We need your help now
Support from readers like you keeps The Journal open.
You are visiting us because we have something you value. Independent, unbiased news that tells the truth. Advertising revenue goes some way to support our mission, but this year it has not been enough.
If you've seen value in our reporting, please contribute what you can, so we can continue to produce accurate and meaningful journalism. For everyone who needs it.
Sign in. It’s quick, free and it’s up to you.
An account is an optional way to support the work we do. Find out more.
By continuing, you are indicating that you accept our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.
JORDAN CASEY FIRST came to our attention last year as an incredibly composed 13-year-old entrepreneur pitching his company (yes, his own company) on RTÉ’s Junior Dragon’s Den.
Since then, the Waterford teenager has been on his travels, he tells TheJournal.ie.
He was invited to Apple and Google’s headquarters, spoke at the prestigious TEDxYouth conference in India, and met Jack Dorsey, the co-founder of Twitter.
Last May, he was a speaker at TieCon in Silicon Valley, California, one of the world’s largest conferences for entrepreneurs.
There, he says, he met Jeff Weiner, the CEO of LinkedIn, and “did some work with Adobe.” Haven’t we all.
‘The age thing can be a bit weird’
Now, the “founder, CEO, programmer and designer” of Casey Games, is appearing at the Dublin Web Summit, which takes place from 4-6 November.
Casey will be there as a mentor to 20 secondary school students taking part in Hatch, a workshop for young people with an interest in technology and programming.
All the applicants in the “incubator” had to be at least 16 years old.
Casey, their mentor, is 14.
“The age thing can be a bit weird,” he admits, but that won’t stop him participating in his second consecutive Web Summit.
He’s hugely enthusiastic about Hatch, as he is about anything that encourages young people to get involved in coding and programming.
[Coding] can be really intimidating when you first look at it, so you have to break it down, and start to learn the basic language.
It’s also really important that parents support their children in doing it, because they often don’t understand what it is.
The next level
At the Web Summit, Casey will also be unveiling what he calls “a new initiative for event managers”, which will do for them what the teenager did for teachers with TeachWare.
The web-based application to help teachers keep track of student profiles, classroom attendances, and exam results, forms part of the Casey Games portfolio, along with four games, including the hugely popular Alien Ball vs Humans.
And Casey Games is expanding.
The website says the company is undergoing a “massive rebranding”, something technology firms do all the time.
But the reason for the delay surely has to go down as a first for tech CEOs.
I’m taking some time out from it this year, so I can do my Junior Cert.
Then, he’ll consolidate the company, launch an expansion (starting with his soon-to-be announced application for event managers), and move into the next phase of Casey Games.
Then, I’ll do my Leaving Cert and finish secondary school, but I’m not sure about college.It depends on how things are going at that stage.
My dream would be to go somewhere with a good start-up situation, like London or maybe Dublin, and just do what I do.
Watch this space.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
Fair play young dude
We need to teach coding at a young age. Take religion out of primary school and introduce very basic programming to kids. It should also be availible for junior and leaving cert. I am learning C# at the moment and really regret i have not learnt to code at a younger age.
The poor kid , he is very young to be getting into the dog eat dog. We idolise tech “leaders” so much today , I hope he isn’t chewed up in the cogs
Is there an adult version of coder dojo anywhere? Don’t know if I would like to do it as a career but wouldn’t mind learning the basics. Coder dojo seems like a nice way to do that but don’t wana be shown up by a bunch of ten ye old! ;-)
Plenty of courses you can pay for. I’m not sure how many people will dedicate time to teach adults for free. Although there’s a huge amount of free courses online… Do a google for “mooc” to get started.
Didn’t realise coder dojo was free. Wouldn’t mind paying for a few casual classes but going as far as a night course seems a big commitment considering I know some people who did entire college courses and hated every minute. Will try some of the online options. Cheers.
edx.org have a brilliant free online course from Harvard cs50 i think its what it is called. Also FAS e collage do a great “Changing yyour carer to the I.T sector online. It prepares you to get a MTA qualification in Networking, Software development, or Database analysis. Its free if you are on job seekers and its not too expensive if you are working. I am doing both courses and they compliment each other very well.
Have a look at night classes in your local community schools. Usually quite cheap and no long term commitment. I think usually 8-10 weeks at about a tenner a week.
Best of luck, I really hope it works out for you.
And forget about people who did comp sci and hated it. Massive overgeneralisation here on my part but I find they only did comp sci ‘cos computers are easy’ without knowing what they were getting into. If you have the interest then you already have a much better chance of success than them!
Give this a lash Barry, http://www.codecademy.com
Maybe skip the HTML/CSS course and try the Javascript or one of the others first.
Thanks for all the help. Loads to look at there. Maybe the first thing I’ll do when I’m able to program is create an education comparison site! There’s so much out there, some offering certifications some just the training and knowledge.
In people’s experience if you can show that you can code and write your own programs/apps/websites whatever, do employers look for proof of training? Does someone in the workplace who may be just as able and “self” taught earn as much as someone who has a degree or diploma or does the lack of paperwork hold people back?
It’s helpful to have certifications in order to get the foot in the door but not essential. I’m self-learned and am an engineer in one of the biggest IT companies in the world. But I started at a technician in PC World.
There are also one year conversion courses you can do that might be worth looking into if you already have a level 8 degree in another area and are in the position where you can spend a year in college. As far as I know most of them are being paid for by the government because there’s a skills shortage.
Codecademy.com go learn a language… I bet you enjoy it and I bet you will want to learn more!!
This is a new one- I was expecting to read The Journal comments section had won the Nigerian lotto!!
CHRIST APOSTOLIC CHURCH(C.A.C) CREDIT UNION
Email: cacinternationalloanfirm@gmail.com
Head office Address……Dalston 52 Ashwin Street F9 7DL, united states
========================================================================
Hello, I bring greetings from the Lord to everyone here. I am a senior pastor of C.A.C and a Zonal Overseer of C.A.C Credit Union. I am here to announce to you that C.A.C Credit Union is giving out secure and affordable special xmans loan package to all believer’s in Christ anywhere in the world both individuals and organization’s for as low as 3% interest rate for whatever purpose you want to use it for be it business or personal. C.A.C credit union was originally set up to assist all it’s members worldwide who may be going through some financial challenges to get a soft loan to meet up with their challenges. We know that as this year come to an end, all believer’s in Christ might be needing funds for various purposes. For this reason, we have decided to extend our loan services to both members and none members of C.A.C worldwide. We offer both personal and business loans with capital base between the amounts of $1,000.00 to $50,000,000.00 US Dollars Or GB Pounds. The most interesting thing is that NO COLLATERAL NEEDED. NO HIDDEN CHARGES. All you need do is get a third part PPI to secure your loan. Wow! God is telling you that it is not too late. you can still achieve what you want to achieve before the year ends. Grab this opportunity and make this year your year of financial breakthrough. Hurry now and and contact us via email ( cacinternationalloanfirm@gmail.com )
GOD BLESS YOU as I await to here from you
Rev. Dolphy Anderson
Zonal Overseer(C.A.C) Credit Union
have your say