At just seven years old, this is the world’s youngest qualified computer programmer.
Handsworth boy genius, Muhammad Hamza Shahzad, now has the paperwork to leave primary school and get a lucrative job in IT – at just seven.
Unsurprisingly, Muhammad’s teachers turn to him when they have computer problems – or awkward questions from other pupils.
Muhammad told the Birmingham Mail: ‘I want to be Bill Gates.’
Muhammad has been tutored by dad Asim, a high-tech wizard with elite US IT company Cyber Royal.
Muhammad, whosebeen talented on computers since he was still in nappies, is a child prodigy for the 21st century.
And his 40-year-old dad admitted: ‘At school, he sets his own standards. We try to make him better not just for him, but for others. This is what we can do for him.’
He and wife Seemab have honed a computer whizz destined to be the next Gates or Steve Jobs. The industry has already decided young Muhammad is sitting on a fortune.
Asim, wife Seemab and only son Muhammad moved to Birmingham from Croydon seven months ago. At Ark Oval Primary, in the south London borough, he was deemed a unique talent. But Asim has yet to find a Birmingham primary school that can handle the wonderkid’s needs.
Muhammad became the world’s youngest Microsoft Office Professional last year, aged six. Candidates need 700 points to get the coveted certificate, Muhammad scored 757. He had spent six months preparing for the exam.
Three other Microsoft exams have followed. In all, Hamza is now proficient in Software Development Fundamentals, MS Word, MS PowerPoint and MS Excel.
A Microsoft spokesman put that into perspective: ‘He can easily create Web App and manages to develop his own basic shopping cart app.
‘He has got his hands dirty in Windows desktop App, console App, Windows services, Web services and finds it really fun to develop simple console-based game applications.
‘He can explain about heap, stack, memory management, data structures perhaps better than many experienced programmers.’
Muhammad said: ‘When there’s a problem, teachers ask me to help the children.
‘I want to make a game and that’s what I’m doing at the moment.’
It’s not all IT for Muhammad, however. ‘I like to play football with my dad,’ he added.
