Calgary teenager with a passion for technology builds pro websites
Grant McNaughton is a self-described perfectionist, overachiever and early adopter. The Grade 8 student maintains a 95 per cent grade point average, plays competitive badminton, does charity work and owns the latest iPod Touch.
As if that weren’t enough to keep a 14-year-old busy, he designs and writes code for websites in his spare time, citing Apple co-founder Steve Jobs as his role model.
“Lots of people watch TV and play video games. I will sit on my laptop and research, research, research,” says McNaughton, sipping a mug of hot chocolate at a coffee shop near his school.
“I completely love doing (web design). It isn’t a burden at all,” he continues.
“I’ve always had a passion for making things look better.”
He whips out his unibody MacBook Pro and, faster than I could ever possibly take notes, opens all the websites he’s designed in the past three years, including the school project that got him started on the road to Mark Zuckerberg-hood.
It’s a simple site about the Canadian Cordillera, the region he was assigned to report on in Grade 5. Instead of just putting together a poster illustration, Mc-Naughton bought a domain name for 99 cents and used a build-a-website program to complete the assignment with flair.
“I had no clue what code was or anything back then,” says McNaughton, illustrating his youth by referring to a three-year passage of time as “back then.”
His interest kindled, McNaughton spent that summer and the following winter delivering flyers and shovelling snow to earn enough money for his first laptop, a $1,000 MacBook (his “best purchase ever”). The following summer he took a Mount Royal summer camp that focused on web design, animation, film editing and video games -it was there he coded his first website. In 2009 he enrolled in a two-week web design course at the University of Calgary.
“From there I learned advanced coding for web design. It really gave me a great foundation.”
McNaughton was on his way, teaching himself tricks and learning how to master PageLime (a content management system) when other kids his age were hanging out at the mall or in front of Macs.
“It really is his passion,” says his mom, Sheila Mc-Naughton.
“He’s always researching. He’s never doing anything (online) he shouldn’t be doing . . . he’s always thinking about the best way to get new customers.”
Now working under the name Ventus Web Design (ventuswebdesign.com), McNaughton has created sites for a Calgary DJ, a skin care professional in Okotoks and an app development company in California. He’s landed the jobs through his parents’ network and through a get-work campaign where he “cold e-mailed” more than 100 companies offering to build them a new site for little cash outlay.
“I got lots of rejections. I got lots of people that said, ‘No,’ ” he says.
But Anusen, based in Cupertino, Calif., said yes, and got a slick new site for just $450 and two month’s worth of McNaughton’s free time.
“They loved it,” he says with obvious pride.
“Since I’m still working on building my portfolio, my prices are cheap compared to other people.”
It’s a competitive advantage, for the time being, as is his age -who wouldn’t want to hire a kid who knows his way around computers better than most adults?
He’s currently building a site for a local pipeline distributor, and designing a jersey logo for his sister’s basketball team.
Still, for all his eagerness, McNaughton isn’t exactly sure where he’s going with Ventus. He doesn’t picture himself coding the next Facebook; rather, he envisions working with charities in some capacity, by creating websites for them or donating a portion of his profits to help people (currently, Ventus donates 10 per cent of its profits to Charity Water, an organization that brings clean and safe water to developing countries).
“I have a passion for charity. I want to do my part,” he says, adding, “I think it’s important we look after our environment. That’s another thing I feel strongly about.”
McNaughton’s social conscience has been nurtured both at home and at school. In Grade 9 he’ll go on a mission trip to Costa Rica to help build homes through Habitat For Humanity.
One thing’s for certain: McNaughton’s side business has granted him a cool cachet at school, though it can be awkward when peers ask him how much he makes.
“At school, he’s a rock star. He’s the one you want working on your projects,” says his mom.
“Lots of people respect me for it; that I’m really good with technology,” McNaughton says.
He is, and he’s also good with people, a combination that, along with his web design philosophy, could help him go far.
“I want (a site) to be so good, so perfect, that people want to pay me for it.”
lkadane@calgaryherald.com
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