Kairan Quazi

Kairan Quazi
Birth date
Birth place	Pleasanton, California, U.S.
Occupation	Computer engineering

Kairan Quazi (Template:Lang-bn; born 27 January 2009<ref name=":0">Template:Citation core{{#if:2023-06-13|}}</ref>) is a Bangladeshi American software engineer at the American aerospace manufacturer company SpaceX.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> At age 14, he graduated from the Santa Clara University School of Engineering in 2023, becoming the university's youngest ever graduate.<ref name=":8">Template:Cite news</ref> Simultaneously, he was recruited by SpaceX in June 2023 to become the youngest engineer at Starlink, the company's satellite internet team.<ref name=":2">Template:Citation core{{#if:2023-06-13|}}</ref><ref name=":5">Template:Citation core{{#if:2023-06-13|}}</ref> For his precocious educational achievements, he has been labelled "wonder kid".<ref name=":10">Template:Citation core{{#if:2023-06-26|}}</ref><ref>Template:Citation core{{#if:2023-06-26|}}</ref><ref>Template:Citation core{{#if:2023-06-26|}}</ref>

Early life and family

Kairan was born in Pleasanton, California to Bangladeshi parents Mustahid Quazi and Jullia Quazi née Chowdhury.<ref name=":6">Template:Citation core{{#if:2023-06-13|}}</ref><ref name=":12">Template:Citation core{{#if:2023-07-06|}}</ref> He belongs to a family of Muslim Quazis from Manikganj.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> In Bangladesh, his father was a chemical engineer and his mother a Wall Street executive.<ref name=":5" /> Doctors assessed his intellectual and emotional intelligence at age 2 as "off the charts".<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> He first entered Mensa International, a program for individuals with a high IQ, and became a Davidson Institute Young Scholar.<ref name=":7">Template:Citation core{{#if:2023-06-13|}}</ref> Then he went to The Quarry Lane School for the rest of his elementary education.<ref name=":11">Template:Citation core{{#if:2023-07-06|}}</ref> When asked if he was a genius, he would divert the answer to his mother's remarks, saying: "Mom says she's the only genius in the house because it takes one to keep [their] house from falling apart!"<ref name=":1">Template:Citation core{{#if:2023-06-13|}}</ref> He added: "Mom also claims that IQ comes from the 'X' chromosome."<ref name=":7" />

College education

Recognising his precocity, Kairan was advised by his family doctor and school teachers to enroll in college while he was still in third grade.<ref>Template:Citation core{{#if:2023-06-13|}}</ref> He had already developed a passion for calculus and organic chemistry which the school could not offer in its curriculum.<ref name=":12" /> His psychologist assessed him as "an outlier among outliers," and recommended that Kairan was ready for a college.<ref name=":8" /> Dan Peters, psychologist and executive director of the Summit Center assessed him and suggested he join the Helios School, a private school for gifted children.<ref name=":11" /> At age nine, in 2018, he simultaneously entered the Helios School and the Las Positas Community College, where he studied mathematics and chemistry,<ref name=":12" /><ref>Template:Citation core{{#if:2023-07-06|}}</ref> and received his associates degree in science.<ref name=":6" /><ref name=":1" /> In 2018, he simultaneously completed California's high school equivalency exam, a requisite for full college enrolment.<ref name=":8" /> At Las Positas, he became the youngest ever student and tutor,<ref name=":0" /> and was a highly regarded STEM tutor.<ref name=":2" /> In 2019, after applying for many internships, he was finally accepted by Lama Nachman, director of the Intelligent Systems Research Lab at Intel.<ref name=":0" /> Kairan said his internship with Nachman "changed everything".<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":3">Template:Citation core{{#if:2023-06-13|}}</ref>

In 2020, at age 11, Quazi transferred to Santa Clara University (SCU) and studied computer science and engineering.<ref name=":6" /><ref name=":4">Template:Citation core{{#if:2023-06-13|}}</ref> In 2022, he completed an internship at a cyber intelligence firm, Blackbird.AI.<ref name=":4" /><ref name=":5" /> He was elected as a Senior Senator in the Associated Student Government of the university.<ref name=":9">Template:Citation core{{#if:2023-06-26|}}</ref> He officially graduated on 17 June 2023.<ref>Template:Citation core{{#if:2023-06-26|}}</ref> With a degree in software engineering, Kairan is the youngest student to ever graduate from Santa Clara University.<ref name=":6" />

Career

By February 2023, Kairan already received three employment offers.<ref name=":9" /> In April 2023, Quazi announced on Instagram that he was ready for a major job interview.<ref name=":2" /> Several companies rejected his applications, but SpaceX gave him the opportunity. His parents "prepared him for disappointment", as his mother took him to Seattle to face the interview.<ref name=":8" /> The company announced his appointment on 13 June, posting on Twitter: "SpaceX hires the best, brightest and smartest engineers in the world, even a 14-year-old by the name of Kairan Quazi, who will start his new job on SpaceX's Starlink team on July 31."<ref>Template:Citation core{{#if:2023-06-13|}}</ref> He is set up to move to Redmond with his mother by the end of July 2023.<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":3" />

When Kairan announced his new appointment in LinkedIn, saying, "Next stop: Space X! I will be joining the coolest company on the planet," the professional online platform soon deleted his account.<ref>Template:Citation core{{#if:2023-06-26|}}</ref> LinkedIn requires 16 years of age to use its service. It informed Kairan that he would be welcomed to join when he turned 16.<ref name=":10" /><ref>Template:Citation core{{#if:2023-06-26|}}</ref> Kairan responded by remarking the situation "illogical, primitive nonsense" as he was already employed in a profession.<ref>Template:Citation core{{#if:2023-06-26|}}</ref>