A Kent schoolboy has passed one of Novell's top engineering examinations, notching up his second IT qualification this year. Fifteen-year-old Mark Wickings gained the Certified Novell Engineer (CNE) certificate, Novell's equivalent to the Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer (MCSE), after a 22-day training programme sponsored by networking distributor Azlan. The IT whizzkid, who attends Archbishop's School in Canterbury, first came across Azlan after being thrown out of an IT exhibition in London earlier this year. The lad was deemed too young to be a serious computer user by the exhibition chiefs. Unwilling to waste his train ticket to the Big Smoke, he decided to sit part of the Microsoft Certified System Engineer exam there and then, and turned up at Azlan Training's office in the City. Wickings went on to get the qualification, along with Novell's CNE, and has become Azlan's child prodigy. His achievement is particularly impressive as he is dyslexic and has only been in full-time eduation for six years. Freddie Jones, Azlan MD, was full of praise: "It's rare for someone as young as Mark to have reached such a depth of IT skill as the CNE certification. "Particularly at an age when his contemporaries are more likely to be playing football or computer games. We’ll be keeping a close eye on Mark’s next move." ®