4 ms·

I find it exceedingly improbable that this was in fact done by an 11-year old as it's being claimed to be ("how I can improve _my_ version 1.0", etc.). My best

I find it exceedingly improbable that this was in fact done by an 11-year old as it's being claimed to be ("how I can improve _my_ version 1.0", etc.). My best guess is that it was done in a heavy collaboration with a professional developer(s) with the kid being used as a figure head to create an unique PR and marketing angle. If you look up the company registration data, it shows up as being established back in the 90s by someone with the same last name and listing their position as a "system analyst". If you look through the Twitter stream, it does not read like something written by a child, even a very mature one. Ditto for the copy on the website, including the About page and what not. Basically, this looks too good to be true as described. Realistically speaking.

1_player 5y ago
One Twitter message of theirs reads "WOW THIS IS SO EMPOWERING", and a quote from Steve Jobs about changing the world. I am 34 years old and I have a hard time finding a use for that word as it is, I can't really imagine 11 years old me grasping the concept of "empowerment". I was already writing (some) C at that age, I felt like a cool kid because I managed to paint the screen red in Turbo C++, but not so much to have the maturity and foresight of opening a whole business, create an MVP, market it, and ask Paul Graham for advice. But what do I know.
- Azaan 5y ago
  Friend, Aged 10, I passed my GCSE Mathematics exam with the highest possible grade, an A Star (Grade 9). I am one of the youngest boys in the 33+ year history of the exam to have achieved this. We are all born with different abilities and talent. I suck at sports but excel in Mathematics and Sciences etc https://educational-life.org/ten-year-old-maths-whizz-gets-highest-grade-gcse/ https://educational-life.org/ten-year-old-maths-whizz-gets-h...
  - jackhalford 5y ago
    this « article » and the whole website feels odd. It looks like a news website but the articles all look like paid marketing placements.
    - Azaan 5y ago
      Friend don't be so cynical.
      - eps 5y ago
        > Friend don't be cynical. ... and if one needs an explicit confirmation that it was someone older than 11-year old posting all this, here it is. Phrasing, voc and the tone - none of it correlates with what a kid would say, leave alone to an adult stranger.
        dang 5y ago
        Please stop this, all of you. You should all be ashamed of yourselves, goading and piling on an 11-year-old. Even if you're 100% correct, none of that would be his fault—taking it out on the kid is shoddy, and also childish in its own right. The proper response is to be warm, receptive, and encouraging down the path of actual learning and creation. Get him talking about the details of the project that he finds most interesting, get him technically engaged, direct the focus away from age-achievement. Then maybe something good comes of it.
        huhtenberg 5y ago
        Daniel, I don't believe for a second that the site at a link could've been developed by an 11-year-old child. That's just not possible. However it is presented as such, and pretty aggressively at that. Some of his comments here could've not been written by a child either, that's pretty bloody obvious if you are to take just take an impartial look. This whole project has a very strong smell of manipulation and sock-puppetry. I am all for encouraging anyone to get better at things they are genuinely interested in, but being warm and receptive to blatant mis-representation of one's work is not the right thing to do. It sends the exact opposite of the right signal.
        dang 5y ago
        Azaan's comments could obviously have been written by a smart 11-year-old. Even if you're right on the facts, punishing the child for it is exactly the opposite of what you should be doing.
  - honkdaddy 5y ago
    To what extent did your father's experience building a global trading platform influence the creation of this platform, Azaan?
    - dang 5y ago
      You're seriously breaking the site guidelines. Please read them and stick to the rules. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html Note this one: "Have curious conversation; don't cross-examine." And above all, this one: "Be kind". As for cross-examining an 11-year-old - what kind of community do you guys think this is supposed to be? Please re-read the guidelines repeatedly.
      - honkdaddy 5y ago
        You're right dang - apologies.
honkdaddy 5y ago
>Luckily Azaan’s not the only technically minded member of his family. His father had already built a global trading platform, and so he was perfectly positioned to help his son with this next challenge. Ah, there it is.
cupofcoffee 5y ago
Haha yup. Wait until you check this out: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NWONeJKn6kc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NWONeJKn6kc ML course by a 15 year old!
magicink81 5y ago
At least the kid is learning about marketing.
pupppet 5y ago
This should not have been voted down to oblivion. He's described himself as "founder" and everyone here is assuming he coded and designed the entire product.
dang 5y ago
Come on you guys (where by "you guys" I mean not just commenters but upvoters). Beating up on an 11 year old because he may have gotten some help from his dad, or whoever, is cheap, mean, and low. This makes me ashamed of HN, and seeing it upvoted to the top of the thread is a reminder of one of the worst failure modes this place has. The big-pizzazz "I'm $age and I did $thing" story has forever included the dimension of implicit parental help. It was true at science fairs when I was Azaan's age and it's been true as long as HN has been around. Who cares? It's no reason to take your resentment out on the kid. What sort of a community are we trying to be here? Not this sort, that's for sure.

1_player 5y ago

One Twitter message of theirs reads "WOW THIS IS SO EMPOWERING", and a quote from Steve Jobs about changing the world. I am 34 years old and I have a hard time finding a use for that word as it is, I can't really imagine 11 years old me grasping the concept of "empowerment". I was already writing (some) C at that age, I felt like a cool kid because I managed to paint the screen red in Turbo C++, but not so much to have the maturity and foresight of opening a whole business, create an MVP, market it, and ask Paul Graham for advice. But what do I know.

Azaan 5y ago
Friend, Aged 10, I passed my GCSE Mathematics exam with the highest possible grade, an A Star (Grade 9). I am one of the youngest boys in the 33+ year history of the exam to have achieved this. We are all born with different abilities and talent. I suck at sports but excel in Mathematics and Sciences etc https://educational-life.org/ten-year-old-maths-whizz-gets-highest-grade-gcse/ https://educational-life.org/ten-year-old-maths-whizz-gets-h...
- jackhalford 5y ago
  this « article » and the whole website feels odd. It looks like a news website but the articles all look like paid marketing placements.
  - Azaan 5y ago
    Friend don't be so cynical.
    - eps 5y ago
      > Friend don't be cynical. ... and if one needs an explicit confirmation that it was someone older than 11-year old posting all this, here it is. Phrasing, voc and the tone - none of it correlates with what a kid would say, leave alone to an adult stranger.
      - dang 5y ago
        Please stop this, all of you. You should all be ashamed of yourselves, goading and piling on an 11-year-old. Even if you're 100% correct, none of that would be his fault—taking it out on the kid is shoddy, and also childish in its own right. The proper response is to be warm, receptive, and encouraging down the path of actual learning and creation. Get him talking about the details of the project that he finds most interesting, get him technically engaged, direct the focus away from age-achievement. Then maybe something good comes of it.
        huhtenberg 5y ago
        Daniel, I don't believe for a second that the site at a link could've been developed by an 11-year-old child. That's just not possible. However it is presented as such, and pretty aggressively at that. Some of his comments here could've not been written by a child either, that's pretty bloody obvious if you are to take just take an impartial look. This whole project has a very strong smell of manipulation and sock-puppetry. I am all for encouraging anyone to get better at things they are genuinely interested in, but being warm and receptive to blatant mis-representation of one's work is not the right thing to do. It sends the exact opposite of the right signal.
        dang 5y ago
        Azaan's comments could obviously have been written by a smart 11-year-old. Even if you're right on the facts, punishing the child for it is exactly the opposite of what you should be doing.
- honkdaddy 5y ago
  To what extent did your father's experience building a global trading platform influence the creation of this platform, Azaan?
  - dang 5y ago
    You're seriously breaking the site guidelines. Please read them and stick to the rules. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html Note this one: "Have curious conversation; don't cross-examine." And above all, this one: "Be kind". As for cross-examining an 11-year-old - what kind of community do you guys think this is supposed to be? Please re-read the guidelines repeatedly.
    - honkdaddy 5y ago
      You're right dang - apologies.

honkdaddy 5y ago

>Luckily Azaan’s not the only technically minded member of his family. His father had already built a global trading platform, and so he was perfectly positioned to help his son with this next challenge. Ah, there it is.

cupofcoffee 5y ago

Haha yup. Wait until you check this out: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NWONeJKn6kc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NWONeJKn6kc ML course by a 15 year old!

magicink81 5y ago

At least the kid is learning about marketing.

pupppet 5y ago

This should not have been voted down to oblivion. He's described himself as "founder" and everyone here is assuming he coded and designed the entire product.

dang 5y ago

Come on you guys (where by "you guys" I mean not just commenters but upvoters). Beating up on an 11 year old because he may have gotten some help from his dad, or whoever, is cheap, mean, and low. This makes me ashamed of HN, and seeing it upvoted to the top of the thread is a reminder of one of the worst failure modes this place has. The big-pizzazz "I'm $age and I did $thing" story has forever included the dimension of implicit parental help. It was true at science fairs when I was Azaan's age and it's been true as long as HN has been around. Who cares? It's no reason to take your resentment out on the kid. What sort of a community are we trying to be here? Not this sort, that's for sure.