Game Development for Kids. A fun an exciting way to learn to code!

Find out more about Jay

• Can you tell us about your first experience using a computer?

  My father got my first computer when I was 11 years old. It was a Pentium III running Windows 98 if I remember right. Even though my father got it so that I can browse Encyclopedias like Encarta and Britannica, I mainly used it to play DOS games! Beautiful memories. I started picking up programming when I was 13 when I started playing around with VB.NET and started building calculators and tiny games of my own. I'm grateful for my parents for gifting me a computer at a young age, which exposed me to the endless possibilities it brought on to my life.

• What is the technological evolution that has marked you most and what will be, in your eyes, a turning point in this field?

  In my opinion, Virtual and Augmented Reality marked a milestone in computing. It redefined how we experienced the world around us and how we could experience virtual worlds from the comfort of our homes. In the near future, we will be wearing glasses with AR-powered lenses that will display Heads-Up information on the go. Google Glass was a step in that direction and soon all the companies will invest deeply in this, followed by contact lenses with the same functionality. This will overlay a virtual information-driven world on top of our reality, augmenting and simplifying everyday tasks. I'm excited for this transcendence!

• Explain your expertise, your interest in it, and, more broadly, its importance in the computer world.

  My expertise is focusing on computer programming and video game design. Computer programming is literally the code behind every technological marvel we use in this day and age. Every app, every device, every website, and every online service we use is driven by thousands of lines of code that come together in unison to create a cohesive carnival of functionality. My interest in programming began when I started writing my own tiny software applications when I was in school. Seeing a program work on its own, carrying out tasks fascinated me. This eventually got me into robotics programming as well. My interest in games development began as a creative release and for quenching my thirst for creating virtual worlds stuck in my head. I wanted to bring them to life and see other people enjoy them, which prompted me to teach myself programming and get started with all the crazy ideas!

• Do so-called 'visionaries', such as Bill Gates, Steve Jobs and Mark Zuckerberg inspire you or do you have other role models?

  They definitely inspire me but I believe that you should strive to learn from everyone and not just from a selected group of people. I have diversified my role models and I learn from anyone who's willing to teach. My youtube subscription list is a varied list of people who are experts in different fields. They are good at what they do and I'm here for it!

• What would you say to an uncomfortable person in front of a screen who says that "IT is too complicated"?

  I would always encourage them by saying that it gets easier the more you play with it! It is complicated, for sure. But unlike other fields, IT has a smaller learning curve with the right way of teaching. Investing a bit of time into tinkering around with it creates familiarity. It's a 'contact sport', as I'd like to call it. You have to be in touch with it and invest time to experiment and learn on your own. And for anyone who's willing to learn, I'm here to teach them the magic recipes!

• What are your other passions, related or non-related to computers?

  One of my biggest dreams is to work with Sony PlayStation as a certified PlayStation video game developer. I want to start up my own games studio in Australia and work with Sony to bring amazing new gaming experiences to life for the PlayStation. Storytelling is one of my favourite things to do. I have an Instagram dedicated to telling video stories to a follower base on a daily basis. I post videos on topics such as skills and personal development and my followers enjoy them a lot. I hope someday I can work with Sony! :)