Young and Coding

On the 7^th and 8^th of June 2013 @ilab Africa hosted the Intel Developers App lab. In attendance were very many experienced Android developers, in this lot showed up Joseph Musembi and Fabian Kiprop. What so special about this two individuals you ask; well the fact that they are in Nairobi School (yes high school) might raise a few eye browse – it certainly raised mine. I decided to have a little chat with them and find out more about them and their passion for Android programming. 

They ventured into programming mainly because to them it is easy, exciting and it provides lasting solutions to long standing problems. They also have a background in IT straight from Primary school where they worked around computers during their free time. They acknowledge IT is a wide subject matter but to them software is “king” runs all processes and solves every issue that might arise.

Android was their development environment of choice due to its penetration in the Kenyan market, they quoted the fact that most people have android powered phones. And also due to the fact that android is pretty much java and you only need basic java knowledge.  They have developed demo games and software (Shoppers central) which links buyers to retailers to access prices of commodities and also buy said commodities; this is available as a functional demo. 

Another inspiring thing about these young individuals is due to the fact that they are in the process of patenting their software. This although is done by the help of their teachers but they insist the main idea to do so came from them and their belief in their work.

They draw inspiration from friends and family as their father and brothers are IT fanatics. Their journey with IT dates back to after they cleared K.C.P.E as they waited for their results. They started small with simple HTML websites which they credit to have brought them this far in their journey. 

The Intel Developers App lab was of great help to them as they met experienced developers that helped them tackle a stumbling block that initially made them attend the event and also they learnt basic Cygwin and how to use Intel to maximize the usability of applications. In school they access the internet every once in a while when they are free and the most visited websites are (not Facebook) ihub, nailab and ilab, incubators mostly and forums. They are Computer Studies Pupils and they are currently preparing for their K.C.S.E. This represents their biggest challenge in balancing between school and their passion.

Their future plans/ aspirations are to start an IT firm together that deals with real life software solutions. They opt for mobile technology mostly due to its penetration in the market and also it keeps evolving as they like to tackle challenges in their quest to be the best.

Their parting shot was to advice anyone in the Developers world to let their passion be their drive and also the quoted Thomas Edison “I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work.”