He stands five-foot five and weighs 120 pounds, but he’s already earning a big name as a small businessman in Alberta.

Twelve-and-a-half year old Donnie Thorne wrote his first computer program at the age of six, and quickly whipped through most of kids’ computer courses at the University of Calgary’s Faculty of Continuing Education.

He’s now made a substantial dent in the adult course roster, and he’s putting his IT skills to good, and profitable, use.

Last summer Donnie worked under contract with Pandell Technology Corporation, a Calgary-based software development firm. It’s located at the old Currie Barracks, but Donnie found himself in the office of a major downtown energy company, sitting next to other software developers.

Dave Olecko photo, Business Edge
Computer whiz Donnie Thorne is putting his skills to good use as a teaching assistant and software developer.

His mother, Wendy Thorne, says the courses he took at the U of C were very helpful in landing the job.

“They gave him credibility and legitimacy,” she says.

“It’s one thing for him to know that he has a gift for computer programming, but with those courses behind him, people take him a lot more seriously.”

Business people should take Donnie seriously, because in his four weeks at Pandell, he re-wrote their time-billing system. “It was in Visual Basic 6,” he says, “but I upgraded it to VB.NET.”

He hasn’t taken a course in that language, so how did he know how to do it? “I do a lot of exploring on my own,” he says. “I just sort of try things until they work.”

Wendy Thorne says Donnie would gladly have worked at Pandell all summer, but, wisely, she made sure he had time to visit grandparents in B.C. and to attend a drama camp. He’s also pretty good with a fencing foil, having practiced that sport for more than a year.

Besides his technical wizardry, Donnie has a flair for the business side of information technology that’s rare in someone his age.

He did a contract job for a company that wires homes for Internet and media access. Donnie’s program allows customers to mark off where they want outlets, then prints a wiring diagram and the total cost. “It’s drag and drop,” he says, “and if you think the cost is too high, you can take out some of the outlets.”

Ah, but will it optimize the wiring to use the least amount of cable? Without a moment’s hesitation, Donnie gives the classic software guy’s answer “That’s coming in the next version.”

But please don’t confuse Donnie with the infamous “Mr. Cardboard” on the (brilliant) TV commercials from Computer Associates. That’s the fellow with the “So, how much software do you want to buy?” mantra.

Donnie is a geek with a heart of gold.

Wendy reports that he often fixes up junked computers for people. Recently, he built one for a family friend who is unemployed. In a typical Donnie touch, he configured the LEDs on the CPU display to spell out the woman’s name. When he gave it to her, she burst into tears.

He’s also going to be a teaching assistant, helping other kids, in a new program that the U of C’s Faculty of Continuing Education is about to launch.

“We realize that Donnie is very special,” says Ken Fung, program director at the U of C. “However, there are also many other young people who could benefit from formal training in software development.”

As a result, the U of C is creating Canada’s first Software Developer Certificate for Technology Advanced Youth. Modelled on the already-successful adult certificate, this program will, in Fung’s words, “focus their interest and expose them to systems development as a career choice.”

A recent organizational meeting attracted 17 people.

One parent said she was very keen to enrol her son, because “he has at least 40 library books on computers checked out at all times and, without a course, he may become discouraged and frustrated.”

Since few parents have the background to assist their children in advanced computer programming, the university is going to do this, with the same top-notch instructors who teach adults working in the computer industry.

The U of C program will make some concessions to the fact that the participants are, first and foremost, junior and senior high school students.

It will run on Saturdays from 9 a.m.- 4 p.m. from February to May, and again in the fall. There will also be an intensive three-week session in July.

According to Fung, “To make this program affordable for parents, we have asked our instructors to teach for less, and the U of C will pay for the software used by the students.”

The students will move through the program as a group, providing a fun and supportive learning environment. To qualify, students must obtain a grade of at least 70 per cent in the Visual Basic Introduction course.

Upon successful completion of the entire 245-hour program, which costs $3,840, students will receive a “Software Developer Certificate with a Specialization in Visual Basic” from the U of C.

And, if Donnie Thorne is any indication, that credential will open some amazing doors for Alberta’s youngest small business people.

(Tom Keenan is a professor at the University of Calgary and an internationally-known expert on technology and its social implications. He can be reached at keenan@businessedge.ca)