Whiz kid!

Since 12-year-old Siddharth Srivastav Pilli landed an honorary position of a data scientist in Montaigne Smart Business Solutions, an IT company in Madhapur, the little boy has become the buzzword.

So we headed the company’s office in Madhapur to speak to its youngest employee. Siddharth looked busy, crouched up at his desk, working on a project. But the smile he flashed when he looked up from his cubicle and spotted us was unmistakably that of a 12-year-old.

“Yeah, I have already started writing a code (programme) for a task. It feels great to get this job — it’s something I hadn’t expected so early,” says the Class VII student from Sri Chaitanya School, Manikonda, unable to mask his pride.

Programmed to succeed
Siddharth’s interest in all things programming began with his passion for video games. He got curious about what happened at the backend, which drew his attention towards programming. “My parents are both software engineers, and I’ve watched them writing code at home, which got me fascinated with technology,” reveals Siddharth.

One of his relatives, Himanshu, who worked with Montaigne, was aware of Siddharth’s technical know-how. And when a position opened up in his company, he referred Siddharth’s name to the employer. Montaigne conducted a written test, personal interview and made him work on real-time projects for a week, after which they handed him the offer letter. He joined the company 20 days ago, working at building framework to solving real-time problems.

As per his employment terms, Siddharth will be paid an honorarium for working three days a week. The company was granted permission from his school, which in turn, allowed him to attend classes for twice a week.

“When I landed the job, my reaction was, ‘oh wow’,” says the 12-year-old, beaming.

Even as he speaks to us, a colleague hands over his ID card to Siddharth, and his eyes light up as he flaunts it to us proudly.

All work, no play
Siddharth admits that working during weekdays and attending school during weekends was initially difficult. “But my parents and the company helped me strike a balance between work and studies. Now I am enjoying the best of both worlds,” he says.

But does he miss playing with his friends? “Not at all because I am learning so much more here about technology,” says Siddharth. Siddharth, who plans to use his honorarium to pursue higher studies concludes, “I wanted to become an entrepreneur and set up my own IT firm.”