Why This 19-Year-Old Developer Turned Down A Dream Offer From Apple
An inspiring story of a young tech genius who wants to revolutionise news.
By Sadho Ram — 23 Sep 2014, 02:00 PM — Updated almost 10 years ago
19-year-old John H. Meyer was one of the first to develop a mobile app on Apple's AppStore, and has so far developed well over 40 apps. Recently, John dropped out of New York University's computer science programme in order to work for his tech startup.
Last week, 19-year-old John Meyer dropped out of a prestigious university computer science program to work full-time on his tech startup, Fresco News.
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According to an interview published on Business Insider, John, during his freshman year in 2008, in high school, taught himself the programming language Objective C and started writing apps, and also started earning money through his programming
Meyer revealed in an interview that his parents did not approve of his decision because he was a student of NYU, where his mother was a teacher. However, later they started to support him because even they could not deny the fact that Meyer was already an outstanding independent computer programmer. “Money-wise, I’ve been pretty fortunate. I’ve been able to support myself since just a year after I got started,” he said.
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John started earning a decent amount of money by writing iPhone apps, and during his first year of college he had enough money to live on his own. He further said that by rebooting Fresco News, his startup, he was also able to pay his tuition fee at NYU.
He's making so much money writing iPhone apps that during his first year of college he could afford to live alone, pay NYU tuition while bootstrapping Fresco, he told Business Insider.
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Fresco News is a sort of intersection between Instagram, Twitter and Flipboard that turns photos from ordinary people on the scene of big news events into news stories.
We pressed him to reveal his income but promised not to share it. Let's just say it's on par with what software engineers earn at some of the best tech companies.
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Of the impressive 40 apps John has written so far, most of them have been written through his app company TapMedia
This includes the popular iPhone 4 flashlight app Just Light (which may have been the very first flashlight app). It went nuts, downloaded about 2 million times, he said. Seeing the popularity of this app Apple decided to add it to its iPhone.
Perfect Shot which was released last year for iOS 7 is Meyer’s another hit. It was downloaded 60,000 times within the first four days of its release and the number has grown to over 1 million. This app uses the smile and eye detection feature in the camera. The app takes the picture just when everyone is smiling and no one is blinking.
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The idea behind his latest app, Perfect Shot, was so smart, that John nabbed the attention of Apple, with the company asking him to become an intern. An offer he politely refused.
Meyer confessed that it is every student’s dream to get an offer like that especially because it pays well. But he refused even though an Apple intern can make $5,723, monthly.
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He does not worry about letting go of such an amazing opportunity; he is confident that if he wanted to he could easily get another internship.
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John explained that while he gets offers from recruiters all the time, he cannot see himself working for someone else as it won't make him happy. "I am, at heart, an entrepreneur," he said.
"I get emails from recruiters all the time, and this past summer an offer to intern at Apple," he says. But, he explains,"I am, at heart, an entrepreneur. I won't be happy working for someone else."
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John's claims are not just self glorification of a teenager. He revealed that he is very close with various people at Apple who he met by regularly attending the Apple's Developer Conference.
That’s not just the bravado of being 19. “I’ve been close with a lot of people at Apple, from going to Apple’s developer conference every year,” he says. “I’m in a field where I’ve done a lot of things already, an expansive portfolio of projects I’ve worked on.”
venturebeat.com
He's actually been attending the developer's conference since he was 16, sneaking in the first time with his dad's help. His dad flew him to San Francisco, registered himself for the conference, then handed the pass to his son to attend.
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"I was 16 and anyone under 18 wasn't allowed. It was right after the successful flashlight app. My dad got the ticket from Apple, flew back home and left me in San Francisco," he laughs.
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Since then, Apple has created a teen program at the conference he says. It's been great for meeting other programmers his age, he says.
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John was also a finalist in the Thiel Fellowship
A program by billionaire venture capitalist Peter Thiel in which gifted young people drop out of school to start companies. Only 40 people become finalists, flown to the Valley for mingling. 20 are accepted, and Meyer wasn't one of them.
venturebeat.com
That doeesn't bother him at all. He's focused on turning Fresco into a money maker, talking to potential clients for it like New York Times and Wall Street Journal. And he hasn't ruled going back to college some day. But for now, he's writing apps for fun and profit.
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