Every individual has a deep desire to change the world for the better when they are young. In the past, this desire was often postponed or forgotten due to the lack of affordable or available tools. For instance, even a decade ago, becoming successful app developers was hard for most of youngsters.
Fortunately, the lay of the land has changed: as the world is becoming more digital, software-reliant, and smartphone-driven, different aspects of our life and business require custom mobile apps and software; the tools to make them are accessible and open to the public, and so is the knowledge.
This spurred major change, and the world welcomed its first successful young app developers: teenage girls and boys around the world simply went to bookstores for coding manuals, learnt to code by themselves, and eventually brought big and small changes to important sectors like healthcare and education — not to mention software and app development.
Young App Developers — Brittany Wenger
(First foray into software development — artificial neural network that teaches people how to play soccer)
Brittany Wenger appeared in the talented app developers spotlight at the age of 19 — later than most of her peers. Nevertheless, she decided to invest her time and effort into something more complex than a news app or the iPhone app development of games, the common choices of her peers.
Over the years, Wenger had been learning coding and neural networks; at 17 she developed an artificial brain software technology that assesses tissues for brain cancer and detects the disease with 99% accuracy. The software won Wegner the Google Science Fair award in 2012, put her on Time’s 30 under 30 list, and opened the doors to a TED speech.
Finally, Wegner arrived at app development, launching Cloud4Cancer — a custom mobile application that allows doctors to upload their own research data into a single pool to contribute to the universal fight with the malevolent disease.
“If you’re interested, go for it! There have never been so many available resources or opportunities—for women, and for society as a whole—to pursue a career in the field. […] There’s no greater feeling than solving a problem and seeing your code come to life.”
Brittany Wenger on choosing to code
Presently, Wegner is pursuing a PhD in pediatric oncology, but it’s unlikely that she will leave healthcare software development or app development behind. The world and the healthcare industry, like any other industry, will rely on software and custom mobile app development in the future — to solve complex problems or streamline a wide number of operations. Thus, app developers like Wengner will remain in high demand for many years to come.
Young App Developers — Arjun Kumar
(First foray into software development — a prototype app that sends location details upon receiving a specifically formatted message)
Like healthcare, education is a life-saving sector — having at least a basic school education is crucial in the modern world, especially in regions with limited access to it. From classrooms to courtyards to simply travelling to educational establishments, any facet of the educational system can benefit in a big way from meaningful software and app development.
Arjun Kumar, another 12-year-old in the ranks of very young app developers, thought in a similar vein. He decided to tap into the aspect of schooling that welcomes more comfort and security — riding a school bus. Kumar had built the Ez School Bus locator — a custom mobile app that allows parents to check if their child successfully boarded the bus and track the vehicle’s movement from start to finish on the in-app map.
My advice to other young people [who are interested in becoming app developers— Intellectsoft] is this: Look for problems around you, and get inspired from them. You’ll see a lot of opportunities to use your skills to make this world a better place to live!
Arjun Kumar’s advice to young app developers
The app won Kumar the much sought-after contest of Massachusetts Institute of Technology — MIT App Contest. Five years after, Kumar’s company offers an all around school bus tracking software solution (as well as a custom mobile app for schools). Parents receive notifications when their child boards and unboards the bus, and can even use a “dialer phone” to track the vehicle and the child, and more. In turn, educational establishments can control the bus fleet, gather useful data, and leverage a wide array of other options.
We will continue sharing young app developers success stories in the following posts.