age = min(generate_primes_above(15))

[jadaradix]

That's the wittiest thread title I could come up with. Apologies.

Introduction

My name is James Garner, and I'm 17. I live in Yorkshire in the north of England, and Leeds is my biggest port of call.

I have a very logical mind, which is something which runs in the family. My granddad trained as an engineer but ended up working as a programmer at the BBC. My father's a chemical engineer and now I'm a programmer too.

'bodge' is a word I will use more than anyone else here

When I'm out, I'm always seeing opportunities, which is part of being a good entrepreneur. I can't follow all of them, and I like to work in the IT industry, where I've worked out what's hot and what's not.

At the moment, all my work revolves around other people making Nintendo DS games. How does that work, you ask? They're doing it with my software, which they've paid for. They can use it for free, and they buy it when they know it's for them. I'm very against the trial model that's popular these days.

Check out DS Game Maker: The next step in DS homebrew - Build your ideal game, today!

BIO
I wrote this recently for a specific situation.

James Garner is a 17-year-old British student, developer and serial entrepreneur who has been in the tech business from the age of 13.

James has sold his own software for creating Nintendo DS games in 4 of 5 continents and has shipped 100s of his own kits for DS development all over the world. A textbook will be launched in the US in 2012 which will see his work in thousands of schools.

He is now creating products to allow people to make their own games for every games console, with more than 4 years of experience in the industry.

Outside of video gaming, James runs an expanding freelance business and uses his skills in media, graphic design & web development to bring local companies & charities into the pipeline, and to both enhance and implement their branding & marketing.

Away from business, he loves to play the piano, speak publicly, walk and climb.

Work
I'm a consultant programmer (I programmer for people who pay me per hour or per project), a web developer (both designing and programming), a software developer (writing programs for Windows or for web apps for smart phones and tablets), and a piano player (the least fun bit - sarcasm is subjective).

You can hire me. I work to strict specifications to make sure you get exactly what you want, and on time. I always agree to a price first and my customers are always satisfied. I generally undercut the industry rate by 10 or 20 percent; I don't undervalue my work by working for peanuts.

Two other Projects
I have to commit some time to DS Game Maker, since it 'pays the bills'. I'm working on 2 new projects right now, both of which will launch this year:

Eternium - Home - Eternium
Dark Flow - Make your own Games

Nice to meet you all. As Dumbledore said, there is no 'try'. Do, or do not. I live by that motto.

See you around.

[Starog]

Welcome to the forum James, sounds like you have some great experience behind you and a good work ethic.

Hope TBF proves to be useful for you

[jadaradix]

Thanks a lot Starog. I've got your PM (in the interests of averting dramatic irony here, he's asking for advice on how to start learning to program, what Mac software to use, and what languages). I'm crafting a nice reply ready for tomorrow.

Honestly, when I was younger, I had to work a lot out for myself. I was lucky to meet a friend who had a tiny bit of experience, and now we're pros. But, if I hadn't had that, I think neither of us would have developed any interest in software.

So, I'm glad to help.

What things are you up to?

[SophieM]

Welcome to the community You sound like you're making brilliant progress in the business/programming world!

Are you doing this as well as being in school?

[cecBUSINESS]

Hey James, welcome to TBF. I live in North Yorkshire to, not far from Leeds. What you're doing sounds really cool, being able to program is really good if you're interested in working in startups, plenty of people will take you on.

[jadaradix]

Are you doing this as well as being in school?

I am. I'm in between years 12 and year 13 right now. So, next year will be my last year in school and then I've got to decide whether to go to University or not.

You sound like you're making brilliant progress in the business/programming world!

Thanks for that. Turning programming into a business isn't easy, unless you actually program for the business - where the business is you working as a programmer. But how boring is that?

Programming the software is a small part. Rather there has to be a complete solution, which is where most of the programmers I know stumble a bit. To sell the software, you need a commercial website, which instils faith in the consumer, and has the psychology to get them to buy. You need a support system, discussion forum, and a professional image.

All that said, I am doing something I really enjoy.

What you're doing sounds really cool, being able to program is really good if you're interested in working in start-ups, plenty of people will take you on.

The employment prospects are there, but I'd rather be one of the innovators than work for someone's start-up. Still, the way I do freelance/contract work and run my business simultaneously works well. Whilst the latter builds business skills, the first makes me interact with actual people. That's not exactly something programmers like to do.

[Twistereli]

Always been amazed how young people teach themself how to code.
Usually it ends up in skilled coders that just copy other software, but it looks like you did a great job there... on the coding part but also on the marketing/business side of it.

[cecBUSINESS]

James, yeah well you should try spending some spare time on building your idea, running it as a weekend project etc.

[bond]

Hey James,
Glad you made your way to TBF! Yeah you got some really cool programming skills. What language do you program in mainly? Where do you see yourself in business 5 years from now?

[jadaradix]

What language do you program in mainly?

At the moment I'm mostly writing for the web, so I'm working with PHP and HTML (5) (plus the drag alongs CSS, JS, SQL, jQuery)

When I maintain 'DS Game Maker', I'm working in Visual Basic, which is what I always use to make Windows applications. It's object orientated like Java, but it has great human syntax. Example:

        Dim MyName As String
        MyName = "James"
        MsgBox("Your name is " + MyName)
        If MyName = "James" Then MsgBox("To confirm: You are James.")

The way DS Game Maker works is that it generates the source code of your game, much like the source code you might write if you wrote the game yourself, by hand. From a limited perspective, it's just a code generator. DS games are written in C so I have to write quite a bit of that (and have ultimate understanding of both VB and C, because I'm instructing the computer in one language to generate the other). I'm not using C++ and I recommend against doing so.

Where do you see yourself in business 5 years from now?

I still see myself creating something (note: not necessarily programming). I think I've got a bit more to offer than the ability to write code, and hence my business so far. I'm sure my project Dark Flow and the DSGM book deal will pay well and give me a lot of confidence.

Hopefully in the long run I might start a business in training people to program and contracting these trained developers to companies, much like I do freelance contract work myself.

That would be a 'win-win' for all parties.