'We tried to kick him out last week'

In conversation with FRANCES O'ROURKE

JAMES WHELTON

20, founded CoderDojo, free clubs where children and teenagers learn computer coding, in 2011. He also runs his own web company, Disruptive Developments. Last month, he was named one of US magazine ‘Forbes’ “30 under 30” social entrepreneurs to watch. Originally from Cork, he shares a flat in Ballsbridge, Dublin with two tech entrepreneurs

When I was about 16, I wanted to play paintball, did some research into it and found there were people in Ireland who played it on a continual basis. So I contacted Hugh and joined his league. It was a lot of fun and I met a lot of good guys.

It was only when I came to Dublin in September 2011 that Hugh and I became really friendly. He asked me over to the house he shares with four lads in Drumcondra and I realised I could come over whenever I wanted. I think the couch there has been nicknamed my room. And there was a drum kit in the house as well! We do everything, from playing guitar to doing rap battles.

What’s really nice is that it’s a really normal environment. Whatever happens to me, it’s never a big deal. Someone will say, “oh, that’s kinda cool, here, take this PS3 controller” . . . it’s brilliant. I’m not going to college, but it’s like a fantastic college experience. It’s most definitely my second home.

I never entered the Young Scientist competition, I was never smart enough for that. Growing up, I was never academic, but I taught myself coding from the age of nine. My parents are dentists, there was nothing techy in my background.

In 2010, I won the Eircom Junior Spider award for a website. I’d also hacked the iPod Nano: people got excited, it got written up on technology blogs and was the first thing that got my name out there.After that, I set up a computer club in my school to teach basic programming. Then I met Bill Liao [Irish-based Australian web entrepreneur] of SOS Ventures. A combination of his business savvy and my personal experience and knowledge of open source technology fused to make CoderDojo what it is. Of course it wouldn’t work without the incredible community of volunteers.

As Coder Dojo got to a certain point, SOS Ventures stepped in. Sean O’Sullivan, who appeared on Dragon’s Den, and Bill Liao gave me a stipend to live on so I could move off eating catfood and stop living on couches. Things went from there. This past year has been crazy.

It’s a lot of hard work; I’ve done my fair share of 30-hour days. Even when I’m hanging out with the lads I’ll be writing code, sending off emails.

The thing with technology is that it’s a fantastic community, but sometimes you want to detach yourself from that. That’s where Hugh and the guys come in.

CoderDojo has a stand at the BT Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition 2013. The exhibition finishes today at the RDS, Dublin.

[ btyoungscientist.com ]

HUGH RUDDY

22, is a third year student at St Patrick’s Teacher Training College in Dublin. From Knocklyon in Dublin, he studied quantity surveying in DIT before switching to teacher training and will look for work as a primary school teacher after graduating this year. He shares a house in Drumcondra with other St Patrick’s students

I started playing paintball when I was studying at DIT in 2008. James came up from Cork – his alias was “Sprid”. In 2010, I set up a paintball league and he joined my team. We ended up going to Oxegen together that year.

I knew James was doing a lot of stuff in the background on the internet and that there was something innovative about his thinking. He used to get food companies to send him samples and he would test them in unprofessional ways: he got coffee beans and tested them as a burglar deterrent. I guess I first realised he had something when I saw the headline, “Irish guy cracks iPod Nano” and thought, hey, I know that guy.

I dropped out of quantity surveying and decided I wanted to be a teacher – both my parents are teachers. I’d aspire to learn code if I could, especially in terms of teaching. There are lots of new things in the teaching world, like interactive whiteboards, but the curriculum hasn’t caught up with technology. There’s a huge amount that needs to change and I’d love to help out in how it does. I’ve been to CoderDojo training sessions and saw the potential for children in the classroom. Secondary schools should give kids some exposure to learning [about computers] but there’s virtually nothing at all.

When I got to St Pat’s, I moved out of home and into a house in Drumcondra which I share with four lads. We’re all interested in what James does, but most of us don’t really know anything about it. He won the Eircom Spider award and came over straight away in his tuxedo . . . we’re all, “yeah, okay, sit down, shut up” . . . we just played PlayStation the whole time.

We tried to kick him out last week ’cos we’re all doing exams: any time James comes over, it’s like ‘we can’t do anything ’cos Whelton’s here’.

If we’re going to a college party we’ll always ask him to come with us. He might get to go to all those nice coding parties, but ours are Pat’s parties, so it’s 90 per cent girls – there’s about 400 students in my year and only 60 are lads. James is a computer nerd, but there’s a party demon inside him. At the parties, people ask “who’s that guy?” I’ll say, “oh, that’s James, he runs this international thing”. They’ll say “yeah, yeah, right, who is he really?” I tell everyone to send their kids to CoderDojo, it’s a brilliant movement. Meeting James was a life-changing kind of thing. He keeps me updated on the forefront of technology.

And we all also have aspirations to be a world rock band.