I’m still just getting the hang of professional networking, but 14 year old Pierce Freeman seems to have it down pat.
The super smart eighth grader recently developed his very first Apple-approved application, Cardshare, which allows people to trade virtual business cards and contact information through their iPhones.
Freeman’s application makes him one of the youngest app developers in the world.
Cardshare makes business card trading completely electronic, so you can share your business contact information, phone number, email address and Twitter or Facebook accounts with others without having to type out your new contact’s details.
“I did this whole thing primarily out of school,” the self-taught developer told Forbes.com. “I talked to some of my friends and teachers briefly about how they would use an app like this. But most of the sketching and everything was done at home, after school or on the weekends.”
Well played, Freeman, in case your teachers try to scold you for software developing during class.
Understandably, Freeman has problems finding peers who have the same interests he does, and had to rely on an older crowd to bounce his ideas off of.
“I have never met another 14, 15 or 16-year-old, even a 17 or 18-year-old who programs for the iPhone and for the Mac and then integrates this with web services,” he said. “I assume there are maybe a very select few out there, and I’m very proud to be one of them. But there’s definitely not some online forum or other discussion site where I could interact with kids. So I had most of my questions answered by the really nice people in the Mac independent software community. They guided me through the steps to create this, and I’m really appreciative for all their help.”
Freeman is the ultimate self starter. The tech savvy teen also runs an animal photography business and designs Web sites in his spare time.
Look for the name Peirce Freeman in the future, as I’m sure he will have many more technological contributions to offer the world, probably before high school graduation.
