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World's Youngest Microsoft Certificated Professional Is Five Years Old 276

HughPickens.com writes Gurvinder Gill writes at BBC that Ayan Qureshi is the world's youngest Microsoft Certified Professional after passing the tech giant's exam when he was just five years old. Qureshi's father introduced his son to computers when he was three years old. He let him play with his old computers, so he could understand hard drives and motherboards. "I found whatever I was telling him, the next day he'd remember everything I said, so I started to feed him more information," Qureshi explained. "Too much computing at this age can cause a negative effect, but in Ayan's case he has cached this opportunity." Ayan has his own computer lab at his home in Coventry, containing a computer network which he built and spends around two hours a day learning about the operating system, how to install programs, and has his own web site.

Microsoft Certified Professional (MCP) is a certification that validates IT professional and developer technical expertise through rigorous, industry-proven, and industry-recognized exams. MCP exams cover a wide range of Microsoft products, technologies, and solutions. When the boy arrived to take the Microsoft exam, the invigilators were concerned that he was too young to be a candidate. His father reassured them that Ayan would be all right on his own. "There were multiple choice questions, drag and drop questions, hotspot questions and scenario-based questions," Ayan's father told the BBC Asian Network. "The hardest challenge was explaining the language of the test to a five-year-old. But he seemed to pick it up and has a very good memory."
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World's Youngest Microsoft Certificated Professional Is Five Years Old

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  • Which says what? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Loki_666 ( 824073 ) on Monday November 17, 2014 @06:07AM (#48400913)

    Either the kid is pretty damn smart, or else the quality of the MCP exam has become so easy even children can pass it.

    Ill go for a little from column A and a little from column B. Bright kid probably (and coaching from Dad helped for sure) but MCP probably isn't worth jack shit.

    I remember years ago being asked by an MCSE for help... installing Windows 2000 Server. I was a Novell certified engineer and could do it in my sleep.

    • Re:Which says what? (Score:5, Interesting)

      by beheaderaswp ( 549877 ) * on Monday November 17, 2014 @06:23AM (#48400947)

      I agree with you. While he's probably a very bright kid and I would not seek to take anything away from him..... it bears comment.

      My team used to refer to "MCSE" as "Make Coffee Send Errand". Mostly because of the issue you are pointing out: these guys had no skills whatsoever.

    • by Thanshin ( 1188877 ) on Monday November 17, 2014 @06:24AM (#48400953)

      installing Windows 2000 Server. I was a Novell certified engineer and could do it in my sleep.

      You woke up and discovered you had installed Windows 2000?

      Quite the scary illness you've got there. I'd rather find my horse's cut head.

      • by dissy ( 172727 ) on Monday November 17, 2014 @06:31AM (#48400967)

        You woke up and discovered you had installed Windows 2000?
        Quite the scary illness you've got there. I'd rather find my horse's cut head.

        I don't think they added the horse head option to the installer until Windows XP...

        • if you ever find yourself installing an old version of Windows and are not paying attention, you can almost get excited by the list of "new features" in the old version of Windows. Their OS may be so so, but their propaganda has always been top notch.

      • You woke up and discovered you had installed Windows 2000?

        Scary what one can accomplish while on Ambien and not remember a thing the next morning.

    • There are many changes happening at MS. Since Nadella has been appointed CEO a huge PR operation is in progress. Whatever brings publicity to MS affairs is a good thing, e.g. a 5 yo passing a MS exam.
    • by hey! ( 33014 )

      Add column C: children are geniuses... at certain things. One of those things is acquiring language, something that adults struggle with but which is literally child's play to them. That doesn't mean children -- even precocious ones -- can reason like adults.

      The linguistic genius of very young children might well help one pass a test a standardized test with a simple scalar score which depends in part on whether you can talk the lingo the way the vendor wants you to talk. I'm assuming the tests are devis

      • Re:Which says what? (Score:4, Interesting)

        by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 17, 2014 @07:47AM (#48401175)

        I did the exam for windows NT 4.0, it was a while ago.

        But knowing about windows hampers your ability to pass the exam. If you only read the book and never touched a computer that will make that exam easy.

        The questions are in multiple choice, but you need to give the 'best' answer. Most of the time three of the four answers will solve the problem.

        Just keep in mind: if one of the answers is "Reinstall windows" than that is the correct 'best' answer (this was the 'best' answer of 5 of the questions on the exam), if one of the answers is 'edit the registry' than this is the 'worst' answer (even if it solved everything and is the quickest/easiest way of doing it).

        • The NT 4 MCSE exams were a joke, because Microsoft was still trying to get people in the door against Novell.

          Once word got back to Microsoft that nobody cared about the MCSE battery of certifications because they were viewed as being slightly tougher than CompTIA certs, they revamped the entire thing for Windows 2000, and made it actually something you needed to study for.

          But it was too late - even 14 years later everyone views the MCSE as a joke.

    • by fuzzyfuzzyfungus ( 1223518 ) on Monday November 17, 2014 @07:34AM (#48401133) Journal
      The part that worries me was: "The hardest challenge was explaining the language of the test to a five-year-old. But he seemed to pick it up and has a very good memory."

      Sounds like the kid is pretty bright, might well be pretty impressive in a few years; but 'explaining the language of the test' is pretty much a (much easier) equivalent to 'identifying the problem to be solved'.

      As an exercise in mental capacity, I'm definitely not going to knock the kid, I certainly wouldn't have managed it at 5, and those capabilities will likely come in handy, I hope for him that they do.

      For the MCP, on the other hand, it seems pretty dire that it can be passed by somebody with an excellent memory; but a need to be coached on what the questions mean. Real life is an open book (and/or google) test; but it is notably unsympathetic about telling you what the questions mean, what sort of answer a given question requires, which questions are actually on the test, which answers trigger a surprise exam about disaster recovery 18 months from now...

      If somebody is a 'Certified Professional' I'd much rather seem them have an elegant grasp of what the problem is and what the solution should look like; but check the manual for some registry settings, than be conceptually befuddled but have a perfect grasp of the details.
      • I worry that this poor kid is being funneled into a bleak and dreary career path too soon in life.

    • Either the kid is pretty damn smart, or else the quality of the MCP exam has become so easy even children can pass it.

      I'd say it was a little more of the latter shining like a polished turd here, since a 5-year old no matter how bright he or she is, is still a child.

      Ill go for a little from column A and a little from column B. Bright kid probably (and coaching from Dad helped for sure) but MCP probably isn't worth jack shit.

      Well... now it's not worth jack shit. How the hell am I supposed to compete with a 5-year old's salary requirements? And you thought we had a problem before with H-1B holders impacting the job market? Pfft.

      I remember years ago being asked by an MCSE for help... installing Windows 2000 Server. I was a Novell certified engineer and could do it in my sleep.

      There were plenty of paper MCSEs back in the day. Most likely you did run into someone who Must Consult Someone Experienced.

  • by BeCre8iv ( 563502 ) on Monday November 17, 2014 @06:09AM (#48400921)
    A MS cert does not trump a computing degree.
    • by Lumpy ( 12016 )

      An MS cert does not trump someone with 2 years of real experience. MS certs are only for people that have zero experience hoping to work somewhere other than best buy.

      • An MS cert does not trump someone with 2 years of real experience. MS certs are only for people that have zero experience hoping to work somewhere other than best buy.

        I once had to help a MCSE guy configure an email account. In outlook. They have no value if there is no experience backing up the ability to pass a test. I've been working with computers for over 30 years, and I'm 40. No official certified training, just a lifetime of being a geek. They still call me for the hard problems and never complain about the bill when it comes.

        My understanding is there are "boot camp" test prep courses that are worthless then there are (apparently) some real cert programs.

    • by wed128 ( 722152 )

      This depends highly on
      1) the reqiurements of the position
      and
      2) your hiring budget.

      Do you need someone to run msi installers and register users on a *windows* system? you'll probably save some money hiring an MS cert. do you need database design or some complicated distributed server farm built? and IST degree is probably what you're looking for? Need some application code written? You probably want someone with a CS degree. Need device drivers/firmware/hardware designed? Go for someone with a Computer Engin

    • by frank_adrian314159 ( 469671 ) on Monday November 17, 2014 @10:05AM (#48401827) Homepage

      A MS cert does not trump a computing degree.

      It depends on how much the five year-old costs compared to someone with a computing degree.

  • Comment removed (Score:5, Interesting)

    by account_deleted ( 4530225 ) on Monday November 17, 2014 @06:24AM (#48400951)
    Comment removed based on user account deletion
    • by dfn5 ( 524972 )

      The problem is that you only have to remember specific information to pass a certification.

      For the most part your right. 99% of certifications are useless and I ignore them when trying to hire someone. However, I kind of like the Cisco certifications (the advanced ones anyway), where you are asked to build and configure something in a lab, then they come in and screw with it, and you have to figure out what is wrong and fix it. Being able to fix something that is broken demonstrates a deeper understanding than mere memorization of facts.

  • Waste (Score:5, Insightful)

    by mwvdlee ( 775178 ) on Monday November 17, 2014 @06:25AM (#48400957) Homepage

    The kid apparently has either a talent for computers or for learning.
    Either way, it's a waste to train him for an MCP exam when the kid could be learning something actually valuable in the future.
    I have no idea whether an MCP exam is easy or difficult, but it'll damn sure be useless by the time he is old enough to get benefits from such certification.
    Having the kid get an MCP certification is about the parents' bragging rights rather than actually teaching the kid something valuable.

    • Re:Waste (Score:5, Insightful)

      by hawkinspeter ( 831501 ) on Monday November 17, 2014 @06:41AM (#48400999)
      While the qualification is worthless for him, the kid's interested in computers so why not take an exam? He's 5, what else would he be doing with his time?
      • Re:Waste (Score:5, Insightful)

        by mwvdlee ( 775178 ) on Monday November 17, 2014 @07:33AM (#48401129) Homepage

        Perhaps learn non-MS-specific, generic computer skills that'll still be useful to the kid in ten years time.

        • There's no reason he can't move on to bigger and better things from here. Perhaps this has whetted his appetite.

        • I imagine that would be a bit more challenging for a 5 year old than learning MS-specific exam answers. A lot of generic computer skills require a level of abstract reasoning that wouldn't be easy for a youngster to master. I guess it also depends on what his parents know - if they are MS specialists then I guess the kid's only going to be learning MS stuff.
      • Re:Waste (Score:5, Insightful)

        by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 17, 2014 @07:55AM (#48401207)

        He's 5, what else would he be doing with his time?

        Playing with other 5 year olds.

        • Perhaps he's bored by children his own age. MAybe a mix of 5-9 year olds. He needs to stay stimulated but also learn to be pleasant to people his own age.

      • by Selur ( 2745445 )

        > He's 5, what else would he be doing with his time?
        Obviously, starting to build his own P0rn-Empire!!

    • Re:Waste (Score:4, Interesting)

      by Karlt1 ( 231423 ) on Monday November 17, 2014 @08:53AM (#48401397)

      Either way, it's a waste to train him for an MCP exam when the kid could be learning something actually valuable in the future.

      True. I learned how to program on an Apple //e in the 6th grade in 1986 -- first Applesoft Basic and then assembly language. By the time I got out of college 10 years later and got my first job, there were no Apple //e's anywhere and no one wanted a 65C02 assembly language programmer! Spending six years learning how to program before going to college did me know good. It's like knowing the fundamentals really was a waste of time and was so not transferrable.....

    • I am a MCP. You can pass the test and not know ONE THING about actually using a computer if you have good memorization skills and get one of the test prep guides. Even if you do know what you are doing, the memorization way is better because the common sense answer is not always the correct answer. At least when I took the test you had to parse the sentences to figure out WTF they were even ASKING and then keep in mind the MicsoSpeak. I think "cost effective network" was always 10BaseT back in the day.
    • by Kagato ( 116051 )

      I think it was in the kid's best interest. Not that the MCP is worth more than an A+ certification these days. Be that as it may the notoriety will likely bring him opportunities. It could certainly open doors for better education and scholarships. I wouldn't be surprised if Microsoft didn't kick some freebies and money his way to capitalize on the publicity.

  • by Anonymous Coward

    add an arm wrestling component to the test.

  • Seriously why fill a such important time in child's development with crap that will be irrelevant before he'll hit puberty. There's many more important lessons in life than this. The dad thinks his kids something special now, but in a few years when those valuable lesson and experiences can't be drawn upon....What then? This dad is a douche-bag.
    • Comment removed (Score:4, Insightful)

      by account_deleted ( 4530225 ) on Monday November 17, 2014 @06:44AM (#48401007)
      Comment removed based on user account deletion
      • by Macfox ( 50100 ) * on Monday November 17, 2014 @07:23AM (#48401105)
        This isn't what happened here. It's one thing for a kid to play and learn. Here we have a father pursuing his sons MCP certification, for his own gratification. If this was about the kid, it wouldn't be in the news.
      • by Lumpy ( 12016 )

        If he enjoys computers, then give him a REAL OS to deal with. Why train him on the DUPLO of the computer world?

        Honestly this kid needs a good linux and a good compiler. Any monkey can do IT, geniuses need to learn the inner workings and have the tools to break things or make them different. He needs to be using an OS that lets you interact with the hardware level and have access to compilers.

        MCSE is the factory worker of the 21'st century. Do you want to be an assembly line worker or an engineer who

  • "Explaining" (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Kvathe ( 3869749 ) on Monday November 17, 2014 @06:51AM (#48401029)
    "The hardest challenge was explaining the language of the test to a five-year-old." Makes you wonder how thorough this 'explaining' was. I may be wrong, but standard applicants probably don't get much in the way of explanation, and understanding the question is a very important part of any problem solving.
  • by Anonymous Coward
    The MCP cert is a way to prove you are more knowledgeable about the Windows client computer than your grandmother that calls you for help. Like the A+ exam, I found it remedial. MCPs are not MSCEs. I enjoy how the people who insult MCSEs either 1) do not have it, or 2) have a different certification (NCE). And yes, your anecdotal stories are very cute.
  • I think the mold on the left yogurt in my fridge is an MCSE. ... Yeah, he was bored one afternoon.

    Seriously though, if my kid were a computer prodigy, the last thing I would teach it is something proprietary with such a short half-life as MCP. Basic knowledge of a programming language and TCP/IP would've been much better for this kid at that age. What a waste of talent. ... Put him on the kernel team and Linus accept a commit by him - *that* would be news. :-)

    I hope this wasn't some nutty dad driving his ki

    • Put him on the kernel team and Linus accept a commit by him - *that* would be news. :-)

      This kid could be ready to do just that by the time he's seven. Problem is, he won't be ready to read Linus' comments until he's seventeen.

  • Sure, the MCP test isn't that great. But a 5 year old kid passing them does show a drive for learning that most American 5-year-old kids don't have (for various reasons). Most American kids that age wouldn't even be able to read the questions, let alone answer them. Unless his dad was able to read the questions to him and then put his answers in for him, the kid has exhibited a superior reading and writing ability in comparison to most.

    Hopefully he doesn't end up becoming a desk jockey troubleshootin
  • by __aaclcg7560 ( 824291 ) on Monday November 17, 2014 @07:51AM (#48401183)
    When I was a video game tester at Accolade/Infogrames/Atari (same company, different owners, multiple personality disorder), we kept a five-year-old in the inventory closet in case we ever needed a console button smasher. After you turn 30-years-old, you're likely to smash the console than smash the buttons.
  • by Torp ( 199297 ) on Monday November 17, 2014 @08:07AM (#48401257)

    To find out who's the youngest linux kernel developer who (to have some objective criteria) had a patch accepted into the mainstream line.
    Or you know, anything else besides something based on multiple choice and memorization.

    • To find out who's the youngest linux kernel developer who (to have some objective criteria) had a patch accepted into the mainstream line. Or you know, anything else besides something based on multiple choice and memorization.

      That's not a good guide at all. When I was 23, I submitted a patch to kernel.org for an issue with the USB HID driver. Some idiot had gone to sleep with a spinlock. I submitted that patch as per all the guidelines on kernel.org at the time. The bug (which would grind your computer to a halt with the correct hardware attached), remained unpatched for 6 kernel versions before some mainstream kernel dev took my exact same patch and submitted it under his own name. If you don't already have a name, or if y

  • A++ & MCP (Score:3, Funny)

    by slackoon ( 997078 ) on Monday November 17, 2014 @08:20AM (#48401293)
    I used to work tier 2 tech support for RoadRunner. People, usually from Florida, would call in complain their internet wasn't working. I would always get people trying to let me know just how smart they were.

    Customer: "Hi, I'm A++ and MCP certified and I have a certificate from Devry so I know my stuff but I can't get my internet working"

    Me: "What makes you say it isn't working Sir, what exactly is going on?"

    Customer: "I can't load any websites except ones I've seen before, I tried restarting but it's just doing the same thing"

    Me: "...type ipconfig, what do you see?"

    Customer: "...static IP..."

    Me: "Sir, do you have a kid who uses your computer for gaming? You have a static IP, that's the issue. follow these instructions and it will work..."

    Customer: "No, I certainly don't have a static IP. I looked for that. The issue must be on your end"

    Me: *FACEPALM!!!!!!!

    comclusion: MCP MEANS NOTHING!!!!!!
    • MCP only means one thing: Master Control Program.

    • Re: (Score:2, Informative)

      by Anonymous Coward

      Can confirm. Road Runner ISP was utter shit in FL. Weekly outages, particularly on Wednesdays for some reason. They lost a huge amount of business when FiOS was rolled out in our county, and the remaining RR users are the elderly that still have AOL email adressess, and the poor. They went from rock solid to utter garbage in the space of about three years.

    • Hah! I took pretty much those same calls working for another internet provider. Countless!

    • by __aaclcg7560 ( 824291 ) on Monday November 17, 2014 @12:41PM (#48403405)
      I have an A+ and Network+ certifications when I called Comcast to complain about their technician disconnecting my Internet service at the box. The service rep reassured me that my Internet service was working fine despite everything on my end failing. After going a month without Internet service and refusing to pay the current bill, Comcast sent a technician out who discovered that the last technician installed a bypass filter backwards inside the box.
  • Ugh! Windows indoctrination at such a young age!

  • Hey, this code.org thingy is really working!

  • Why, this Microsoft certification test is so simple a five year old child could pass it.

    Run out and find me a five year old child. I can't make head nor tail out of it.

  • by Andrewkov ( 140579 ) on Monday November 17, 2014 @10:00AM (#48401799)

    H/R Drone: Do you have 5 years experience in the field?

    Kid: I am 5!

  • But can he run Linux?
  • by Anonymous Coward

    You don't pass them by knowing your material (unless you're an idiot savant who has memorized every meaningless facet of the product) or by taking classes. You pass by memorizing the bizarre questions they ask and the answers they expect to see. I was forced to take a few MS exams for work, and I passed them all on the first go-around, but I don't know jack about Windows.

  • The dad did it... (Score:3, Interesting)

    by nowsharing ( 2732637 ) on Monday November 17, 2014 @11:54AM (#48402879)
    Before accepting that a 5 year old not only passed the exam, but could read and comprehend at a fully adult level, I have another hypothesis: the dad did it... He obviously made the kid's website, so why would it surprise anyone if he "helped" the kid through the test. It's the same way that kids used to win slot-racing competitions.
  • how much help is OK? (Score:2, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward

    The hardest challenge was explaining the language of the test to a five-year-old. But he seemed to pick it up and has a very good memory.

    While a good exam isn't supposed to test the student's ability to understand the language, it is supposed to test the student's ability to understand the underlying concepts. This means that the exam should, in part, test the student's ability to read a question, identify the key concepts, and figure out what is an appropriate answer based on those key concepts. If you rec

  • Groucho (Score:4, Funny)

    by slapout ( 93640 ) on Monday November 17, 2014 @12:09PM (#48403065)

    "Why it's so simple, a five year-old child could understand it. Now go out and get me a five year old child"

  • The MailOnlne described the test as "Supporting Windows 8.1." Schoolboy becomes world's youngest qualified computer specialist after passing Microsoft Windows exam aged just FIVE [dailymail.co.uk]

    Yes, this is technician level. Doesn't claim to be anything else.

    But IF the range and depth of the exam is equivalent to the MS Course of the same name, it is far from the trivial achievement that the geek with five to ten years of practical experience likes to pretend. Course 20688D: Supporting Windows 8.1 [microsoft.com]

    There is an entry-lev

  • by Kryptonut ( 1006779 ) on Monday November 17, 2014 @02:59PM (#48404899)

    I remember earlier in my career, looking for work with a tertiary qualification and 4 years experience in the IT workforce under my belt (I worked in IT before, during and after tertiary study) and being turned down by potential employers because I wasn't "Microsoft Certified"

    Nevermind the fact that at least 2 of the papers I studied toward that tertiary qualification revolved around configuring and supporting Microsoft networks and I'd been working with Microsoft technologies full time for about 2-3 years prior.

    I later just got the damn certification anyway, because I needed the job prospects that came with it. I learnt very little by doing it.

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