Meet the 14-year-old new software engineer at SpaceX’s Starlink

Kairan Quazi, a 14-year-old boy, is all set to work as a new software engineer at billionaire Elon Musk’s SpaceX. San Francisco-based Quazi is a graduate at Santa Clara University’s (SCU) School of Engineering. In a post on Linkedin, Quazi said that he is going to work in the SpaceX’s Starlink team. ‘Next stop: SpaceX!’ Quazi said, who passed the ‘most transparent, technically challenging, and fun interview process’.

“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 One of the rare companies that did not use my age as an arbitrary and outdated proxy for maturity and ability,” he added.

According to his LinkedIn bio, the whiz kid has hands-on experience of ‘Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) through a multi-year co-op at a Fortune 100 technology company and a summer internship at a VC-backed cyber intelligence start-up’.

At just nine years old, Quazi enrolled at Las Positas Community College.

Quazi has earned a degree in Associate of Science (Mathematics) with the highest distinction.

“When I first started (at Santa Clara University), people were really intrigued,” he said. “But after a few days, I think the novelty wore off and I think a lot of them realised that I’m a pretty normal person.”

At Las Positas, Quazi was also a STEM tutor, and was ‘one of the most sought-after members of the tutoring staff’.

“I went from being a third-grade mutineer to really feeling validated intellectually,” Quazi said.

Quazi said working on generative AI with Lama Nachman, Director of Intelligent Systems Research Lab at Intel Labs, changed his ‘career trajectory.

“In a sea of so many no’s by Silicon Valley’s most vaunted companies, that one leader saying yes…one door opening…changed everything,” he wrote in the post.

Quazi’s parents said he was speaking in full sentences at two years old, according to media sources.

“During third grade, it became very obvious to my teachers, my parents, and my paediatrician that mainstream education wasn’t the right path for my accelerated learning ability,” Quazi was quoted as saying.

“I think there is a conventional mindset that I’m missing out on in childhood, but I don’t think that’s true. I think again that mindset would have me graduating middle school now and I don’t think it makes sense for someone that’s able to take rigorous graduate electives work in a prestigious co-op – I am joining SpaceX as a software engineer. I don’t think it makes sense I would be trapped or that anyone whose abilities are beyond that to be trapped,” he added.

Quazi thanked his mentors, including from SCU and Intel, who gave him opportunities to see beyond his age.

“I am forever grateful that you recognised my value, trusted my abilities, and invested in my growth. I am excited to carry these cultural lessons into my career,” Quazi said. “I am packing my rain boots and ready for July!”