San Francisco, California, United States
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Belen Jesuit Preparatory School

About

Growing up in during the challenges of the Great Recession, I developed an interest in…

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Volunteer Experience

  • Youth Club Assistant

    Beacon for the Blind

    - 4 months

    Health

    Beacons for the Blind is a club to help local people with sight loss live fuller and more independent lives by offering them the finest facilities and support. Their services include a mix of residential, day care and community services, and they continually look for ways to improve what they do.

Publications

  • Facebook Hired Me at 18. But My Story Isn't As Perfect As It Sounds.

    Medium

    I want kids to know that they are not alone, and I want parents to know that being hispanic doesn’t make you less capable to success in computer science. The lack of resources, the economic troubles, the fact that my parents don’t have jobs, the fact that my parents didn’t understand my goals of building apps, that they didn’t believe it would work — that’s what I want other kids to understand. That if they see a similar situation in their families, that they are not alone.

    See publication

  • App Kid: How a Child of Immigrants Grabbed a Piece of the American Dream

    Penguin Random House

    An inspiring and deeply personal memoir from one of the most extraordinary entrepreneurs in Silicon Valley, who taught himself how to code as a thirteen-year-old and claimed his share of the American Dream.

    As his parents watched their restaurant business collapse in the wake of the Great Recession, thirteen-year-old Michael Sayman was googling "how to code." Within a year, he had launched an iPhone app that was raking in thousands of dollars a month, enough to keep his family…

    An inspiring and deeply personal memoir from one of the most extraordinary entrepreneurs in Silicon Valley, who taught himself how to code as a thirteen-year-old and claimed his share of the American Dream.

    As his parents watched their restaurant business collapse in the wake of the Great Recession, thirteen-year-old Michael Sayman was googling "how to code." Within a year, he had launched an iPhone app that was raking in thousands of dollars a month, enough to keep his family afloat--and in America. Entirely self-taught, Sayman headed from high school straight into the professional world, and by the time he was seventeen, he was Facebook's youngest employee ever, building new features that wowed Mark Zuckerberg. These features are now being used by more than half a billion people every day. After Sayman pushed Facebook to build its own version of Snapchat's "Stories," engagement on the platform soared across all demographics. Millions of Gen Z and Millennials returned to the app as teen engagement rose dramatically on Instagram and WhatsApp, causing a billion-dollar loss in value for Snapchat's parent company. Three years later, he jumped ship for Google. In this candid and uplifting memoir, Sayman shares the highs and lows, the successes and failures, of his remarkable journey. It tells the galvanizing story of how a young Latino, not yet old enough to drink, excelled in the cutthroat world of Silicon Valley, becoming an inspiration to thousands of kids across the United States and Latin America by following his own surprising, extraordinary path. In addition, it is filled with practical wisdom, making it essential--and affirming--reading for anyone marching to the beat of their own drum.

    See publication

  • It's 2016. Stop Underestimating Teens

    Seventeen.com

    We've grown up faster than ever because we've grown up on the internet. And we're just getting started.

    See publication

Projects

  • Emojishot

    -

    See project

  • Google Duplex

    -

    Google Duplex is an AI assistant that can actually talk to humans to get what you need. Powered by Google's powerful AI and tucked into Google Assistant, you'll be able to book reservations and schedule haircuts at hundreds of thousands of restaurants in seconds. More features to come soon.

    See project

  • Lifestage

    -

    Lifestage allows people to build a profile made up entirely of “video fields”. It allows them show others who they are and to find out more about the people in their school community as well as meet new people. Facebook started out in 2004 as a platform for sharing who you were within your college community. From there, the massive expansion of the Facebook platform grew.

    See project

  • 4 Snaps

    -

    Founder, programmed the front end and back end of the app. Managing the promotion of app and hoping to reach the top charts in the App Store as soon as it launches.

    4 Snaps has managed to reach the #21 Overall Free app in the App Store. As of July 2014, has over 600,000+ registered players, 1,000,000+ individual games created between players, 3,000,000+ turns have been played, and over 10,000,000+ pictures have been taken using 4 Snaps.

    See project

Honors & Awards

  • Forbes 30 Under 30

    Forbes

    Excited to find out that I made it into the Forbes 30 Under 30 class of 2019! Es un honor recibir este reconocimiento!

    https://www.forbes.com/profile/michael-sayman/

Languages

  • English

    Native or bilingual proficiency

  • Spanish

    Native or bilingual proficiency

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