Arfa Karim Randhawa, aged 10, has become the youngest person to be certified as a Microsoft engineer.

Randhawa passed her Microsoft Certified Professional examinations last year. She met Bill Gates this week and was taken on a tour of Microsoft's Redmond campus.

The 10 year-old, from Faisalabad in Pakistan, asked Gates why children were not allowed to work for Microsoft and was told that they should concentrate on their school studies.

But he explained that Microsoft has an intern programme which would be available to her once she reached high school level.

Randhawa also asked why there are so few women in the company, suggesting that Microsoft should have an equal number of men and women.

Gates replied that it is sometimes difficult to get women interested in technology.

After first discovering computers at the age of five Randhawa pestered her father for a PC. She has been accepted into Pakistan's Applied Technologies advanced computer institute.

Randhawa is now a Microsoft Certified Application Developer but plans to become a Microsoft Certified Solution Developer, which involves building programs into broader systems for business.

In the longer term she has her sights set on Harvard, or a career at Microsoft.