It’s no secret that software developers make good money these days. According to the source from the US, the average annual salary for a software developer is close to $100,000. But, how common is it for a young kid, to make that much annually? We found a 14-year-old IT wizard hails from Malaysia who earns RM50,000 from self-made software.
Meet Muhammad Akmal Hazim Hafizul Rasydan, the youngest software developer
Muhammad Akmal is no ordinary teenager – he learned computer programming since he was 10 years old and impressed everyone with the launch of his own software application, BenchPoint. The BenchPoint software was the fourth software fully developed by him using open source, after his previous software gained positive feedback from customers and generated profit.
Thanks to his father, who exposed him to programming since young
According to Berita Harian, Muhammad Akmal said that he was exposed to programming by his father Hafizul Rasydan Yaacob. His father discovered his son loves online games so much and suggested him to develop a host for the online gaming application using cheap serves. The first tech project light a spark of interest in him in leveraging the same server to offer web hosting services and exploring new ideas.
Initially, he focused on robotics but slowly shifted to applications
Muhammad Akmal said that he focused more on robotics at fist but robotics required a long and difficult installation process for new users, not to mention it cost you a lot. Unlike applications, users only need to download the app and it doesn’t cost much. He learned by himself from watching tutorial videos on Facebook and ask some programmers.
For Muhammad Akmal, software development is a lucrative business
With about 400 clients, Muhammad Akmal earns an annual income of RM50,000 from the software he created. Benchpoint.io is a software that provides remote speed test solution for the e-commerce clients and Internet benchmarking system for consumer servers. With the software, clients can conduct speed tests on servers which includes testing the load that the servers can handle. This offering enables clients to predict their servers’s ability to handle massive traffic.
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The idea was inspired by one of his clients where he had to monitor the serves all the time
He shared the main idea to develop Benchpoint.io was inspired by one of his previous clients as he had to constantly going backa nd forth to the screen and monitor the servers. It’s difficult because he wasn’t on his computer all the time. So, based on the real-life experience, he made a software where the client can install, copy and paste a code into the server and after that, they can manage the speed test from a web interface.
He is currently collaborating with another IoT developer
The 14-yearold kid is also a Digital Ninja under Malaysia Digital Economy Corporations (MDEC), a project called #mydigitalmaker programme that aims to hone students’ skills and provide exposure to innovative thinking. He is currently collaborating with another Internet-Of-Things (IoT) developer on a next big idea to help Malaysians manage their IoT devices – a project called ‘Project IoT’. The project was similar to the platform made available internationally; Blynk IoT. But, for Muhammad Akmal, he wanted to establish another platfrom for Malaysians to manage their IoT devices.
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