Nine Year Old Systems Engineer

I think the difference between thsi kid and many of us is that he has a long term goal. I had no interest in certs or being the youngest whatever to do something, I Just had fun playing with it for the sheer joy of knowing how it worked.
 
There is so much more to life than basic book worm knowledge. I just get the feeling he will be retarded in anything involving working with other people along with general people skills.

Im not advocating against that stuff if the kid enjoys it - but god forbid you enjoy the one time period where you don't have to worry about anything.
 
Cyraxx said:
There is so much more to life than basic book worm knowledge. I just get the feeling he will be retarded in anything involving working with other people along with general people skills.

Im not advocating against that stuff if the kid enjoys it - but god forbid you enjoy the one time period where you don't have to worry about anything.
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Tell him that after he just gave an presentation on active directory ;)
 
Riddlinkidstoner said:
Tell him that after he just gave an presentation on active directory ;)
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Yeah I thought of that before posting - but working with other people in the workforce is far different. FAR different than reading words to an audience.
 
at nine I was programming basic on the apple][c... I guess I was not ambitious enough... lol.. good for him...or her, whatever...
 
Nemesis999 said:
Depends where you are really. I know that in Ontario, Canada if you're not licensed by the Professional Engineers of Ontario (PEO) it is illegal to practice as an engineer. As for getting a license, your options are either completion of an approved university degree, or completion of a nasty set of exams totaling well over 80 hours. :eek:.

33 3 hour exams for a Comp. Eng cert! :eek:

Really how it should be across North America IMO.
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Both of those options are there in the US, but the problem is that they are not required to be able to call yourself an "engineer". Generally speaking, to have acceptable credentials as an engineer in the US, you have to complete an ABET accredited engineering program. There is also the PE exam, which some government positions require but is widely not mandatory for working in the industry. The bottom line is that you can call yourself an engineer without those credentials and it's perfectly lawful to do so, which IMHO should not be.
 
morfinx said:
The bottom line is that you can call yourself an engineer without those credentials and it's perfectly lawful to do so, which IMHO should not be.
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I don't see a problem with that. If you do engineering you should be able to call yourself an engineer. Should we make it so only people with MBAs can call themselves businessmen?
 
I was planning to make some kind of snide comment about people being judgmental and stuff about his looks, then I looked at the picture. That is one girlish looking boy.
 
So if you don't have the paper... and you have worked jobs where the job title was system engineer your still what? a techie?

I used to just say the heck with and call myself a consultant because people who chose to keep dumping huge amounts of money in certifications, who did not have a clue how to fix the problems, had professional sounding titles.

As far a the kid goes, who knows maybe he does knows the material kids should be taught at this age because it is when you memorize stuff best. Maybe it is bs and he just was a monkey taught to memorize the answers, but the tests are not hard.
 
I sent someone a link to that story. Apparently, he just saw the pics but didn't read the captions attached w/ them. He wrote:

"She also looks like she might look like a cutie when she gets older. Too bad she needs someone to drive her to work right now, lol."
 
At 10 I was building silly web pages about video games like warcraft (the original. just "warcraft" lol) and now 16 years later I'm a professional web designer running my own company, so I say good for that kid.

He will probably turn out to supplement rather than take away from his country, so some of you should stop making fun of his feminine appearance lol and focus on the fact that he's at least going to make something of himself, which is a good thing!!!

P.S. my parents never pushed me to learn programming etc. it was all my own decision, they just lit the candle with a commodore 64 when I was 5
 
the story is made up bit like most are now i bet if you went to the ms certs page you wouldent find the name at all
 
RyanLucier said:
He will probably turn out to supplement rather than take away from his country, so some of you should stop making fun of his feminine appearance lol and focus on the fact that he's at least going to make something of himself, which is a good thing!!!
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Seems like this 16 year old is more mature than the half of you on this thread blasting the kid for having long hair.

He's a good looking kid and I wish I had the confidence that he has to give a presentation to a room full of adults when I was twice his age.
 
Its cool that he has a cert, but calling him a systems engineer is a bit of a stretch:

http://www.microsoft.com/learning/en/us/certification/mcsa.aspx
Level:
One to twelve months of experience in working with a desktop operating system, a network operating system, and an existing network infrastructure
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I was working with DOS and Windows 3.1 before I was 9 - I just didn't get a cert. Props to him for giving a presentation, but lets be realistic here, the expectations for a 9 year old are going to be well below that of a 20-something.
 
It isn't just the long hair, but the facial bone structure. While it is true that he/she is only 9 and testosterone has kicked in to start defining him, he would be a very feminine looking guy.

Props to the kid, though. I am going back to re-cert and the new testing structure isn't as easy to cram for as the last time I did the MCSE (NT 4.0). When I was his age I was better at retaining everything I read. Most people thought I had an eidetic memory because I could recite back paragraphs from the encyclopedia or books that I had read. Now, I have trouble remembering how old I am and where I put my keys.
 
Prodigies and ambitious kids always pissed me off, I get somewhat jealous. :D

Oh well, at least I get compliments from my professors, whether I want it or not.
 
My six year old son laughs himself silly when he says the words poo poo.
 
necrosis said:
MS Certs are not that hard.

I would also like to add that certs don't mean dick without a BS or 3-5 years of experience to back it up.
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Pretty impressive for someone that age, but I agree with the above.

The earlier you start the better for education. Once you get married, have a family, and acquire further obligations it's pretty hard to study. I know when I was single, without kids, I knocked out 12 certs (comptia and MS) in a 18 month span while I was working full time. In the last 8 years (married with 2 kids), I think I completed two.

For me the easier part is the ceritfication process. The harder part is getting the time to study the material.
 
I see an earring in that picture!

When I was 9 I was watching my dad build the first computer to be used by the family and learning HTML.
 
I got my MCSE at 16, was pretty easy
 
I learned applescript at age 9... Also known as the scripting language with the worst syntax ever. Java and C @ age 14 were a breeze after AS ffs.

I see a future 4channer here though.
 
When I was 9 I was wishing my school had some useful computers. Kids have it so good these days.
 
I had a very weird up-bringing. While I showed interest in computers when I was 3, the best my parents could do for me was just to teach me how to load and play games. Sure I learned how to type early on but I didn't get any programming taught to me even though my Dad was a semi-programmer who did stuff in Basic. I had to learn a lot of that on my own. Not happy that my parents could have done better.
Now where is that shovel I mis-placed.....
 
morfinx said:
Sigh, there should really be laws dictating who can call themselves engineers, like there are laws for doctors or lawyers. I mean there is the ABET and the PE certification, but none of that is required to call yourself an engineer.

Still, pretty impressive for the kid.
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As an engineer myself from an ABET accredited university and currently an EIT, I'm going to have to wholeheartedly agree with you. Engineer isn't just something you call yourself just because, it's something that's earned. Impressive yes, but I don't think this kid is any sort of an engineer.
 
At 13 I was building Duke3D maps in Build and by 16 I was building a lot of web sites

At 9 I was just probably playing Super NES
 
I was finger banging girls at age 9. Something this kid will never accomplish.
 
I was an endurance and long distance runner when I was 9, winning trophies for the school and all, but meh that was only 9 years ago.
 
BGK said:
I don't see a problem with that. If you do engineering you should be able to call yourself an engineer. Should we make it so only people with MBAs can call themselves businessmen?
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Do you want someone without proper qualification to be your doctor? What about a "lawyer" to defend you in a case? And "accountant" to do your taxes? Rigorous professional certification set a minimum bar of quality.


osrk said:
As an engineer myself from an ABET accredited university and currently an EIT, I'm going to have to wholeheartedly agree with you. Engineer isn't just something you call yourself just because, it's something that's earned. Impressive yes, but I don't think this kid is any sort of an engineer.
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Damn right. I don't think a lot of people realize how difficult and how much work it is. In my undergrad program (Electrical & Computer Engineering) the attrition rate was ~70%. In grad school I worked as a Grad TA, and they tell the undergrad kids on their first day: "look to your left, then look to your right, one of them is not going to be there at graduation." In the 6.5 yrs of engineering school, I spent countless days and night slaving away, fighting fatigue and sleep deprivation. I remember during my last semester in Senior Design, I slept for only about 4 hrs every night. Call me elitist if you want. But I'm damn proud of the process I had to go through. Nowadays though, I got it easy (comparatively) :p
 
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