Saudi coders describe inspiration behind award-winning apps
RIYADH: Two Saudi women spoke to Arab News about the inspiration behind their apps that were named in the top 50 of a global coding competition held recently by Apple.
Manar Al-Ghamdi, 22, began coding her app during the COVID-19 pandemic with encouragement from her father. What started as a curiosity quickly turned into a career path.
'It's wonderful when you do something and you see the result of it,' Al-Ghamdi said. '(It is) a magnificent feeling, to see the result of your hard work.'
Her app, developed as part of a challenge-based learning module, aims to improve accessibility for visually impaired users. Drawing on Apple's VoiceOver technology, she created a game centered on Lama, a blind girl who guides users through her world.
'When I worked on real-world challenges, that helped me understand the impact of technology on people's lives. One of the most meaningful things that came during the academy was accessibility challenges,' Al-Ghamdi said.
'I talked to someone who is blind and a programmer (and) he showed me how he programs. It opened my eyes to how often accessibility is overlooked in app development, and how it's crucial to design for everyone,' she said.
The app is both an educational and empathetic tool, introducing developers to the challenges faced by blind users. 'We need the world to be inclusive, not exclusive,' Al-Ghamdi said.
'When I show anyone my app, they say, 'Oh my God, that's a real thing, that's a challenge.'
'The more knowledge they have after using my app, I think that's the rewarding part,' she added.
Both developers are graduates of the Apple Developer Academy in Riyadh, a program designed to nurture and develop coding talent in the Kingdom.
'My experience at the Apple Developer Academy has been truly transformative,' Al-Ghamdi said.
'The academy pushed me to grow, not only as a developer, but as a thinker, a collaborator, and a problem solver,' she added.
Al-Ghamdi was motivated to participate in Apple's Swift Student Challenge after meeting previous winners through an academy-hosted session.
'The session I was very excited about is when the club invited the previous winners. They told us about how exciting it was. So I was like, OK, I want that too,' Al-Ghamdi said.
'After this magnificent journey I had here at the academy, the first thing in my mind now is, I want to create an app or develop something that really impacts people's lives,' she said. 'I want to build something meaningful.'
24-year-old Yomna Eisa's app takes a more personal approach. Inspired by her own struggles with mental health, she designed an animated educational app that helps users understand internal stress responses through lighthearted, accessible storytelling.
'I wanted to create something that is personal to me, so that regardless of anything, regardless of outcome, to me, that's still winning, that I created something that has meaning to me,' Eisa said.
'My cats were always a huge emotional support for me, so it was really important to me to incorporate them in this app,' she added.
Eisa taught herself animation using her iPad, despite not having an artistic background.
'I'm not an artist. I don't know how to draw, but I wanted to try something different with this app, and I did all the animation myself on my iPad.
'I don't think the person I was before the academy would have been the kind of person to try out risking learning something entirely new,' Eisa said.
'I hope that my app will teach them about what goes on internally in their body when they're under chronic stress ... and deliver that message in a way that is lighthearted and comfortable to the user,' she added.
Eisa described the Apple Developer Academy as a key influence on her personal and professional development.
'The academy really pushes us to try new things and try our best to make mistakes and learn from those mistakes. And it's been such a push for me, personally and professionally, and made me change entirely,' Eisa said.
'Honestly, I feel like an entirely new person.
The academy program, she said, was 'motivational, encouraging, and comfortable ... being surrounded by our mentors and other women who share similar values when it comes to continuous learning has honestly been so encouraging,' she added.
Fueled by her experience at the academy, Eisa is now looking ahead.
'I want to use my knowledge in tech to create something that is useful,' Eisa said.
'I want to hopefully continue doing that and possibly work for a company or an organization that can help me support that and fulfill that goal,' she added.
The Swift Student Challenge is part of Apple's broader effort to nurture young talent in coding, design and entrepreneurship. The 50 winners — including Al-Ghamdi and Eisa — will attend Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference at Apple Park in Cupertino, California, in June.
Their recognition highlights Saudi Arabia's growing presence in global tech innovation, especially among young women.
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