Stories like this make me wicked happy, then a bit depressed, and then a bit hopeful.
Whether your focus is on design or development, it’s always a bit unnerving to see absolutely killer work and then realize it was put together by someone seemingly so much younger than yourself. Not that age should be any sort of limiting factor, there’s just something about seeing awesomeness coming from such young people that inevitably has you asking yourself what makes you so special. There was likely a time in your young age where you were praised for your artistic and/or technical ability, but it absolutely pales in comparison to stories like this. No? Maybe it’s just me then.
Either way, Sunny is one of those success stories that makes me excited for him, jealous of him, and inspired by him all at once. This guy is 17 years old but already lightyears ahead of where I was at his age. I was pumped that I knew how to make framesets work together when building websites, yet Sunny is working on one of the biggest platforms to shake up WordPress ecommerce yet. I was spending nights and weekends washing dishes because I thought “that’s what you do when you’re a kid” but Sunny has already taken on paying clients and is selling products.
Sure, the world is a bit different now than it was a decade ago, but Sunny is doing great things for himself and I think we can all take a page out of that book no matter how old we are. Sunny’s age is obviously not his defining factor, and it doesn’t need to be ours. The great thing about WordPress is that anyone can jump in at any time, regardless of background, and make great contributions in their areas of interest.
All that to say, I enjoy reading these stories even though they humble me like crazy. It’s awesome to reflect on the great things others are doing by way of community, contributing, and sticking to it. Great job Sunny, it’s awesome to see you breaking a mold, I absolutely cannot wait to see what you’re doing when you’re my age.