3- My Keynote at IBM InterConnect 2016 in Las Vegas (25,000)
Q: When did your interest in programming languages arise? How did you fall in love with it?
I have been in love with computers and programming ever since my Kindergarten days. I used to watch my dad programming on his laptop, and at 5 years old, simple things like the screen changing color as he typed really intrigued me, and I was curious as to what went into the “gadget” that made it behave like that. I really wanted to go behind the scenes to find out what was making this happen. As he fed my curiosity, and gave me the answers to my questions, I was able to pick it up from there.
Q: What programming languages are known to you? Tell us about your YouTube channel Tanmay teaches?
Well, the language you choose to program in really depends on which device you want to program, and what the purpose is. Nevertheless, I’d like to mention that I love to program in languages like Swift, C, Java, Python, Ruby, Node.js, Objective-C, Visual Basic, and more. I am very passionate about sharing my knowledge, and therefore, I have a YouTube Channel, called Tanmay Teaches , wherein I love to teach about subjects like AI, Cognitive and Machine Learning, Watson, Algorithms, Math, and Science.
Q: How was the journey of building the app tTables at such a young age? What are the other apps that you have already built up?
Getting my app, tTables, published on Apple App Store at the age of 9 was an amazing experience ! The fact that I wasn’t very fluent with my times tables sparked the idea and the need for programming this app. My intent was that not only me, but all my friends could use this and benefit from this app. After that, I built lots of different apps, like the youth-focussed goal setting app, named “I Can, We Can! ”, as well as an Apple watch app called tGuess . Along with those, I have coded many apps for my book “Hello Swift!”, and my YouTube channel, “Tanmay Teaches”.
Q: Tell us briefly about the algorithm ‘AskTanmay’. How did you get to it?
AskTanmay, my very first IBM Watson project, is the world’s first NLQA (Natural Language Question Answering) System to be powered by IBM Watson. The eight step algorithm behind AskTanmay captures questions from a user, analyses it, categorises it, and parses it, sends it to a search engine, gets search snippets, extracts the answers, and delegates the main filtration to Watson’s NLU service. I was struck with the inspiration to create this when I saw Watson playing Jeopardy, and at the time, I had in mind AskTanmay playing KBC (the Indian version of “Who wants to be a Millionaire?”) with Amitabh Bachchan.
Q: You are a multi talented gem, from software development to a youtuber and then an author ? How do you manage all along with your studies?
I strongly believe that my passion for technology, learning, and sharing knowledge is the driving force behind all my work. Therefore, everything I do flows into my routine, be it my studies, the books I author, coding, helping my viewers with their questions, or creating YouTube Tutorials.
Q: Tell us something about your book Hello swift? How does it address the knowledge of the students?
My book “Hello Swift! – iOS App Development for Kids and other Beginners” is a book that focusses on teaching iOS app development from the ground up. I have written this book so that kids and even adult beginners who have great ideas can easily learn iOS programming, and innovate on top of it. The basic purpose of the book is to break the barrier of learning to program and be able to create their own apps.
Q: When did you start learning about IBM Watson ? Share your experiences at the IBM developer connect?
I started learning about IBM Watson around two years ago, when I stumbled upon a documentary about how Watson was able to not only play Jeopardy!, but also win against the two best human competitors. I was fascinated – so I started researching, making applications using Watson APIs, and creating YouTube Tutorials under the series “Tanmay Teaches: Watson”. Keynoting at IBM DeveloperConnect in June of 2016 was an absolutely amazing and memorable experience. In Bangalore, I had one of the most loving audience, and great media interactions at the conference. This was my first ever keynote in India, and I will always cherish the experience!
Q: What do you aspire to be ? Who are your role models?
I am a technologist by nature, and since I love to plan and create applications, people refer to me as an Algorithm-ist too. At the moment, I plan to continue doing and working along the same lines, since there is a lot to learn, venture into, and share. Steve Jobs has been my inspiration, and I admire him for his efforts, and for his attitude of perseverance and never giving up.
Q: What are your future goals? Do you have any larger vision of using programming languages into innovations?
To begin, I’d like to talk about the goals that I’ve been working towards for quite some time now. First, to reach out to and help at least 100,000 aspiring kid coders and beginners to enable them to bring innovation around their lives. I like to do this through different media such as my YouTube channel, my Book, the blogs I write, the courses I create, the talks I give, and the workshops I conduct. For instance, this summer, I am going to spend some time with lots of high school students and their mentors in Texas, who are very interested in learning and continuing with programming. My future goals that also tie in with my present ones are, for example, I want to continue working with artificial intelligence and cognitive solutions like IBM Watson. Particularly, I’d like to do this in the field of healthcare, to help make people’s lives better and easier to live. My focus is on helping those with disabilities and special needs.
Q: You are an inspiration for the entire world. What would be your message to them especially for your young friends who aspire to be like you?
The motivation, encouragement, and the feedback that I get from around the world keeps me going and helps me do my work better consistently. I really appreciate this gesture of everyone who takes the time to reach out to me. My message for my young friends is – follow your heart and follow your passion, whether it be coding, sports, or arts, perseverance is the key – never give up.
Tanmay’s Youtube Channel
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