Two years ago, a teenager from Bangladesh, Kairan Quazi made headlines when he joined Elon Musk’s SpaceX as a software engineer. Quazi, who was just 14 years old at the time, was fascinated by rocket science, leading the world to believe that a brilliant young mind could be just the asset that the field of rocket science needs. Two years later, though, it seems that his interest has veered off course, and the teenager is now interested in filling up his wallet.
Kairan Quazi is leaving the aerospace giant for a coveted role at Citadel Securities, a powerhouse in the world trading world. Quazi is reportedly seeking a new kind of challenge—one with a much faster and more immediate feedback loop. While the longer timelines of SpaceX’s aerospace endeavours and AI projects seemed to have made him bored, quantitative finance has got him excited.
Bangladeshi teen leaves SpaceX for Citadel Securities
“Quant finance offers a pretty rare combination: the complexity and intellectual challenge that AI research also provides, but with a much faster pace,” he said. “It’s one of the most prestigious industries you could go into as a computer scientist or mathematician,” he added.
According to reports, Quazi chose Citadel Securities over offers from several top AI labs and tech companies. “I felt ready to take on new challenges and expand my skill set into a different high-performance environment. Citadel Securities offered a similarly ambitious culture, but also a completely new domain, which is very exciting for me,” he said.
For his new role, Quazi has shifted to New York and will putting up in Manhattan, living a few walks away from his new office. “New York has a very special place in my heart,” he said. The move marks not just a professional shift but also a significant personal milestone for the teenager.
A look at Quazi’s career trajectory
Quazi’s career journey has been anything but ordinary. Hailed as a true genius, he sped through the academic world, graduating from Santa Clara University as its youngest-ever graduate before being hired by SpaceX.
As a software engineer, he worked on the cutting-edge Starlink division by contributing his software coding skills to keep the Starlink space broadband network flying high. Quazi was part of the team that took care of guiding satellite beams, a critical component of the Starlink network.
