Meet Rayyan Siddiqui, a teen from Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, who started interning at Microsoft when he was only… 14 years old! 🤓
In fact, he was officially hired by the same company a couple years later, becoming the world’s youngest software engineer (male) at the age of 16 years and 340 days – WOW.
And if you think he was way too young, consider this: Rayyan built one of the largest anime apps when he was 12, and graduated high school at 14. 😮
What a legend!
So how did he realize his passion for all things IT and technology?
“It all started with Photoshop,” he told us. “I had an idea one day that it would be cool to change the colour of my little sister’s eyes. I searched up a tutorial on YouTube when I was 7 years old. From changing eye colours to putting six pack abs on my uncles, […] my interest in photo editing grew.”
Have you ever tried to Photoshop your pictures? You could be the next Microsoft genius! 👀
Encouraged by his family, he soon started web development, which is basically the building of websites using code magic! 🧙♂️
Between the ages of 7 and 12, he continued teaching himself through YouTube, learning how to build websites, apps and even games.
He created a British Columbia tour guide app, a cartoon streaming platform and a court counter for basketball games.
Pretty amazing, right?
Despite his many projects, school has always been a priority for Rayyan.
“I had a very ‘fast’ school experience – I finished 4 years of high school in 1.5 years,” he explains.
“[But] this didn’t take away from my experience. I loved all the sciences, PE, English literature, and social studies. Anything physical like a chem lab or a PE sports contest I enjoyed the most. I made lifelong friends […] and many lifelong connections with teachers and the local community.”
Did you meet any of your best friends in school?
But software engineering captured his heart, and he wasn’t willing to wait until he was older to start working on it.
🔎 Software engineers are like builders, but instead of building with bricks, they build with ideas and instructions that tell computers what to do.
“The whole process is very enjoyable,” he told us, explaining what draws him to it.
“Starting from writing down possible solutions to a problem, to prototyping, to building and deploying a solution, to then maintaining it over a long period of time. You have to build software that is scalable, reliable and solves an actual problem.
“Software engineering is the art that forces you to think critically and build something that lives well into the future.”
So fast forward a couple years, and he started working at one of the world’s BIGGEST tech companies!
And if you’re wondering what a day working at Microsoft looks like, here’s what Rayyan shared with us: “My typical day starts with a team meeting where we all meet up and review what we did the day before and what the goal is for today.
“[…] A good chunk of the day is just for communication. Communication is important, especially at the enterprise scale Microsoft operates at. […] My day is usually 40% communication, 40% focus time for coding, and 20% for day-to-day tasks that come up.
“This is what I wanted since I was a kid.”
What do you want to be when you grow up? 🤔
But technology doesn’t define Rayyan’s entire life – the now-20-year-old also loves sports and has so many other hobbies.
“Formula 1 is [a big hobby of mine], playing chess is very big. I even used to host a neighbourhood chess tournament in Vancouver. We would have students from other high schools join us as well!
“Working out is [also] important to me. I got all of my friends into the gym and we can’t get enough of it. I love competition so sign me up for any sport. I love basketball, football, tennis and just about any sport where you win that’s out there.”
Do you share any of the same hobbies?
Of course, earning a world record title is one of the achievements Rayyan is most proud of.
“[Breaking a record feels] UNREAL! I remember as a kid I would watch people on YouTube show their titles and I remember saying to myself ‘how cool would it be to have a world record, to be the one to do something out of 8 billion people’. The feeling is awesome and relieving.”
He’s also very grateful to his family for always being there for him…❤️
“They have always been there for support and kept believing in me,” he explains.
Oh, and he wants to break even more world records in the future.
“Maybe something in fitness, that would be super cool, [like] most one-handed push-ups or most one-leg squats in one minute.”
What world record would you like to break?
Congratulations, Rayyan, you are Officially Amazing! 🥳