Kairan Quazi is no ordinary child. The 14-year-old teen has achieved something his peers might only dream of at their age.
Kairan will soon be donning a cap and gown to receive his bachelor's degree from Santa Clara University’s School of Engineering, making him the youngest graduate in the history of the institution. He is also set to join Elon Musk's SpaceX as the company’s youngest software engineer.
Kairan recently shared his excitement on his LinkedIn page stating, "Next stop: SpaceX! I will be joining the coolest company on the planet as a Software Engineer on the Starlink engineering team. One of the rare companies that did not use my age as an arbitrary and outdated proxy for maturity and ability."
He also thanked SpaceX engineers for conducting a 'fun' process for his selection. "A huge thank you to my team at SpaceX for the most transparent, technically challenging, and FUN interview process", Kairan said.
His story is reminiscent of the fictional character Young Sheldon Cooper, a character that gained popularity due to the show 'Big Bang Theory' and a dedicated show 'Young Sheldon'.
According to Seattle Times, just a few months after his birth, Kairan’s mother Jullia began noticing his “intense" temperament. If she was reading to him and stopped, for example, Kairan would throw a tantrum that could only be quieted by listening to NPR.
“By age 2, he was speaking in full sentences leaving his parents astonished, and his doctors realised his intellectual and emotional intelligence were off the charts", the report said.
As Kairan grew older, it became clear that mainstream education couldn't keep up with his exponential learning abilities. By the time he reached third grade, both teachers and parents knew something had to change.
This led the Quazi family on a journey to find an academic environment that could accommodate Kairan's extraordinary talents.
Kairan managed to qualify for a community college at age of 10 and also bagged an internship at Intel Labs as an AI research co-op fellow.
Kairan then transferred to Santa Clara University at the age of 11 to study computer science and engineering. Now, at the age of 14, Kairan looks back on a college experience that he describes as the happiest years of his life.
He also became a member of the prestigious Association for Computer Machinery, serving as a senior senator in the Associated Student Government. His academic advisor, Ahmed Amer, couldn't help but marvel at Kairan's insatiable thirst for knowledge.
Not only was he constantly ready to dive deep into the course material, but he also asked insightful questions that impressed even the most seasoned professors.