Elon Musk hires 14-year-old genius for SpaceX

Internet for every earthling. A 14-year-old will soon be working on it. (Image: Mercury News / Unsplash / Mariia Shalabaieva)

Where were you when you were 14? Secretly smoking at school? If you haven’t worked in an aerospace company at the time, Kairan Quazi certainly has something ahead of you. He is among the smartest 0.01 percent of humanity.

According to a report by Mercury News, Elon Musk’s aerospace company SpaceX has now hired him as a software developer.

14-year-old genius at SpaceX

Kairan Quazi, the recent graduate of Santa Clara University for almost two hundred yearswill soon complete his computer science and engineering studies and then devote himself to a project close to Elon Musk’s heart: Starlink – the project that wants to offer Internet access worldwide through a satellite network.

Quazi’s story follows the typical pattern of a child prodigy with remarkable understanding of complex math and problem-solving skills. Even for most adults, what he has is lacking.

Rendered representation of a SpaceX abort test. (Image: SpaceX)

Already at the age of nine Kairan began his studies while most of his peers were still wondering whether “namely” is now spelled with an “h” or not.

After initially enrolling in a community college, he began his Career at Intel Corporation in the artificial intelligence research lab.

Even geniuses have limits

So how smart is he? Well, according to a 2019 piece he wrote for HuffPost, he’s most likely smarter than most of us. His IQ is higher than 99.9% of the population, making him one of the 11 million smartest people on the planet.

However, there are also limits to his genius. While he can easily learn advanced concepts, his verbal communication is not quite as strong. In his 2019 HuffPost article, the prodigy explains:

Since he is too young to live independently, he and his mother will move to Washington.

14-year-old with an 80-hour week?

SpaceX is one of the most demanding employers in the world, and employees are often asked to work more than eighty hours a week. It is unclear whether a child genius needs the same amount of time to cope with the numerous challenges in his job.

The legal working age in Washington state is 14, and corporations are required by law to identify minors in their workforce. You must also obtain a work permit for minors and parental consent.

A school permit is also required for school-age children. Minors are allowed in the week work eight hours outside of school hoursbut under no circumstances may they work night shifts.

Kairan Quazi will therefore be spared 80 hours of work a week for the time being.

What do you think of child geniuses? Bad for childhood, or good for later life? As always, let us know what you think in the comments!