We had an interesting email from Adam Barry aged 12 telling us about himself and asking could we help him as he was spokesperson for an app and website called Choremonster. We were very impressed with what he wrote and with him, find out why in our interview with him, Technology Whizzkids: Adam meets Choremonster
“Hi. My name is Adam Barry, I am 12 years old and am a computer programmer. I attended this year’s web summit ( I won a ticket by entering a competition run by EngineYard for young coders) where I met a company called ChoreMonster. I asked them if I could become their spokesperson in Ireland and they agreed. My job for them is to try and get them some publicity in Ireland and I am writing to you to see if you would be interested in helping me out with it. ChoreMonster is a fun, cool app & website for parents and kids. It is used to track chores and reward the kids for completing these chores. I think it is a really cool app and I think there are a lot of parents out there who would like to use it. I need help getting people to know that it exists.”
We were very impressed with what he wrote and with him so we decided to interview Adam and find out more.
Tell us a little about yourself
I am 12 years old, some of my hobbies are soccer, golf, karate and computer programming. I have a younger brother and a sister, and a dog called Maggie. I am in 6th class at St Oliver Plunkett School in Malahide.
How did you end up going to the Web Summit and what did you think of the Web Summit itself?
There was a competition being run by Engine Yard giving away tickets to young coders. My dad wanted to take me to the Web Summit but it is a bit pricey to go to, so he entered the competition and we won tickets.
I thought it was the best 2 days of my life, I absolutely loved it. I was surrounded by people who are like me, who love coding and computers. I do have 1 friend Hannah who is interested in computers, but most of my friends aren’t into it. I got to meet lots of different companies and heard talks on different things. (and I got to meet Enda Kenny too!)
How did you get to meet Chris from ChoreMonster
My dad and I were walking around and my dad mentioned that there was someone he wanted to see in the main hall, and in the corner of my eye, I saw a big flashy sign not too adulty on this stall and we went over and started talking to Chris the founder and Justin (the chief animator).
Why did you ask to become their spokesperson?
I really liked the idea of what they were doing because it’s very good for kids, the app appealed to me because I thought I would actually use it and because I am in Ireland I could help promote it.
What do you like about the Internet and Technology?
My dad is one of the 3 founders of an IT company, he was one who got me interested but my aunts and uncles are all into computing too. I started programming when I was about 6, starting with Command Prompt. I used that to run different commands to run them at the same time. Then I started Scratch and I got a NXT Lego Mindstorm so got into robots and programming.
My 2nd cousin is a great programmer and then he suggested learning Java. And I go to a tutor for Java and other programming. I went to the Coderdojo in Malahide for a few months too. I have entered the Coderdojo Coolest Projects Awards last year and I will be entering again this year.
What do you hope to do in the next few years?
I have 2 friends, one is a good artist and the other is learning graphic design, so we want to form our own company to do app development. I want to get good at that and at web development too and do jobs for people over the next few years. I’ll be going to Sutton Park for secondary school and I’m looking forward to that because they are very computer and technology oriented too.
What Choremonster thought of Adam
Chris Bergman, the Founder/CEO of ChoreMonster says, “I met Adam at Web Summit in Dublin when he stopped by our booth to show us an app that he created. Not only did Adam come off as an extremely smart and talented 11-year-old, but his ambition and action proves that he’s also an awesome ChoreMonster kid. He asked if we’d be interested in an Ireland spokes-kid, and we jumped at the opportunity to work more with him.”
ChoreMonster is a suite of web and mobile apps that aims to make chores fun for parents and kids. Kids can earn points by completing chores that they can turn in for real life rewards like ice cream, an hour of Xbox or even a canoe trip. Parents can enjoy a simple, hassle-free, digital system that takes the tension out of family chores. The mission at ChoreMonster is to “improve the lives of parents and children with the tools they use every day”.
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