You can train and run small models on an old gpu. That’s what I’m doing now at, well, much older than 17. Does it produce a useful model? No. Not even remotely.

However, I do learn stuff about models that takes it from “magic” to “useful tool I understand the limitations of.”

Do I do it for that reason? No not really, I’ve never had luck learning something because it would be good for my career. I do it because at my core I’m a bored teenager who wants to make the computer do cool shit.