Elon Musk hires ‘profoundly gifted’ 14-year-old to work on satellite team at SpaceX
Elon Musk’s space aspirations will be aided by the “youngest working software engineer in the world.”
Kairan Quazi, 14, landed a prestigious job with the space exploration company’s satellite team shortly before his upcoming graduation from Santa Clara University.
The teenage virtuoso could speak full sentences by age two and completed complex math equations by age six, but admitted his school years were a struggle because his peers couldn’t keep up.
βIt was physically painful for me to sit through classrooms for hours and months β and eventually years β cooped up, existentially bored, and unable to learn at the level I needed physically, intellectually, and emotionally,β he shared. SFChronicle.
Kairan Quazi, 14, landed a prestigious job at SpaceX after graduating at just 14 years old
The prodigy goes to work with the technical team of Star Link, which provides satellite internet technology to rural areas
His age aside, Quazi’s burgeoning career at SpaceX alone would be enough to put him at the top of his industry, with less than one percent of applicants accepted by the tech giant.
His achievements at a young age were honored earlier this month by the Santa Clara City Council, where he sought to address concerns about his childhood.
“For the people out there who I think are concerned about my childhood being destroyed, I’m really here to tell you that’s just not true,” he said.
Santa Clara Mayor Lisa Gillmor responded that she felt “a bit of an underachiever” compared to the prodigy, calling him the “youngest working software engineer in the world… in the world!”
He has been branded a “highly gifted” youth with an almost superhuman level of intellect. When asked about his IQ, Kairan admitted he didn’t know, but claimed that ‘the doctor told me I was maxed out’.
Spending his childhood above other kids, the young prodigy was quickly enrolled in a school for gifted youth, but said it still didn’t meet his intellectual needs.
Quazi (left) has been impressing throughout his childhood, even claiming a doctor told him he had his IQ ‘maximum’. He is pictured with California Governor Gavin Newsom (right)
While other employers were turned off by Quazi’s age, he claims Elon Musk’s (pictured) SpaceX was excited about his promise
After graduating from community college and receiving his degree, Kairan was ready to put his brain to the test, but he said he soon realized that employers weren’t impressed by his age.
That was until he interviewed for SpaceX, which he claims he enjoyed being so young.
But in the years before, he felt frustrated because his intellect extended far beyond his fellow students. Feeling there was “nothing noble or dignified” about his education, Quazi tried to take things to the next level, but found it impossible to focus on easy lessons.
His mother said he entered an “elementary school mutiny” phase, where he would argue with his teachers and would rather be sent to the principal’s office than sit in classrooms.
However, the mastermind said he has never seen numbers as “a good representation of the whole person,” a view shared by his parents who he says “never really cared about numbers.”
His mother Jullia Quazi recalled several telling moments from his childhood that gave a glimpse into his promising intelligence.
She claimed that he often “quarreled with his kindergarten teachers about the constitutional requirements of being president of the United States.”
In a third grade, he confronted his teacher about how it would be possible to discuss supply and demand without addressing US trade policy in China, Jullia said.
She recalled being so offended by the slow curriculum at his gifted school that he announced to his teachers “they’d find him in the computer room looking up jobs on the CIA website.”
“Our approach was no censorship and no focus on numbers,” his mother said. “If we walk into a library or Barnes & Noble and he picks up a book, he can have it.”
Kairan (center) pictured with his parents Mustahid (right) and Jullia (left), who said the prodigy started showing his genius at just two years old
Quazi’s search for CIA jobs as a frustrated youth turned to technology when he took calculus exams in college, and his parents realized he was a brilliant mathematician.
But it was more than his penchant for comparisons that caught people’s attention – his pediatrician once alerted his parents to his extraordinary emotional intelligence.
This was evident as early as age two, when the fully-speaking toddler “introduced himself” at social events, his mother said.
“He would sit with the adults and try to join the conversation,” she added.
After years of trying to nurture his “boundless curiosity,” he flourished at Santa Clara University, where he stunned his classmates and professors alike.
“My brain can process and synthesize information much faster,” he said when asked by SFChronicle how he managed to reach dizzying heights at such a young age.
“I can read through a textbook once and have a deep understanding,” he claimed.
While seemingly excelling at everything, Quazi said two specific talents elude him. “I always like to play tennis and piano… but I’m pretty bad at both,” he said.
Quazi dazzled his classmates and professors during his childhood, allowing him to graduate recently despite being only 14 years old
He claims he has a superhuman ability to “read through a textbook once and have a deep understanding”
Now, after earning a degree in computer science and engineering, Quazi’s attempts to cash in on his intelligence have landed him one of the most lucrative roles in his field.
But his job search didn’t always go according to plan, with the then 13-year-old being rejected from every company he applied to when he was shopping his resume last fall.
Kairan says he is constantly faced with what he called “adulthood,” including a recent incident where his LinkedIn profile was removed from the platform because he was under 16.
“This is the illogical, primitive nonsense I deal with all the time,” he said in an angry response on Instagram.
“I may be qualified enough to land one of the most coveted tech jobs in the world, but not qualified enough to access a professional social media platform?”