Recently, the training team at MuleSoft received a message informing us that a user under 18 was attempting to take a certification exam. That was our first introduction to Aryan, a 15-year-old developer that would go on to become the youngest MuleSoft-certified Developer. We recently had the pleasure of sitting down to talk with Aryan and his father Ram to learn more about Aryan’s interest in MuleSoft, his connection with the MuleSoft Meetup community, and their desire to support the recent university graduates in their home village.
From a young age, Aryan had a knack for object-oriented programming: Java, Python, and recently C programming language. His father Ram, a MuleSoft Integration Architect at Capgemini, provided Aryan with the support he needed whenever he had any questions. But Aryan wanted to learn more than programming languages and put his skills to use! That’s when MuleSoft caught his attention.
Like many of us, Ram is working from home as a result of the pandemic. Ram is part of the MuleSoft practice implementing Anypoint Platform for customers as well as recruiting and training MuleSoft developers. Anypoint Platform caught Aryan’s eye and was quickly inspired to learn how to build and deploy APIs on his own. Aryan taught himself through MuleSoft’s free self-paced training course, saying that “the self-paced training made sense, and I am very comfortable with MuleSoft. I quickly grasped it, and it was very intuitive.” After completing the training, he believes anyone can learn how to use Anypoint Platform. Aryan then decided to put his newfound skills to the test by getting certified — preparing for the exam with the DIY exercises. Aryan’s father Ram answered any questions that he had along the way. Aryan understood that not everyone had someone present in their home to answer questions, which led him to start attending MuleSoft Meetups.
MuleSoft Meetups are community-led events encouraging developers and architects to connect and learn with MuleSoft experts in over 135 different cities around the globe. Recently, Aryan attended a Meetup in Faridabad, India, hosted by Meetup Leader Amit Singh, where MuleSoft Ambassador Sravan Lingam introduced him to members of the MuleSoft Community. Sravan is one of Aryan’s mentors in the MuleSoft Community. Aryan is also mentored by Ravi Tamada, MuleSoft Meetup leader in Visakhapatnam, India. With Ravi’s support, Aryan presented at the Visakhapatnam Meetup on September 5. He hopes his experience will encourage others in the MuleSoft Community to start and continue their MuleSoft journey.
Aryan says the overwhelming support he received from MuleSoft drove him to become officially MuleSoft-certified. Muleys including, Shashidhar Gurumurthy, Sebastian Furtal and Sudhir Das educated Aryan on the different training options and ultimately helped him complete the self-paced fundamentals course and get certified. Aryan says he’s “very inspired how MuleSoft recognizes everyone’s effort, for everyone across the world.” Throughout this experience, Aryan and his father Ram said that “We are more responsible now than ever. Let’s get more people trained on MuleSoft and the community is there to support them all the way.”
Aryan and his father give back to their local community by training young graduates in MuleSoft. Ram and Aryan have recently trained about 20 new grads in their home village in India. Ram sees MuleSoft as a way to learn skills that will get them a well-paying job. He recognizes that he was lucky to live and work on MuleSoft in the U.S. for six years, and wants to share those learnings. Ram also understands the demand for MuleSoft developers, and was recently contacted by a company looking to hire 200 additional MuleSoft developers. Now, Aryan helps recent grads learn MuleSoft on weekends and in his free time! Aryan says it’s just his passion to give back to his community by helping developers build their skill sets and find jobs they love.
Aryan is a true inspiration to anyone looking to start their own MuleSoft journey! If you are interested in following in Aryan’s footsteps, register for a self-paced training course today! MuleSoft Meetups are another great opportunity to connect, learn, and share with MuleSoft Experts around the world. Find a local Meetup group and register for an upcoming Meetup.
