13-year-old Ukrainian becomes youngest Oracle certified specialist in Europe
Arseniy Golovanyov from the front-line Sumy became the record holder for the oldest certified Oracle specialist in Europe.
Arseniy Golovanyov from the front-line Sumy became the record holder for the oldest person in Europe among certified Oracle specialists.
Arseny is from the front-line village of Krasnopillya, Sumy region. In 2023, he and his parents were evacuated to the city of Sumy. In the second grade, the boy became interested in block coding on Scratch, and later Python.
In June 2024, the boy began studying at the Java programming course from the Star for Life Ukraine Foundation. In 2025, he was ready to take the exams. However, Oracle certification rules require participation only from the age of 13.
As soon as Arseny reached the required age, active negotiations began with the company regarding the boy's admission to certification — and permission was granted.
“Arseny is a unique child,” says Serhiy Ishcheryakov, an educational leader at SFLUA with many years of experience, “he has a very developed ability for experiments and analysis. In my more than 15 years of teaching practice, he was the only one to question certain codes in the course and even find some errors.”
Initially, there was an attempt to take the exam on November 21, 2025. That day, Arseny was in the school shelter due to enemy shelling, but he was unable to complete the exam. However, the company allowed him to take it again.
And on December 16, the young programmer fulfilled his dream and successfully passed the Oracle certification exam with a score of 89% with the minimum required 65%. This time I prepared more thoroughly: I took the exam with charging stations and non-volatile fiber-optic internet.
Arseny's future plans include continuing his in-depth study of Java in the PNUdev program with a focus on modern development approaches, in particular Spring. A separate direction is preparation for the next Oracle Java SE 21 Developer Professional certification, which is a logical step after the first certification and an important stage on the way to becoming a professional Java developer.
“I would like to create my own educational project to consolidate my knowledge in practice, because I want to participate in the development of a real commercial project, where I can gain experience in teamwork, development processes, and responsibility for the result,” shares Arseniy Golovanov.
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