Most 11 year olds like playing video games or hanging round with friends. Not Ezequiel Pereira. Pereira got his first computer age 10 and has been programming since he was 11. He came so close to being a normal kid, when he is anything but. Now 16, Pereira has just found a bug that left Google’s internal systems vulnerable to hackers.
For the trouble, Google paid him a whopping $36,000. Not bad for a teenager, not bad at all. There is more though, as this latest bug is the fifth Pereira has reported to Google.
It took Pereira a lot of hard work to develop his bug hunting prowess, but he did start with early success. He spent years teaching himself different programming languages. He even earned himself a trip to Google HQ for the work he did in a coding competition. When he started bug hunting though, it didn’t take him long to find his first bug and net himself $500.
Since that first paycheck his continued hard work has paid off again and again. Other prizes for his bug hunting include a $10,000 bounty that he spent trying to get into US universities. Apart from that his earnings go on helping his mum pay the bills.
Pereira encourages his friends to search for bugs too and wants to earn a Master’s in Computer Security. Although he wasn’t able to break Ito the US education system, he is currently learning at home in Montevideo. Something tells us that it won’t be long before this kid achieves his dream and is working for one of the biggest tech firms in the world. Good luck Ezequiel.
