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12-year old Nigerian becomes Sun certified Java Programmer

javalobby.org — One less Nigerian spammer, who knows? Maybe just learning the tools to deliver more spam faster! In any case, a 12 year old Nigerian kid has earned professional recognition from Sun as a certified Java programmer.

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  • Salgat, on 10/12/2007, -8/+25The spam bots shall prevail!
    • jeffreym, on 10/12/2007, -6/+1That and a dollar won't buy you coffee at Starbucks.

    • Cerialthriller, on 10/12/2007, -9/+5he probably traded a blood diamond for the degree and has one less hand now
    • OwdenBowden, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4Maybe he will figure out a way to mass mail all the Nigerian Money letters - faster
    • AriaStar, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2Nah, it's just that they're now starting Nigerians working on their 419 scams earlier. I bet his brother is the crown prince and, if Sun is nice to him, he'll let them assist in removing $1.5billion from some small country.
    • JaXaL, on 10/12/2007, -2/+6you are a son of a bitch for giving such a degrading description of this boy's fantastic achievement.
  • Billiam627, on 10/12/2007, -6/+126Turns out that Nigerian kid is actually a Prince who needs to get his vast fortune out of the country quickly...
    • duster805, on 10/12/2007, -19/+13It's true. In fact his father is a king and he is about to set out on a great adventure with his close friend and personal assistant to the land of America to work in fast food and find a queen to mary when he succeeds his father's throne.
    • Sundownvf111, on 10/12/2007, -13/+7you have to be a total dumbass to get stuck in one of those scams.......


    • brstilson, on 10/12/2007, -6/+23"you have to be a total dumbass to get stuck in one of those scams......."

      Captain Obvious to the rescue!!!!!!!!!
    • Haohmaru, on 10/12/2007, -2/+15@duster805
      I don't think they get your "Coming to America" reference.

      Prince Akeem Joffer was from Zamunda, though.
    • rmxz, on 10/12/2007, -3/+15@sundownvf111 : "you have to be a total dumbass to get stuck in one of those scams......."

      Uh, you know VP Cheney's company fell for one of those scams.

      Except that instead of the puny millions in our emails, the deal was in exchange for something like multi-billion dollar contracts in Nigeria, $180 million in bribes and "advisory fees" would be paid. Apparently the $180 million was paid.

      http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4163810/
      http://www.corpwatch.org/article.php?id=9869
      http://majikthise.typepad.com/majikthise_/2004/06/haliburton_watc_1.html
      http://www.halliburtonwatch.org/about_hal/nigeria_timeline.html

      The funniest / saddest thing is that it's the same country and almost the exact same proposal in those emails - just on a much larger scale.
  • Evildudetx, on 10/12/2007, -6/+73Nice accomplishment for a racist little *****.

    "Allwell Worgu strongly believes that "blacks are more intelligent than the white", mentioning Philip Emeagwali, the Anambra State born computer guru as a backup for his view"
    • r00tus3r, on 10/12/2007, -8/+21Sadly, racism is almost inevitable in many cultures.
    • Azimuth1, on 10/12/2007, -7/+49"mentioning Philip Emeagwali, the Anambra State born computer guru as a backup for his view"

      No, he's right. What have white programmers such as Linus Torvalds and John Carmack ever accomplished? Obviously nowhere near as much as "Philip Emeagwali".
    • mattyice11, on 10/12/2007, -3/+62While he's obviously misguided, you almost can't blame him for thinking that way after he witnesses people from the US sending money to the scammers over there.
    • ezweave, on 10/12/2007, -2/+6And James Gosling, what did he ever do?

      Oh Java, nm.

      FWIW, that exam is mostly memorization: you can easily not understand things like memory management and pass the exam. The "Certified Developer" exam actually requires you to design and build a system (that includes networking, data persistence, etc... no J2EE). Still not rocket science, but that would be much more impressive.
    • raynevandunem, on 10/12/2007, -3/+4@evildudetx (#6320894)

      Emeagwali is rather famous in Nigeria as a scientist.

      And he's also a fat-headed crackpot.

      http://www.emeagwali.com/
      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philip_Emeagwali
      http://magazine.biafranigeriaworld.com/cezeilo/2003nov09.html
      http://www33.brinkster.com/iiiii/inventions/emeag.html
    • knulpm, on 10/12/2007, -9/+2RAAAAAAAAACE WAR! RAAAAAAAAACE WAAAAR! *Bleep* is going down people!
    • hmmmok, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1@mattyice11

      You would make Jim Carville blush.
    • surfing, on 10/12/2007, -1/+7Maybe this guy and Imus should do a radio show in Nigeria.
    • AriX, on 10/12/2007, -7/+2Wow... That's so racist... I can't believe he said that. I'm a 12 year old, I learned HTML when I was 7, (I could've learned it when I was 5 if I knew it existed...) and I learned PHP when I was 10. I'm now studying C. I like seeing and talking to other kids who program, but that is just... offensive.
    • edsonmedina, on 10/12/2007, -0/+10Oh, and the post isn't racist?
      Not all nigerians are spammers, you know?
    • PDubNYC, on 10/12/2007, -4/+9@edsonmedina
      Nigerian is not a race. It's a nationality. But you are right, not all Nigerians are spammers. They don't all have computers yet.
    • AriX, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2@edsonmedina - I never said that the story description wasn't racist, the whole thing was!
  • jamend, on 10/12/2007, -14/+11Java isn't a faster way of doing anything.
  • jurassic, on 10/12/2007, -6/+23Now we will get "Certified Nigerian Scams" to our inbox ! :)
  • mgainor, on 10/12/2007, -10/+10Who the ***** cares?
  • MadMaxx426, on 10/12/2007, -6/+3I for one welcome our spam spewing royal overlords.

    Has anyone gotten their checks in the mail yet? I think mine got lost.
  • natenovs, on 10/12/2007, -7/+7i always thought java was developed for 12 year olds...
  • sovereign3, on 10/12/2007, -7/+2http://www.duggmirror.com
  • gr3yn3t, on 10/12/2007, -3/+29more proof that the "one laptop per child" would be a good thing

    people fail to realize that kid's aren't just using computers for myspace..
    • s1nister, on 10/12/2007, -6/+1You really feel that the average Nigerian kid is going to appreciate a laptop over a $100 spent on medicine and food? But aside from the point, this was still an amazing feat for a 12 year old child.
    • solonGFX, on 10/12/2007, -2/+13@gr3ynt3t: You're right, they're using it for Facebook and Digg too.
    • Yancie, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4"people fail to realize that kid's aren't just using computers for myspace.."

      yea they're using it for porn also
  • xxTazxx, on 10/12/2007, -5/+11Funny how there wasn't anything in the article about how the kid was being racist...if it was someone "white" etc, he/she'd be destroyed (a good thing)...but its funny how not a thing was said about that comment...
  • OMGWTFROFLMAOx2, on 10/12/2007, -4/+4Kids learn a lot more easily than adults. That it is best to teach kids multiple languages while they're young instead of trying to teach them when they get older. There should be more kids pulling this kind of stuff in the US, but we're too busy feeding their brains playstations and spongebob reruns. :(
  • break99, on 10/12/2007, -5/+2Come on! Nigerian are known as SCAMMERS not SPAMMERS! (No offense intended to honest nigerian tought.)
  • Yancie, on 10/12/2007, -6/+13"12-year old Nigerian becomes Sun certified Java Programmer"

    And I care why? cause he's Nigerian?
    • liquidizer, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1No, because he's 12 and he has a professional IT qualification (arguably).
  • musbou, on 10/12/2007, -4/+1"One less Nigerian spammer, who knows? Maybe just learning the tools to deliver more spam faster! In any case, a 12 year old Nigerian kid has earned professional recognition from Sun as a certified Java programmer."

    This whole post is discriminating...

    • sovereign3, on 10/12/2007, -2/+12Probably not as "discriminating" as the Nigerian kid's comments that "blacks are superior to whites."
      Frankly, I'm a little disturbed that something as racially innocuous as Java programming skills is being injected with the hint of racial insensitivity and tension, by the 12-year old Nigerian kid and the Digg community.
    • Atomic1fire, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Only proves the point that white people suffer from racism as well
    • transeunte, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1"Only proves the point that white people suffer from racism as well"

      Yeah, I barely can stand the suffering.
  • np374, on 10/12/2007, -5/+2I don't care if he's a certified programmer, as long as he doesn't send me send me those pesky scam e-mails.
  • ReiToei, on 10/12/2007, -8/+5Wow... you'd never guess Digg was mostly populated by white, male, suburban teenagers from America.

    Not in a million years.
    • goodoldharris, on 10/12/2007, -5/+3Seriously. It doesn't get more pathetic than a bunch of USA-centric racist whites with victim complexes.
  • jamkarim, on 10/12/2007, -4/+3Becoming a Sun Certified Java Programmer is easy. For the 5.0 exam, there are 72 questions, and you only need 43 correct (59%) to pass. The test is only meant as a starting point to the more important certifications (such as Sun Certified Java Developer).
    • donte, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Agreed. The test is a joke and since it's all multiple choice (in some form or another) now, random selection is almost enough to get you a passing score.

      Mozart was writing symphonies at age 4...not answering questions like "Ivory keys are part of which instrument: a) drum b) piano c) cougar". Congrats to the kid and all, but being a Sun Certified Programmer is not that big of an accomplishment. When Farrakhan becomes a SC Developer or SC Enterprise Architect, I'll be impressed.
    • Eleo, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1What, man? Mozart? Let's just compare everyone's accomplishments to those of prodigy's and geniuses.
    • donte, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1So then we're in agreement that this kid is neither a prodigy nor a genius. Then why is a story about a 12 year old getting a programming certification getting dugg up so damn high?
  • dasugo, on 10/12/2007, -5/+0Hmm, maybe since the last person that had this record was a Pakistani kid, maybe they are on to something....
  • scabbers, on 10/12/2007, -5/+11What a little *****.
  • ReiToei, on 10/12/2007, -10/+3This thread is an excellent example of why the rest of the world points at America and laughs.
  • quik22, on 10/12/2007, -14/+13nigerians are scammers, they can't help it. that's just how they're raised. i have a friend whose parents are from nigeria, and seeing the pictures of their "home" in africa - i can't say i'd ever want to go there. being stopped every so often by random police checkpoints, having to have an armed security guard with you in order to make sure you don't get kidnapped or robbed, and having the airport security almost definitely steal your luggage are some of the perks that come along with living in such a terrible country. nigerians are very racially "proud" people, and it's pretty prevalent in this case also. every time we watch a football game and someone who is ethnically nigerian makes a tackle my friend will yell, "OH YES! HE'S NIGERIAN!". also, when playing madden or NHL, he will only use teams that have at least one nigerian on their roster. it gets old... especially when you see how corrupt that nation is, with hundreds of millions of dollars "missing" due to government embezzling.. makes you wonder, "why would anyone ever be proud to be nigerian?????????????"
    • goodoldharris, on 10/12/2007, -6/+11And your post and the fact that it's getting dugg up makes my wonder why more people aren't embarrassed to be American.
    • kaosphere, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2Perhaps it's because that's the only thing they can be proud of....like you said, everything else there is crap.
    • strangewill, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3I dug him up just to piss off GoodOldHarris ;)
  • ricerfuel, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6Buried due to the fact i wasted my life a) typing this and b) Reading this article
  • Masterbaiter, on 10/12/2007, -2/+6The kid “strongly believes that black are more intelligent than the white.”

    Another racist kid on the block...
  • Alex76, on 10/12/2007, -5/+1Congratulations to the guy. It is an accomplishment because not everyone can do it or has done it. Could not find the reference to Emeagwali... At times I wonder about the comments on Digg, also, the title and intro, a racist rant to say the least...
  • 2point71, on 10/12/2007, -4/+1sure people. crack jokes. lame.

    props to the kid. 12 yrs old. wow.
  • polymorphist, on 10/12/2007, -2/+12A. SCJP is very easy to pass, although it's a little tricky to get a high mark.
    B. Java itself is a very dumbed-down programming language; the ability to get multiple-choice questions correct based on syntactical and factual knowledge doesn't mean you can write a single line of code.
    C. Being a Nigerian doesn't have much to do with anything...
    • camilos, on 10/12/2007, -6/+3"Java itself is a very dumbed-down programming language"

      The comment itself shows that you are obviously a java guru who has built dozens of Enterprise Wide Applications.




    • natenovs, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4camilos,

      im sure this twelve year old didn't have to build "dozens of Enterprise Wide Applications" to be certified.
      face it, java is a dumbed down high level language. that doesn't mean it's not a very capable language, or even that it's a good or bad language, it just means it's pretty easy to learn.

      im not impressed with a 12 year old learning java.
      if it were ada, or lisp, i'd be impressed.
    • polymorphist, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3"The comment itself shows that you are obviously a java guru who has built dozens of Enterprise Wide Applications. "

      I see you obviously missed my point. I didn't say Java is useless, neither was I complaining about how the design of the language takes that approach. The fact that it's simple to learn makes passing that syntactical and factual knowledge test not so much of a big deal. Programming in Java is about design rather than lumping statements together. Get my point now?
    • WKStone, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I don't understand this "Certifications suck. Experience is the only thing that matters." mentality. Why can't someone have both? I'm experienced and I'm certified. You're "experienced". What's the problem?

      BTW, What exactly does, “..it's a little tricky to get a high mark.” mean, anyway?
    • kumicho, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0to both of you, you are really saying the same thing
      but neither of you can recognize it because you don't see truth

      lisp is based on a certain design, and you measure skill in the language by how you understand the structure and the application
      java is based on a certain design, as poly explained how we judge a java programmer
    • camilos, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1My point is not about the exam in itself. Sure, you can pass the exam by just memorizing the syntax. But i doubt companies are stupid enough to hire solely based on the exam. My point is calling java a dumb down language. I assume you're talking about Java SE(Standard Edition). Which is what they teach in programming 101 courses. But java is ALOT more than that. There is java for phones and pdas, Java For Web Development, Java for Enterprise etc.

      To say that Java is dumb down, is really taking a simplified view at the real complex monster that Java is. Hell, most people that hate java hate if for that reason...because its a complex and bloated monster.
    • polymorphist, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1@wkstone
      Did I say SCJP suck? I'm just saying passing it doesn't mean much, and yes, I do have a SCJP. I passed it with 85% when I was 20.

      @camilos
      The question here is Java as a language rather than the API. The language itself aims at simplifying C++.
  • demenzia, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2I'd be more impressed if it was an SCEA....
    • hmmmok, on 10/12/2007, -4/+1Or an MCSE...
    • frostieDude, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2@hmmmok
      Every MCSE I've met has been pretty much worthless. I think Microsoft's certification program is a joke. Cisco's program is worthwhile. Oracle's program is worthwhile. I don't know about Sun's program, but if a 12 year old Nigerian can pass the test, it can't be much.
  • mike23w, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4He thinks blacks are smarter than whites, but wants to
    go to harvard, oxford, or mit instead of NigeriaU.
    Because, you know, that's where all the blacks hang out.
  • F1R3DUP, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1AWESOME! Now let's start outsourcing jobs to Nigeria! We can get them for half the cost of Indians can't we?

    I say this jokingly but i wouldn't be surprised in the least if it were to happen...
  • JustAQuark, on 10/12/2007, -3/+1What a bunch of stupids racist comments - or however you call it, since nigerian is not a race - i've seen on that page.
    So sad...

    Add the fact that this young nigerian seems to be also a racist, and you have a pretty deplorable Digg moment.
  • Topher06, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Just wait till OLPC kicks in, then Sun will have an entire army of underage workers to do their bidding, will make Kathy Lee Gifford look like an angel.
  • aks123, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2It's unfortunate that so many of you immediately associate Nigeria with scam letters (and similarly, India with outsourcing). It's good to know a little bit more about the world, rather than only trivial stereotypes that reflect your ignorance.
  • netzdamon, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1When as what the 12 year old would do first with his new Java skills he replied "I will be working on a cross platform program to send out spams around the world. Our old spamming software is having a hard time keeping up with the work load."
  • mirunit, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2At 12 years old I fear much of what he knows is just rote knowledge. Which of course leads to poor efficiency - you learn the theory then the syntax.
  • foundationiv, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0"Fat, Pasty, Ignorant White Boys."

    Since all Nigerians are spammers, that's what you are prejudged to be.
  • Varz, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1"blacks are more intelligent than the white"
    Well that really denotes his intelligence, that test must have been pretty easy.

    I guess Europeans just guessed their way to being the primordial soup of modern science and technology....meanwhile in Africa......
  • lexymania, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0i cant believe all you shallow minded,vain ***** aint got sth reasonable to say!
    sth gr8 just happened and not even on1 of you ***** could say anything positive!
    if y'll think all nigerians are scammers...well yeah...you need to get sum education.And for all you ***** fake nigerians pretending not to be one and using da internet as a platform to say sum negative ***** about your country,well i got this for you...***** YOU Y'LL!!! I find it cheap, lame and very unpatriotic.
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