Student · Builder · Founder

Ismail Khalid

A sophomore at Emerald High School in Dublin, California, building apps, games, and hardware — and working toward founding my own business.

See my projects More about me
Focus
Software & Entrepreneurship
Shipped
Mobile, Web & Games
Based in
Dublin, California
01

About

Who I am, what I love, and what I'm building toward.

About me

My name is Ismail Khalid, and I'm a sophomore at Emerald High School in Dublin, California. I'm a young entrepreneur and software developer, and my dream is to found my own successful business.

I'm happiest when I'm creating something, whether that's an app, a website, or a game. One project I'm especially invested in is Asma ul Husna, an app built around the 99 names of Allah. Building something that connects my technical skills with my faith has taught me a lot about what it takes to turn an idea into a real product.

Outside of building, I like spending time with my family and playing video games. I'm a proud Muslim, and my faith is one of the things I value most. It shapes how I treat people, how I work, and the kind of business I want to build someday.

I'm still early in my journey, but I'm putting in the work now by building projects, learning from my mistakes, and sharpening my skills.

Favorites

  • Color Blue
  • Video game Call of Duty
  • Movie Odyssey
  • Board game Catan
  • Cuisine Japanese

Hobbies

Video games

I love playing video games as it helps my hand-eye coordination and my teamwork skills. I usually play first-person shooter games, adventure games, or roguelite games.

Puzzles

I like solving puzzles as it helps my problem solving and critical thinking skills. I usually solve Rubik's cubes, jigsaws, or puzzle boxes.

My biggest hobby

Creation

I love creating things as it helps my logical thinking skills and imagination. I've created things ever since I was a little kid. If I were to say what my biggest hobby is, it would be creating things.

  1. As a kid Drawings, games, and comic books
  2. Growing up Fully fleshed-out board games, card games, and simple video games
  3. Now Web and mobile apps, video games, hardware devices, and 3D printed products

Skills

  • Python Intermediate
  • Hardware Beginner
  • Problem solving Intermediate
02

Projects

Things I've shipped, and things still in the workshop.

Asma ul Husnaa app icon — a gold Islamic geometric star on deep green
Mobile app Founder

Asma ul Husnaa — The 99 Names

Asma ul Husna helps you learn, memorize and reflect on the 99 Beautiful Names of Allah. Explore each Name with its Arabic, transliteration and meaning, and practice with memorization tools. Read authentic duas and hadith, and save your favorites. Get accurate prayer times for your city, with multiple calculation methods and a Hanafi Asr option, plus a Qibla compass. Turn on prayer notifications with an “Allahu Akbar” or ding sound. Count your daily dhikr with goals and a curated list of common dhikr. Choose from 9 Arabic fonts, several app languages, and light or dark mode.

View on the App Store
Family Showdown title card — gold lettering on a blue stage backdrop
Browser party game Creator

Family Showdown

Family Showdown is a browser party game mimicking the Family Feud experience for a living-room TV. Two teams compete on a survey board with face-offs, revealed answers, strikes, steals, and Fast Money. It runs offline with original branding, themes, and sounds. Questions stay on each device. The included samples are generic party prompts, not personal event packs.

Play the game
Nuh's Ark Academy logo in multicolored lettering
Website Co-website developer

Nuh's Ark Academy Website

I helped create the new website for Nuh's Ark Academy, a private Muslim school in San Ramon serving grades 1–5 with a classical Islamic education. The site introduces the school's mission and values, walks families through the eight subjects taught — from Quran reading and memorization to math, science, and Arabic — and highlights the small class sizes the school is built around.

Beyond the marketing pages, it handles the practical side of running a school: an enrollment interest form for the 2027–2028 school year, a donations section for the academy's non-profit fundraising, parent and teacher portals for homework, announcements, and class resources, plus testimonial and feedback sections. The whole thing is responsive, so it works just as well for a parent on a phone as on a desktop.

Visit nuhsarkacademy.com

In the workshop

These are works in progress and still somewhat classified, so the details here are kept deliberately light.

Work in progress · Classified

Shadow.ta

Co-founder · Web app

A teacher grading assistant. The idea is to take the slowest, most repetitive part of a teacher's week — working through a stack of student submissions — and make it faster and more consistent, so teachers get their time back for actual teaching. Still in active development.

Work in progress · Classified

3DGPT

Founder · Web store

A side hustle that makes and sells 3D printed products. It's where my hardware and design interests meet the business side: designing products people actually want, printing them, and figuring out pricing, fulfillment, and storefront along the way. The catalog is still being built out.

Work in progress · Classified

NIIA

Co-founder · Creative company

A creative company that makes original projects like video games and board games. It's the home for the ideas that don't fit anywhere else — concepts, prototypes, and playtests working their way toward finished releases. More to share once things are further along.

03

Achievements

A few things I've earned along the way.

  1. Chess trophies

    Competition

    Six tournament trophies won over my time competing in chess.

  2. Red belt in Tae Kwon Do

    Martial arts

    Reached red belt rank through years of training and testing.

  3. Most Impactful Track — Dublin HacX Hackathon

    Hackathon

    Winner of the Most Impactful track at the Dublin HacX hackathon.

  4. Sub-30 second Rubik's Cube solve

    Personal best

    Solving a 3x3 Rubik's Cube in under thirty seconds.