At an age when most children are busy studying or excelling at sports and confused about what they want to be in life, a child prodigy was busy working for Elon Musk's SpaceX. Yes, you read that right! Meet Kairan Quazi, an American-Bangladeshi prodigy, who first worked for one of the richest persons in the world
Elon Musk as an aerospace engineer at
SpaceX at just 14. Now, at 16, he is moving on to work in the world of Wall Street. But when he was younger, his mother and father feared they were "failing" their son and were worried about his upbringing.
Read on to know more about child prodigy Kairan Quazi's extraordinary journey and struggles at work. Also, know all about his family here:
From SpaceX to Wall Street: Kairan Quazi's extraordinary journey
At just 14, Kairan Quazi made history by joining SpaceX’s Starlink division as one of the youngest engineers in the world, working on critical software systems that powered satellite internet. After two remarkable years, he chose a new challenge— finance. Now, at only 16, Kairan is stepping into the world of Wall Street as a quantitative developer at Citadel Securities in New York City.
For Kairan, the move wasn’t just about prestige— it was about chasing challenges and making an impact in the world. While SpaceX gave him the thrill of aerospace innovation, the fast-paced world of quantitative finance pulled him in with its intellectual intensity and immediate results.
A childhood far from ordinary and his family's fears
Kairan’s brilliance shone early. When he was just nine years old, while other children were in fourth grade, he was already in college! By 11, he had an Associate of Science in Mathematics. And in 2023, he graduated from Santa Clara University as the youngest graduate in the school’s 170-year history.
Talking about his college days and graduating at 14, he had told PEOPLE in an earlier interview, “My personal journey has really been about disrupting the status quo... And the past three years in college have been the happiest years of my life.”
But behind these milestones, his father Mustahid, who is a chemical engineer, and his mom, Julia Quazi, a former Wall Street executive as per Wikipedia, was struggling to keep up with young Kairan. Recalling how disorienting it was to raise Kairan and answer his curious questions, his mom Julia said, “We felt every day like we were failing as parents… we didn’t know how to help him feel balanced,” as per PEOPLE.
Photo: Kairan Quazi/ Instagram
Kairan wasn’t just bright— he was different and his parents noticed this early on. As a toddler, he debated world politics, waking his parents at midnight to discuss the Arab Spring or Turkey’s place in the EU. It was isolating for the family, and when they placed him in college at nine, criticism poured in. Many assumed they were “pushing” him a bit too much to make the headlines, but as Julia further told PEOPLE, “We just didn’t have the toolkit. We were simply trying to meet him where he was.”
Breaking barriers, facing challenges: Kairan's struggles at the workplace
Before most teenagers even had a part-time job, Kairan was interning at Intel Labs and working on AI projects at the tender age of 10. Yet entering the workforce at 14 wasn’t smooth— he faced what he calls “cultural adultism,” with recruiters doubting his abilities because of his age. SpaceX, however, saw his potential and gave him a chance to prove himself.
Now, at Citadel Securities, he is stepping into a role that sits at the cutting edge of engineering and finance. While many expected him to go deeper into AI or Silicon Valley tech, Kairan chose finance for its mix of challenge, immediacy, and global impact.
A new and independent life in New York at just 16
Living alone in Manhattan at 16 marks another milestone for Kairan. Gone are the days when his mom had to drive him to SpaceX because he couldn’t yet get a license-- he was just 14 bak then! Now, he walks just 10 minutes to work, embracing independence in a city that never sleeps.
At only 16, Kairan Quazi has already lived a life most could hardly imagine— and he’s just getting started.