14 ms·

How One 17-Year-Old Coded a #1 App and Got Hired by Facebook

126 points by jl87 11y ago

teh_klev 11y ago
Original Pando article from 2014: https://pando.com/2014/04/30/how-a-florida-kids-stupid-app-saved-his-familys-home-and-landed-him-on-the-main-stage-of-facebooks-f8/ https://pando.com/2014/04/30/how-a-florida-kids-stupid-app-s...
- gaius 11y ago
  Be good to see an article on what he's done in the meantime or is working on now.
  - pbhjpbhj 11y ago
    https://www.facebook.com/techprepprogram/videos/938666319504811/ https://www.facebook.com/techprepprogram/videos/938666319504... - posted this month, but it's a fluff piece "follow your dreams [in programming]" type piece rather than a synopsis of his current work efforts. https://www.facebook.com/ms https://www.facebook.com/ms has links to Michael Sayman's website which has all his social links, bet all you'd like to know is in there?
- neogodless 11y ago
  Wow, the original article uses proper English. The version the OP posted seems like a rough derivative. For example, confusing Hustle version: "The next great idea came when Michael watched his younger sister, Mariana, play on her phone. She was basically playing a hacked iOS charades game that Michael had created. The game was to take four photos, slap them into a collage, and make her friends guess the word she was acting out." The much better original... 'Inspiration struck one day while he watched his younger sister Mariana playing on her phone with a friend. She was taking pictures and giggling. “I was texting my friend one day and we were bored so I started sending her a collage of four pictures and making her guess the word and she would do the same,' Mariana Sayman told me. 'Michael saw what I was doing and thought it would be a great idea for an app.' Michael Sayman explained his thinking, 'I knew this was going to be a huge app. I knew it because my sister liked it before it even existed.'"
bsimpson 11y ago
I totally expected this to be about Babel and @sebmck.
aliston 11y ago
But there were only 1,500 apps in the iOS store in March 2010, and his rose into the top ten. That sounds... off by a factor of 100...
- plonh 11y ago
  The pando article says 150,000
plonh 11y ago
And of course , the dev didn't port to Android, so someone made a knockoff for the Play Store.
hashberry 11y ago
Good move Facebook--get them young and put them to work. "It's like being at Disneyland!" he says. I'm jealous of his wide-eyed optimism.
bsaul 11y ago
I hope young people reading that article realize it's talking about someone winning the lottery. There's statistically zero chance that will happen to you, so you'd better work on your exams than code through the night and fail them.
- finyeates 11y ago
  I somewhat disagree. If someone has the passion that they'd rather code than study: They're most likely doing the wrong thing. There needs to be more people chasing their dreams rather then being cranked through the academia process.
  - trymas 11y ago
    TL;DR: imho there should be a balance between catching your passionate goals and broadening your knowledge pool by getting 'normal' education. Many success stories are marginal cases and can be compared to winning a lottery ticket. Well I should agree with both of you. Many success stories must be taken with a grain of salt. Some of them are truly like winning a lottery. Also making idols out of college/school dropouts is not very healthy for society over all. I agree that today you can make descent money by making web/mobile applications, but do not think that you will be a millionaire or be hired by google/facebook/apple/etc within a year. But if you are passionate about something you should (or even must) pursue it. IMHO marginal cases should not be idolised. I have seen too many people who believe that every one can code, though ignoring that software development requires great knowledge and education (formal or informal).
  - bsaul 11y ago
    Haven't ever had any teacher telling you to do something you didn't like to do, and then once you've done it, you realize how much better you've become at a given subject ? That's also a part of learning, and a part of the advantage of having a teacher. Sometimes, you need to do things you don't like in the short term, that will prove to be an excellent thing in the long term. Now i'm not saying someone shouldn't code in their spare time. Just don't trash your exams for it. Keep a balance. Maybe in a few years you'll realize you'll want to become a doctor and save lives rather than create video games. Keep the doors open.
test1235 11y ago
I wonder if a 30-year old did this, they'd get hired, too?
- pjmlp 11y ago
  No, because they would have a life and learned the abuse corporations put their employes through.
  - ZanyProgrammer 11y ago
    I think the parent comment was referring to ageism in the hiring process in Silicon Valley.
    - pjmlp 11y ago
      Yes, and a reason why they only hire very young people is that they haven't yet learned that saying yes to everything or putting employer before the private life won't help them in the long run.
- FLUX-YOU 11y ago
  It's difficult to know without more specifics of why he got the full-time position. It's a great accomplishment for him but his app didn't sound as technically rigorous as the interview or job requirements Facebook would give a 30-something. It's probably the same reason the news finds teenagers passing college calculus/physics fascinating but not so with 30 year olds. His app could have also solved a lot of technical problems that 30 year olds couldn't in interviews and maybe he blew through Facebook's technical interviews easily.
- tootie 11y ago
  A grown-up wouldn't get sympathy from the enterprise sales team at Parse.
- notahacker 11y ago
  If part of a sufficiently well-connected seed funded startup team that didn't have a business plan beyond hitting the top ten in the App Store, there's a realistic prospect they'd be acqui-hired at a cost of >£1m per person to Facebook. Getting a teenager who's done it the hard way, probably for a fraction of that outlay, sounds like a smart move.
deleted 11y ago
[deleted]
detay 11y ago
"How one 42 year old coded a #1 app and was not hired by facebook because of age discrimination" would be a better title.
- eckza 11y ago
  Mark Zuckerberg's face could not be more full of Botox.
- serge2k 11y ago
  No no, just clearly not up to the hiring bar. because reasons. tree algorithms or something.
GFischer 11y ago
I am impressed by his determination. The Pando article says it best: "Sayman's experience is one that perhaps could only be entirely appreciated here in Silicon Valley, where entrepreneurship, ingenuity, and building something out of nothing, or rather, out of lines of code, still holds cult-like status, for good or ill. Sayman doesn’t even seem to understand the power of his story. He got his app where it is today not with millions or even thousands in venture capital. He didn’t get it where it is with Silicon Valley connections or hookups to the magic elves who pick what’s featured in the iOS app store. He didn’t get it with a team of developers or designers or a co-founder or even an incorporated company. He didn't even get it there with natural technical talent. Instead, it took sheer force of will and a refusal to back down to any of the obstacles he faced. That, and an unholy faith in the power of Google to answer his questions." "“I watch my son, every night and every single day, staying up until 4 or 5 am, working on the app, doing his homework, sleeping two or three hours, and then going to school,” Cristina Sayman says. " I'm sad to say, I don't do this :( , I struggle to find that much willpower, even though I believe in what I'm building.
- degenerate 11y ago
  Don't fall into the trap of thinking that insane productivity == success though. Remember this article that was posted last week on HN: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10423455 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10423455
- thirdsun 11y ago
  > > “I watch my son, every night and every single day, staying up until 4 or 5 am, working on the app, doing his homework, sleeping two or three hours, and then going to school,” Cristina Sayman says. " > I'm sad to say, I don't do this :( , I struggle to find that much willpower, even though I believe in what I'm building. It's great to have ambition and follow through with a project but staying up all night, sleeping 3 hours and going to school completely tired isn't the way to do it, not healthy at all and it shouldn't be encouraged. No reason to be sad - save your willpower for reasonable hours.
  - badllama 11y ago
logingone 11y ago
Is this a comment on the kid, or on facebook?

126 points by jl87 11y ago

Original Pando article from 2014: https://pando.com/2014/04/30/how-a-florida-kids-stupid-app-saved-his-familys-home-and-landed-him-on-the-main-stage-of-facebooks-f8/ https://pando.com/2014/04/30/how-a-florida-kids-stupid-app-s...

gaius 11y ago
Be good to see an article on what he's done in the meantime or is working on now.
- pbhjpbhj 11y ago
  https://www.facebook.com/techprepprogram/videos/938666319504811/ https://www.facebook.com/techprepprogram/videos/938666319504... - posted this month, but it's a fluff piece "follow your dreams [in programming]" type piece rather than a synopsis of his current work efforts. https://www.facebook.com/ms https://www.facebook.com/ms has links to Michael Sayman's website which has all his social links, bet all you'd like to know is in there?
neogodless 11y ago
Wow, the original article uses proper English. The version the OP posted seems like a rough derivative. For example, confusing Hustle version: "The next great idea came when Michael watched his younger sister, Mariana, play on her phone. She was basically playing a hacked iOS charades game that Michael had created. The game was to take four photos, slap them into a collage, and make her friends guess the word she was acting out." The much better original... 'Inspiration struck one day while he watched his younger sister Mariana playing on her phone with a friend. She was taking pictures and giggling. “I was texting my friend one day and we were bored so I started sending her a collage of four pictures and making her guess the word and she would do the same,' Mariana Sayman told me. 'Michael saw what I was doing and thought it would be a great idea for an app.' Michael Sayman explained his thinking, 'I knew this was going to be a huge app. I knew it because my sister liked it before it even existed.'"

bsimpson 11y ago

I totally expected this to be about Babel and @sebmck.

aliston 11y ago

But there were only 1,500 apps in the iOS store in March 2010, and his rose into the top ten. That sounds... off by a factor of 100...

plonh 11y ago
The pando article says 150,000

plonh 11y ago

And of course , the dev didn't port to Android, so someone made a knockoff for the Play Store.

hashberry 11y ago

Good move Facebook--get them young and put them to work. "It's like being at Disneyland!" he says. I'm jealous of his wide-eyed optimism.

bsaul 11y ago

I hope young people reading that article realize it's talking about someone winning the lottery. There's statistically zero chance that will happen to you, so you'd better work on your exams than code through the night and fail them.

finyeates 11y ago
I somewhat disagree. If someone has the passion that they'd rather code than study: They're most likely doing the wrong thing. There needs to be more people chasing their dreams rather then being cranked through the academia process.
- trymas 11y ago
  TL;DR: imho there should be a balance between catching your passionate goals and broadening your knowledge pool by getting 'normal' education. Many success stories are marginal cases and can be compared to winning a lottery ticket. Well I should agree with both of you. Many success stories must be taken with a grain of salt. Some of them are truly like winning a lottery. Also making idols out of college/school dropouts is not very healthy for society over all. I agree that today you can make descent money by making web/mobile applications, but do not think that you will be a millionaire or be hired by google/facebook/apple/etc within a year. But if you are passionate about something you should (or even must) pursue it. IMHO marginal cases should not be idolised. I have seen too many people who believe that every one can code, though ignoring that software development requires great knowledge and education (formal or informal).
- bsaul 11y ago
  Haven't ever had any teacher telling you to do something you didn't like to do, and then once you've done it, you realize how much better you've become at a given subject ? That's also a part of learning, and a part of the advantage of having a teacher. Sometimes, you need to do things you don't like in the short term, that will prove to be an excellent thing in the long term. Now i'm not saying someone shouldn't code in their spare time. Just don't trash your exams for it. Keep a balance. Maybe in a few years you'll realize you'll want to become a doctor and save lives rather than create video games. Keep the doors open.

test1235 11y ago

I wonder if a 30-year old did this, they'd get hired, too?

pjmlp 11y ago
No, because they would have a life and learned the abuse corporations put their employes through.
- ZanyProgrammer 11y ago
  I think the parent comment was referring to ageism in the hiring process in Silicon Valley.
  - pjmlp 11y ago
    Yes, and a reason why they only hire very young people is that they haven't yet learned that saying yes to everything or putting employer before the private life won't help them in the long run.
FLUX-YOU 11y ago
It's difficult to know without more specifics of why he got the full-time position. It's a great accomplishment for him but his app didn't sound as technically rigorous as the interview or job requirements Facebook would give a 30-something. It's probably the same reason the news finds teenagers passing college calculus/physics fascinating but not so with 30 year olds. His app could have also solved a lot of technical problems that 30 year olds couldn't in interviews and maybe he blew through Facebook's technical interviews easily.
tootie 11y ago
A grown-up wouldn't get sympathy from the enterprise sales team at Parse.
notahacker 11y ago
If part of a sufficiently well-connected seed funded startup team that didn't have a business plan beyond hitting the top ten in the App Store, there's a realistic prospect they'd be acqui-hired at a cost of >£1m per person to Facebook. Getting a teenager who's done it the hard way, probably for a fraction of that outlay, sounds like a smart move.

deleted 11y ago

[deleted]

detay 11y ago

"How one 42 year old coded a #1 app and was not hired by facebook because of age discrimination" would be a better title.

eckza 11y ago
Mark Zuckerberg's face could not be more full of Botox.
serge2k 11y ago
No no, just clearly not up to the hiring bar. because reasons. tree algorithms or something.

GFischer 11y ago

I am impressed by his determination. The Pando article says it best: "Sayman's experience is one that perhaps could only be entirely appreciated here in Silicon Valley, where entrepreneurship, ingenuity, and building something out of nothing, or rather, out of lines of code, still holds cult-like status, for good or ill. Sayman doesn’t even seem to understand the power of his story. He got his app where it is today not with millions or even thousands in venture capital. He didn’t get it where it is with Silicon Valley connections or hookups to the magic elves who pick what’s featured in the iOS app store. He didn’t get it with a team of developers or designers or a co-founder or even an incorporated company. He didn't even get it there with natural technical talent. Instead, it took sheer force of will and a refusal to back down to any of the obstacles he faced. That, and an unholy faith in the power of Google to answer his questions." "“I watch my son, every night and every single day, staying up until 4 or 5 am, working on the app, doing his homework, sleeping two or three hours, and then going to school,” Cristina Sayman says. " I'm sad to say, I don't do this :( , I struggle to find that much willpower, even though I believe in what I'm building.

degenerate 11y ago
Don't fall into the trap of thinking that insane productivity == success though. Remember this article that was posted last week on HN: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10423455 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10423455
thirdsun 11y ago
> > “I watch my son, every night and every single day, staying up until 4 or 5 am, working on the app, doing his homework, sleeping two or three hours, and then going to school,” Cristina Sayman says. " > I'm sad to say, I don't do this :( , I struggle to find that much willpower, even though I believe in what I'm building. It's great to have ambition and follow through with a project but staying up all night, sleeping 3 hours and going to school completely tired isn't the way to do it, not healthy at all and it shouldn't be encouraged. No reason to be sad - save your willpower for reasonable hours.
- badllama 11y ago

logingone 11y ago

Is this a comment on the kid, or on facebook?