World's Youngest Microsoft Tech Specialist Is Nine

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What were you doing when you were 9 years old?

Well, as it turns out, there's a 9-year-old boy in India that not only could show most people how to use Windows 8 but a whole lot more as well. The Times of India reports that the boy, 4th grader Pranav Kalyan, has now passed the Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist exam. He is the youngest person to become a certified Microsoft tech specialist. The record was previously held by a 12-year-old in Dubai.
 
I wonder if they get some sort of Bill Gates badge, you know just like the cowboy tikes of the past.
 
Makes the rest of us look like chumps. In my opinion, it devalues my certifications. If a 9 year old can do it, what makes a 37 year old so special?

Some of them are easy (by my standards), but most end users couldn't pass them. In the end, they are just a test like a lot of tests that kids take. You can study for them and pass them. I am proud of the kid, but those tests are just tests, and a lot of the real work in the workplace isn't on the test - or it is the Microsoft way and not the real world efficient way.

Now, if the kid could apply that knowledge, it'd be awesome. But, at age 9, I don't think I'd let him touch a machine on my work network. Don't care how many exams he's passed.
 
i think the story here is the test is that easy... not that the kid is that smart
 
Makes the rest of us look like chumps. In my opinion, it devalues my certifications. If a 9 year old can do it, what makes a 37 year old so special?

Some of them are easy (by my standards), but most end users couldn't pass them. In the end, they are just a test like a lot of tests that kids take. You can study for them and pass them. I am proud of the kid, but those tests are just tests, and a lot of the real work in the workplace isn't on the test - or it is the Microsoft way and not the real world efficient way.

Now, if the kid could apply that knowledge, it'd be awesome. But, at age 9, I don't think I'd let him touch a machine on my work network. Don't care how many exams he's passed.

You're just now figuring this out?

Most certifications are a fraud that mean nothing in terms of real world experience or the ability to actually do a job. Anyone can get Test King and memorize the answers; rote memorization, however, will not help you in the real world.
 
But can he craft a redstone torch? There's valuable tech support my kids provide!
 
A certification just like your college education is for most jobs simply a "get your foot in the door" check on the resume. Real world experience generally is a greater factor at getting the job.
 
You're just now figuring this out?

Oh, of course not. I found that out long ago when I was taking my first exams in the 90's. Real world way can differ greatly from the "Microsoft way". I've learned a bit from various certs, mostly the Cisco ones. CompTIA ones are very basic, and for an IT professional - too basic. Great for entry level, but if you have ANY experience, it's too basic. Microsoft are good for the managers. At least they can see that you know the basics of the product. Still doesn't mean you know enough to manage a network.

With Cisco (CCNA, anyway), you can prove you know basic networking, basic CLI knowledge. Maybe not thorough routing and switching knowledge, but you know the basics. You know how to check configs and such. Not enough to design or configure a network (CCNP or above, sure). But, you'd do good as a simple technician that passes the information on to an engineer.

CompTIA - VERY easy. My dog has multiple Network+ certs (2003, 2009, 2012). From the A+, it's all memorization (from the old days of IRQ's to the newer standards of todays exams). Even Sec+ is memorization. There is little thinking and/or problem solving involved.
Microsoft - can be difficult, but you can memorize answers and get enough basic knowledge to know where to find menus and features (but not how to effectively use them).
Cisco - Even at CCNA level, you're learning subnetting. You can't memorize those answers. You have to do the math, you have to learn how it works. It's more learning and less memorization. I enjoy Cisco exams because of that.
CIW - Memorization. Not much else.

Cisco is about the best certification for real world translation. It involves simple troubleshooting skills on the exam. You need to know how the protocols work, how IP addressing works, etc.. I've yet to look at braindumps, so they may be 1:1 on the dump, but books and hands on prepare you to tackle the questions. You have to use a lot of your knowledge from various areas to figure things out. You may have to use subnetting to figure out a routing problem with discontinuous networks...
 
Hahah India.. Oh yes there is no possibility of cheating either to get 15 minutes of attention.
Microsoft knows there is a hell of a lot of cheating going on.. Just do a google on Brain Dumps Microsoft/Cisco/EXIN and see how many hits you get. Took me a firggen year to pass(full time study) all the test for MCITP, and cost me a lot of cash. I also had 8 years of experience by then. If you do the training its well worth it.
 
Someone give this kid a real world problem and not something that he can memorize for hours out of a textbook.
 
Microsofts latest exams for the MCITP: EA for example are fairly difficult and you do actually learn quite a bit if you dont go the cheating route and use brain dumps. Those exams pretty much required me to do a ton of labbing as well as reading and watching CBT nuggets. Tons of people fail those exams multiple times before passing and I myself failed 1 exam 2 times before passing.

You can learn a lot from MS exams the problem I would say inst just that your learning the MS way but that unless you work somewhere that makes extensive use of all the different server roles rather than using 3rd party platforms, most of it you'll just forget because you wont use it anyway.
 
Took me a firggen year to pass(full time study) all the test for MCITP, and cost me a lot of cash. I also had 8 years of experience by then. If you do the training its well worth it.

Depends. I have gone and done a lot of training, studying, labbing, and such for my first MS exams. Turns out, I was way over studying. Maybe in the MCITP:EA it is better, but for the MCSA (2003) and MCITP consumer side, it wasn't too deep. I definitely learned a lot more through the studying than what was needed on the exams. Definitely worth it, I did learn a lot. It's not a bad thing at all, but the exams weren't that deep. I definitely use the knowledge I gained with all the study.

Same with CompTIA. Over studied for the simple test. My experience and knowledge was already way past the entry level requirements for the exams.

Cisco, I was used to the Microsoft way. Failed my first CCNA attempt. It was a completely different kind of exam. I understudied by a lot.

But, my studying isn't memorizing the stuff (except for CompTIA, where that's all it is). It's learning the material. Knowing when to use one product over another, or one protocol vs. another in a certain situation. Not just how to do it, but why. I study my ass off to not just pass the exam, but to know the product. It's helped on a couple exams, as I've dug deep enough to pass the initial exam and the following one.

The early MS exams (client, initial server ones) were basically exams on the various features and the basic usage. I have not gone too deep into them yet (MCSE/MCITP for server), and I do know they go more in depth in AD and things like that. But, the initial MCTS exams are skimming the surface. Foundation type of stuff.

I had to read the article (ASP.net was his exam) to make sure he didn't pass the Vista exam (70-620). That exam was a freebie. I doubt anyone on these forums would fail that one.
 
Oh, of course not. I found that out long ago when I was taking my first exams in the 90's. Real world way can differ greatly from the "Microsoft way". I've learned a bit from various certs, mostly the Cisco ones. CompTIA ones are very basic, and for an IT professional - too basic. Great for entry level, but if you have ANY experience, it's too basic. Microsoft are good for the managers. At least they can see that you know the basics of the product. Still doesn't mean you know enough to manage a network.

With Cisco (CCNA, anyway), you can prove you know basic networking, basic CLI knowledge. Maybe not thorough routing and switching knowledge, but you know the basics. You know how to check configs and such. Not enough to design or configure a network (CCNP or above, sure). But, you'd do good as a simple technician that passes the information on to an engineer.

CompTIA - VERY easy. My dog has multiple Network+ certs (2003, 2009, 2012). From the A+, it's all memorization (from the old days of IRQ's to the newer standards of todays exams). Even Sec+ is memorization. There is little thinking and/or problem solving involved.
Microsoft - can be difficult, but you can memorize answers and get enough basic knowledge to know where to find menus and features (but not how to effectively use them).
Cisco - Even at CCNA level, you're learning subnetting. You can't memorize those answers. You have to do the math, you have to learn how it works. It's more learning and less memorization. I enjoy Cisco exams because of that.
CIW - Memorization. Not much else.

Cisco is about the best certification for real world translation. It involves simple troubleshooting skills on the exam. You need to know how the protocols work, how IP addressing works, etc.. I've yet to look at braindumps, so they may be 1:1 on the dump, but books and hands on prepare you to tackle the questions. You have to use a lot of your knowledge from various areas to figure things out. You may have to use subnetting to figure out a routing problem with discontinuous networks...

I remember A+. I didn't even study for that, I just went in and took it and passed on the first attempt. As I recall, it was mostly obsolete stuff about things like what IRQ is the keyboard on.

My problem with Microsoft certifications is they are too subjective; I often times disagreed with what the "correct answer" is supposed to be. Back when I was in college, I argued with the guy who taught the Microsoft class all the time. You cannot assume one size fits all when it comes to things like planning and implementing a network.

Cisco is one of the few that I respect; getting a CCIE takes real work and you actually have to work on actual networking equipment rather than just doing stuff on paper and memorizing answers.
 
They sure train them young in India, that kid will be working in a call center in no time.
 
I read people that seem to be jelous. And I don't get it, because genius have always existed. The problem is that normally they don't stand out... except in certain specific roles such as... musicians. Yep, its not uncommon to see very very young boys and girls playing in a mind-blowing fashion, that not only normal people will never be able to do... but not even most musicians with dozens of years on their backs.

Experience ain't everything ;)
 
Makes the rest of us look like chumps. In my opinion, it devalues my certifications. If a 9 year old can do it, what makes a 37 year old so special?

The kid can also do differential and integral calculus. How many 9 year old kids can do that?
 
Seriously, you think people here are jealous?

I pity that boy, I am not jealous of him. His childhood, potentially the best part of his life, was robbed from him by his parents who started to show him programming at 6 months old.

Kids are supposed to be kids, doing kids stuff, real life sets in soon enough with all that entails.

Age isn't a factor in any of this, it's not like that 9 yo woke up one morning and took the cert, there are countless hours of studying and training that were required for him to pass it.
 
Ya the main thing is will he end up ahead, or really a genius or will he be like so many other child wiz kids and get a decent job and spend the rest of their life doing it but not really innovate or do anything amazing.

Whats going on here is usually a set of over achiever driving parents who are making the kid spend nearly all his time focusing on one issue. I am not saying its bad, well it can be, but thats up in the air, but the fact is almost no one else ever pushes their kids like this, so you have no idea what your kid can achieve.

So the lessons to learn are 1, stop treating your kids like kids and make them do more work ha, I have seen lots of people say things to me like wow your kids can do that already, and then I say to them did you try to make your kid do it? Answer is always nope. I was like well its never to early to make your kid build that new deck or program a website for you, once they hit their teens they wont be willing to work for you anymore so dont miss out lol.

On the other hand I have seen my fair share of wiz kids, almost always first generation foreigners who were pushed like this who absolutely fell apart when they got their first taste of freedom. 4.0 perfect students who would never miss anything dropping out of college. As soon as someone is not there to force them to work like a dog, they are just sick of it I think, on top of that they seem to never build any of their own skills for learning on their own and managing time.

Most of the real kid genius stories were kids who got into their teens and just did it on their own, their parents didn't even know what was going on really until the FBI said you kid just hacked some large bank.
 
Those certifications don't mean a damn thing to me, the exams are based in the lala land of Microsoft, when reality has already proved something different, and I have seen MCSE certified guys bring a network down and unable to fix it for a month because they have crap for experience in the real network and server environment.

The only exam that interested me was the SQL section.
 
Depends. I have gone and done a lot of training, studying, labbing, and such for my first MS exams. Turns out, I was way over studying. Maybe in the MCITP:EA it is better, but for the MCSA (2003) and MCITP consumer side, it wasn't too deep. I definitely learned a lot more through the studying than what was needed on the exams. Definitely worth it, I did learn a lot. It's not a bad thing at all, but the exams weren't that deep. I definitely use the knowledge I gained with all the study.

Same with CompTIA. Over studied for the simple test. My experience and knowledge was already way past the entry level requirements for the exams.

Cisco, I was used to the Microsoft way. Failed my first CCNA attempt. It was a completely different kind of exam. I understudied by a lot.

But, my studying isn't memorizing the stuff (except for CompTIA, where that's all it is). It's learning the material. Knowing when to use one product over another, or one protocol vs. another in a certain situation. Not just how to do it, but why. I study my ass off to not just pass the exam, but to know the product. It's helped on a couple exams, as I've dug deep enough to pass the initial exam and the following one.

The early MS exams (client, initial server ones) were basically exams on the various features and the basic usage. I have not gone too deep into them yet (MCSE/MCITP for server), and I do know they go more in depth in AD and things like that. But, the initial MCTS exams are skimming the surface. Foundation type of stuff.

I had to read the article (ASP.net was his exam) to make sure he didn't pass the Vista exam (70-620). That exam was a freebie. I doubt anyone on these forums would fail that one.

The MCITP:EA exams are much harder than the Server 2003 MCSE and prior exams. Specifically the final PRO exam that is required to get the MCITP:EA is very difficult and consists of various types of questions that are broken down into testlets within the exam. For example you have 9 minutes to answer 5 questions, some of them are drag and drop some of them are multiple choice etc... and many of the questions were quite deep asking about obscure things or things you would never know unless you either had spent time implementing and troubleshooting the specific feature or had done extensive labbing.

Microsoft certs are still suffering a bit from a past reputation but the exams today do not reflect the past, they are by far much harder.
 
Those certifications don't mean a damn thing to me, the exams are based in the lala land of Microsoft, when reality has already proved something different, and I have seen MCSE certified guys bring a network down and unable to fix it for a month because they have crap for experience in the real network and server environment.

The only exam that interested me was the SQL section.

This isn't true at all. Perhaps that specific MCSE guy you speak of used brain dumps to pass or something. But MS exams are completely based on reality. For example the Windows 7 exam tests heavily on knowledge of creating and deploying images, which is something that every large organization does.

As I said in a previous post. The biggest problem with their exams is that unless you work somewhere that leverages all of the Microsoft technologies there will only be little bits of stuff that will actually apply to your job.
 
I might be jealous..I don't believe I am though. However that kid is never getting laid without paying for it. :D
 
When I was 9, I was just starting to watch porn.

Late bloomer? :D

As long as the kid is proud of himself and he did it for himself, good for him. Obviously he didn't do it for the employment opportunities or anything (maybe for the fame).
 
One of the reasons I never went further in my pursuit of I.T. I gave up that path in 2007 as it was too saturated then. But It's more apparent now, everything is digital and connected, there is nothing stopping a 9 year old in India doing your job. I.T. will eventually all be outsourced as it knows no borders, where as chasing up being in a mechanical maintenance role, well, it's harder to send your car to China to get it serviced / repaired. :D Being able to fix mechanical machines is a far more valuable skill that produces a benefit to society, valuable in the way it's more future proof than I.T. , as in job security future proof.
 
One of the reasons I never went further in my pursuit of I.T. I gave up that path in 2007 as it was too saturated then. But It's more apparent now, everything is digital and connected, there is nothing stopping a 9 year old in India doing your job. I.T. will eventually all be outsourced as it knows no borders, where as chasing up being in a mechanical maintenance role, well, it's harder to send your car to China to get it serviced / repaired. :D Being able to fix mechanical machines is a far more valuable skill that produces a benefit to society, valuable in the way it's more future proof than I.T. , as in job security future proof.

People have been saying our jobs will get outsourced for a long time now, hasnt happened. IT is one of the few industries that barely got touched during the recession and has already bounced back with less than 4% unemployment.

Sure, some jobs do get outsourced, but the vast majority do not. Most of the jobs that do get outsourced are the lower end tech support jobs that only involve phone support. Cannot really outsource server and network engineers etc...

The more technology becomes apart of our lives the more complex things get, the more people with advanced IT skills are needed. IT is not going anywhere anytime soon.
 
One of the reasons I never went further in my pursuit of I.T. I gave up that path in 2007 as it was too saturated then. But It's more apparent now, everything is digital and connected, there is nothing stopping a 9 year old in India doing your job. I.T. will eventually all be outsourced as it knows no borders, where as chasing up being in a mechanical maintenance role, well, it's harder to send your car to China to get it serviced / repaired. :D Being able to fix mechanical machines is a far more valuable skill that produces a benefit to society, valuable in the way it's more future proof than I.T. , as in job security future proof.

I'd like to see the Indians remotely install a phone system/PBX.
 
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