This Young App Developer's Story Proves It's Never Too 'Early' To Code According to Tanmay, being one of the youngest app developers never gave him extra leverage and had to earn everything the hard way.
By Sugandh Bahl
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Computer programmer and artificial intelligence (AI) expert Tanmay Bakshi has developed multiple apps, published a book, hosted a TEDx Talk and even spoke at IBM Watson summits across the globe. There is nothing extraordinary about it... Unless you get to know that he is only 14! "I was five, when I regularly watched my father writing codes. It was like magic. At that time, even putting my name on the screen or adding two numbers was fascinating," the whiz kid says. However, it was Tanmay's father who intuited his talent and got him into coding and programming at a very early age. "Initially, he taught me FoxPro and batch."
Within months, he developed his first app tTables, which aids you to learn multiplications and tables. According to Tanmay, being one of the youngest app developers never gave him extra leverage and had to earn everything the hard way. tTable faced several rejections before it was finally released on the App Store in February 2013. AI gives him an adrenaline rush and the day he became aware of the technology, it instantly cured him of boredom. "I was immediately hooked to IBM Watson and AI," he recalls.
The first AI integrated app "Ask Tanmay' was released on IBM Watson within weeks, with him becoming the youngest Watson developer. The app responds back to questions by weighing the best possible answers. "I do have a goal to reach out to at least 100,000 beginners, and help them innovate along their journey of learning to code. In fact, I'm already around 7,400 people there," informs Tanmay, who runs his own YouTube channel – Tanmay Teaches and maintains a blog. "It is very satisfying to see people getting inspired," believes Tanmay.
Speaking of school, he says he never had to create a balance between his studies and passion, as he has been homeschooled, allowing him flexibility with his schedule. "Also, no matter what I am learning, I try to integrate it whenever possible," he says. Tanmay also likes to do biking, play table tennis and recently, he is trying to pick up cricket as a hobby. Former England cricketer coach Jeremy Snape emailed him wanting to interview him, which immediately got him super excited.
(This article was first published in the May issue of Entrepreneur Magazine. To subscribe, click here)
