From now on, our popular “teen developers” feature will be posted Fridays rather than Thursdays. To kickstart our new schedule, we have Junaid Abdurahman from South Africa!
Could you start by telling me a little about yourself?
I’m 16 years old and live in Durban, South Africa. I currently develop iOS applications and interested in web development. I’m also quite fond of cars, design and photography.
How old were you when you first started programming?
I started programming when I was 13. At the time I didn’t know anyone who programmed and I considered it a bit of a weekend hobby. I’d always been interested in programming though, it was when I got my first iPad (2011) and had access to the App Store that I started to gain interest. My grandfather got a MacBook later that year and I was eager to see what I could build with Xcode. I didn’t have anyone to teach me how to programme so I learnt as much as I could from tutorials I found online. I only had access to the Mac on weekends for about an hour or two so I didn’t have a lot of time to learn and test small apps I made. Progress wasn’t fast due to the limited time I had with the Mac but I tried to make the most of it.
In addition to iOS, do you program in any other languages?
Apart from Objective-C and Swift I don’t program for any other languages as yet. I started learning iOS programming using Objective C and have become increasingly fond of Swift since its release last year. I also hope to learn a bit of HTML in the upcoming December holidays.
Could you tell us a little about your new app, Go Durban?
I don’t want to give too much away until the expected release date. Go Durban is an iPhone app designed to promote the city of Durban but includes much more than a traditional travel application (content and function). I’m also working with many well known brands to make this a must have application for all those in the city, tourists and citizens.
You’re a member of Arlix Technologies, a teen developer community. What’s it like being able to collaborate and get help from fellow programmers?
It’s excellent to be able to communicate with fellow developers of similar age, get to know about developing for other platforms and assist each other on our own projects as well as to combine all our skills to create something great.
Anything else you’d like to add?
The road to success is not easy, obstructions may seem inconvenient but we educate ourselves from them, thus we are able to overcome them with ease in the future. I wouldn’t say that I am where I’d like to be as yet, I think I’m getting pretty close though.
Contact Info
Twitter: @Junaid6305; @GoDurbanApp
Instagram: @Junaid6305; @GoDurbanApp
Junaid’s Hardware
Main Computer: Macbook Pro
Specs: Early 2011; 2 GHz i7; 4 GB of RAM; Intel HD Graphics 3000; AMD Radeon HD 6490M
Smartphone: iPhone 4S
Specs: 32 GB
Tablet: iPad Air 2
Specs: 128 GB; Wifi + Cellular