Jordan Casey, Teen Tech Titan
Although Jordan Casey isn’t yet 20, he’s accomplished more than many people do in a lifetime. Starting young might have been the key to that. In 2009, when he was nine, he convinced his parents to buy him a computer. They thought he wanted it just to play games, but he was also teaching himself to write programs.
By the time he was 12, Jordan founded Casey Games, and released his first game, Alien Ball Vs. Humans, making him not only Ireland’s youngest app designer (he lives in Waterford), but also one of the youngest tech entrepreneurs in Europe. Since then, he’s released games such as Alien Ball VS Humans 2, Greenboy Touch, Save The Day, My Little World, and Food World.
His inspiration for My Little World was his younger self, playing in his Nan’s garden. He would make cardboard houses and civilizations for the slugs and other creatures he saw there, and thought it would be amazing to shrink down to their size and see what the world would look like to them.
In 2014, at age 14, Jordan launched TeachWare, an app aimed at teachers to help them easily manage information about their students using cloud-based software.
His third company, KidsCode, is an app to teach young people how to program in a games environment. The idea behind KidsCode is to create an online world using CloudScript, KidsCode’s custom-built programming language. Initially, CloudScript acts as a drag- and drop-based application, but as users become more experienced with it, the difficulty level increases, allowing real coding.
In addition to the tech businesses, Casey has given a TED talk, as well as spoken at events around the world. His advice for people who want to follow in his footsteps is to get a head start on everyone else by starting “as young as possible.” He also credits Twitter with much of his success, especially when it comes to publicity and professional connections.
Sources:
- https://twitter.com/caseygames?lang=en
- https://irishamerica.com/2013/12/irelands-youngest-tech-entrepreneur-jordan-casey/
- https://www.crunchbase.com/person/jordan-casey
- https://www.siliconrepublic.com/discovery/13-year-old-jordan-casey-to-launch-teachware-app-for-teachers-video
- https://www.siliconrepublic.com/start-ups/accenture-kidscode-jordan-casey
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Jordan Casey | Reflection
Junior Cycle Business Studies Specifications
- Strand two: Enterprise
- Element: Managing my resources
- 2.1 Identify different types of financial, cultural and social enterprise and appreciate the role each plays in society
- 2.2 Describe the skills and characteristics of being enterprising and appreciate the role of an entrepreneur in an organisation, in society and to the economy
- Element: Managing my resources
Curriculum Elements of the 8 Key Skills of the Junior Cycle
- MANAGING MYSELF
- Knowing myself
- Making considered decisions
- Setting and achieving personal goals
- MANAGING INFORMATION & THINKING
- Gathering, recording, organising and evaluating information and data
- Thinking creatively and critically
- Reflecting on and evaluating my learning
- Using digital technology to access, manage and share content
- BEING NUMERATE
- Estimating, predicting and calculating
- Developing a positive disposition towards investigating, reasoning and problem-solving
- Seeing patterns, trends and relationships
- BEING CREATIVE
- Imagining
- Exploring options and alternatives
- Implementing ideas and taking action
- Learning creatively
- Stimulating creativity using digital technology