Journalism of Courage
This 8-year-old started coding to do math homework; now he holds a world record
By seven, Noah Williams had also joined Mensa, after scoring in the 99.9th percentile on an IQ test.
According to Guinness World Records’ Young Achievers profile, Noah has also explored robotics and drones, taking his fascination with computers into the physical world.
Guinness World Records has recognised Noah Williams as the youngest professional computer programmer after an independent firm published one of his programmes.
It was officially recorded on August 8, 2025, when Noah was eight years and 307 days old.
Guinness defines the record as the “youngest person to programme computers”. Its criteria describe a programmer as someone who develops and writes computer programmes, and a programme as a set of instructions written in a language a computer can understand and execute.
Beyond programming
According to Guinness World Records’ Young Achievers profile, Noah has also explored robotics and drones, taking his fascination with computers into the physical world.
The Melbourne child’s interest in coding began at the age of six, but not because he was simply curious about computers.
He initially turned to programming to help with mathematical calculations and explore patterns. He started learning C++, a programming language widely used in software development, gaming, engineering, finance, and scientific applications.
For Noah, coding quickly became a way of experimenting. He could give a computer instructions, see the result, and use what he observed to solve problems.
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By seven, Noah had also joined Mensa, an international high IQ society, after scoring in the 99.9th percentile on an IQ test. However, his practical use of programming eventually put his name in the Guinness World Records.
His interests have since expanded beyond programming.
Noah is among several under-16s featured by Guinness for unusual achievements across fields ranging from science and technology to sport, performance, and creative pursuits.
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