I'm Humbled By A 9 Year Old

At an age when most girls are more interested in dolls than databases, nine-year-old Arfa Karim Randhawa from Pakistan is something of an exception. She has just become one of the world's Microsoft Certified Professionals (MCP). Arfa recently received her certificate from Emre Berkin, chairman of Microsoft's Europe, Middle East and Africa region, and Jawwad Rehman, Microsoft's country manager for Pakistan.

As with most child prodigies, Arfa started very early. She explains, "At the age of 5, when I was in kindergarten, I often used to pass by the computer labs and see students doing work on computers. I realized that calculation, which would take us a long time to do, can be done in less than a second with the help of computers. So that is how my interest in computers began. I started to explore computers on my own and first used one at the age of 6, when I was in first grade. Then I went to Applied Technologies (APTECH) for further studies."

While this might seem like a child who needs to get a life, she does admit that she would rather go to Disneyland rather than meet Bill Gates who is merely number two on her list of things to do. Arfa has also made a pitch for a job at Microsoft. She says "I would definitely like to work at Microsoft since software development and exploring new technologies has always been my passion". No one is taking any bets that she won't get the job.