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Teenage Turmoil? Not for this Lad

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DQI Bureau
New Update

His achievement

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WHEW! Barely 15 years old and already armed with a string of degrees, Harsh Gupta insists that its going to be study, study, and study... till he sets up his own networking and R&D firm

Yes, the achievements, yessir, in plural, actually make that

multi-plural (sic). A look at his portfolio reflects the young man’s passion

for IT and the hard work that he has already put in so far–he’s a

Cisco-Certified Design Associate (CCDA), a Cisco-Certified Network Associate (CCNA),

a Microsoft-Certified Professional (MCP) and a Microsoft-Certified Solution

Developer (MCSD).

The stepping stone

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Computers touched his life while he was still a tiny tot in

class 3. At that tender age, he took a course in DOS from a private institute.

And this was the beginning of a dream. To achieve it, he prepared for, and

attempted various on-line exams during October 2000-April 2001. This was apart

from his school curriculum.

The lap

He cleared the first hurdle by scoring well in the CCNA exam,

and finally, he began preparing for his CCDA in May 2001. Once again persistence

paid off, and he is now the proud owner of a CCDA certificate.

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He’s self-made

What is even more astonishing is that Harsh did not take any

course for these exams. He read from study books available in the market. Yes,

his joint family, he says, encouraged him to pursue IT.

His analysis

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Harsh finds the programming field saturated and this prompted

him to turn to networking for a career option. However, to this inference, he’s

quick to add, "Networking’s a more interesting field." The slowdown

he says does not scare him.

"Java, VB and ASP have been hurt because their main

application has been in Web designing, whereas C++, Cisco and Oracle are strong

and time-tested. So programming and networking technologies have always been and

will be in demand," he says. Well, c’est la vie, for this teeny lad.

What he feels

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A whiz kid he may be, but Harsh does not feel special in any

way. He insists that he is not an "isolated geek" or a

"bookworm". He is happy that his teachers are proud of him and he is

ready to share his hard-won knowledge with them. "Things are as easy or as

difficult as you make them," he says.

The future

His future plans include getting certification for Cisco

Certified Network Professional (CCNP), Cisco Certified Design Professional (CCDP)

and Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer (MCSE). And someday, this ambitious

young man hopes to start his own networking and research and development firm.

All the best, Harsh!

Shilpa Srivastava in New

Delhi

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