Thomas Suarez is the inventor of two apps for the iPhone and recently gave his first TEDx talk — not bad for someone who’s still in middle school. Suarez recently gave a short TEDx lecture explaining how he came to develop his apps: Bustin Jieber, a Justin Bieber whack-a-mole game, and Earth Fortune, a planet-themed fortune teller.

The young programmer didn’t receive formal training in programming, but instead taught himself from home and developed his apps using the iPhone software development kit. Not stopping there, he used what he learned to begin an app club at his school which teaches kids to program their own apps.

Watch the video below to see Suarez explain his experiences and share his insights on teaching with technology.