Tugrul, "my internship led me to a group of friends, great connections and experience in business that gave me a reason for learning I'd never had." Last year, Tugrul recruited a schoolmate, Spike Gronim, to program for Brainlink when he was just 15.

Tamara Metz, 18, was one of three students to win internships last year at E.Volve, an Internet company (now merged with Edge Technologies) in Virginia. Tammy took her computer experience and, with two classmates, devised an application to allow more than one person to simultaneously edit a document. As interns, the group revised their business plan and figured out how to market their product. "The best part was seeing how E.Volve did things," Tammy says. "I learned great managerial skills."

A simple way to start job hunting is to cruise the employment section of company Web sites. For more info, visit the Association for Computing Machinery's site at www.acm.org.

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