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World's Youngest Microsoft Certificated Professional Is Five Years Old
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."
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."
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.
The problem is that you only have to remember specific information to pass a certification. /why/ it is the way it is. Only that it is.
This doesn't mean you know
This makes the difference between IT professionals who love their work, and will find new solutions, versus the sys admin who can follow the instructions laid out before him.
You might be able to say 'FTP uses TCP' 'Voice uses UDP' Oh, you passed.
This doesn't mean that they understand that TCP sends acks for each received packet to insure each one is received in order, and if it isn't, it resends the package.
That UDP sends it blindly hoping it worked.
Or why. E.G FTP uses TCP because you're transferring files, if part of the file is missing, it's toast. So you need acknowledgement for each packet sent.
UDP is used for voice. This is because with voice, if part of it is missing you get a slight drop in quality, a blip or blurp in sound, machine like sounds or depending how long, a missed word or two.
You can still understand the conversation for the most part with minor impact. If it was TCP, people would cut out a lot more vs the odd artifact in the sound.
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.
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It took me 3 attempts to pass that exam and now there are 5 year olds who can pass it?
Indeed. You need a mental age of 5 years to pass.
Slashdot, fix the reply notifications... You won't get away with it...
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.
Area51 - We are watching...
There is a third option: The boy is a "paper" MCP. He knows the right answer to the questions, but doesn't understand the reasoning behind it.
When our name is on the back of your car, we're behind you all the way!
This is 95% of all MCP holders.
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
MCP, however, is a pushover. You can get that by simply passing one of the MCSE tests, usually the one centered around the workstation OS.
If you can install it and do very rudimentary administration, you can get an MCP.
Still impressive at the age of 5 though.
Slashdot still doesnâ(TM)t support Unicode after it was added to the HTML standard in 1997.
H/R Drone: Do you have 5 years experience in the field?
Kid: I am 5!
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.
That is all.
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.