SAN FRANCISCO (Diya TV) – Apps have become extremely popular as the majority of people in developed countries have a mobile phone. On their phone, they will have lots of apps – from games to business apps – so it’s a big market for those trying to profit from it. But it’s not an easy task to develop an app. In fact, most businesses hire app developers from UK so they are able to get a high-quality, functioning app to present to their clients. This is because they simply don’t have staff with the skill or knowledge to develop and create an app.
This just goes to show how hard Anvitha Vijay, a 9-year-old girl from Australia, had to work to develop even basic apps at such a young age. She impressed Apple executives so much with her tech skills that they invited her to be the youngest attendee at this year’s Worldwide Developers Conference.
Vijay has already developed numerous basic apps for Apple’s iPhone, iPad and other products.
She first began dreaming of building her own app at age 7, and with the $130 she’d saved her entire life in her piggy bank, she realized she didn’t have enough money to hire the services of a developer for her app. She spent a year watching free tutorials on YouTube and other parts of the web, teaching herself the fundamentals of coding and programming.
“Coding was so challenging,” Vijay said, now two years older. “But I’m so glad I stuck with it.”
Vijay is attending the conference as part of Apple’s scholarship program, which distributes hundreds of free tickets to developers around the world who are creating apps for Apple devices. This year’s scholarship group saw the largest amount of recipients under the age of 18 yet, and a much more diverse crowd than in years past. Of the 350 selected, 120 are students under the age of 18. Submissions for the tickets increase by 215 percent this year, and the amount of applications from those focused on science, math and engineering more than doubled.
The amount of women who applied for the scholarship program this year tripled, and 22 percent of the winners this year are women, which is also a dramatic increase from the previous.
For Vijay, developing apps is about empowering children. The apps she built were inspired by her toddler sister, who was learning how to talk and identify animals. Her first project was an app titled Smartkins Animals App, which uses sounds and flashcards to help children learn the names and sounds of more than 100 animals. She then proceeded to develop a similar app that seeks to teach children about colors.
“Turning an idea for an app involves a lot of hard work,” Vijay explained. “There are so many components to building an app, including prototyping, design and wireframing, user interface design and then coding and testing.”
She’s already begun the development of her next app, which seeks to help kids her age get help with setting personal goals.
