14-year-old prodigy Kairan Quazi may be smart enough to be hired by SpaceX, but he’s too young for LinkedIn, according to the job search platform’s policy.
The teen software engineer, who became the youngest person to ever be hired by SpaceX, took to social media yesterday to announce that LinkedIn had deleted his account because he didn’t meet the minimum age criteria
Kairan questioned how he could be qualified to land "one of the most coveted engineering jobs in the world and not have access to the networking platform". He shared his disappointment in an Instagram post.
"@linkedin just sent me this notice that they are deleting my account because I'm not 16. This is the illogical, primitive nonsense that I face constantly. I can be qualified enough to land one of the most coveted engineering jobs in the world but not qualified enough to have access to a professional social media platform? @LinkedIn showing everyone how regressive some tech company policies are. Can people please share this screenshot on their LinkedIn for me and ask people to connect with me on Instagram?" he said in the caption along with a screenshot.
Thousands of people liked and commented on his post, expressing their support for Kairan and slamming LinkedIn.
“Time to boycott LinkedIn,” one comment read, while another suggested Kairan dodge the age restriction by saying he’s 16.
“Make a fortune and buy LinkedIn and show them how to run it properly,” another tongue-in-cheek post read.
The screenshot shows a message to Quazi from LinkedIn about his account being "restricted" since he does not qualify for the minimum age requirement for the network. Additionally, it added that whenever he turns 16 or older, he will be given the chance to rejoin the platform. "We've also canceled your Premium subscription and issued a refund for any charges incurred," the message added.
The teenager started studying computer science and engineering at the age of 11 and will graduate from Santa Clara University this month with a degree in computer science and engineering. He said he is excited to start his new job at SpaceX, and he hopes to use his skills to help the company achieve its goal of sending humans to Mars.