( CNET ) -- For Stanford University student Feross Aboukhadijeh , what started off as a bet fueled by youthful ambition and technical bravado , ended up an Internet hit and quite possibly a job . Last week , Aboukhadijeh , 19 , was just an ordinary , albeit talented , college student as he tested out Google Instant , the Web giant 's new predictive search results feature . He was immediately impressed on its debut Wednesday but also inspired . To his roommate , he said , `` I bet you I can build YouTube Instant in an hour . '' And his roommate took him up on the bet . Aboukhadijeh did n't quite make the hour deadline , but three hours later , YouTube Instant was born . The site lets people search the enormous YouTube video database in real time . He spent a couple more hours Thursday sprucing up the user interface . And before going to sleep that night , he posted his work to his Facebook page . `` When I woke up Friday morning there was craziness , '' he said . By `` craziness , '' Aboukhadijeh means countless e-mails congratulating him , a bevy of interview requests , a server flooded with Web traffic , the creation of a Wikipedia entry in his name , and -- perhaps most notably -- a job offer from YouTube CEO Chad Hurley via Twitter . Unsure just how seriously to take the tweeted job offer , Aboukhadijeh replied along the lines of `` Is this a for-real offer ? '' Hurley then e-mailed him to set up a meeting , which is scheduled for Monday at YouTube 's San Bruno , Calif. , headquarters , Aboukhadijeh said . YouTube officials did n't respond to an e-mail request sent Friday from CNET seeking confirmation of the job offer or meeting . Aboukhadijeh is just finishing up a summer internship with Facebook , but he does n't see how that would prohibit his taking a job at YouTube , which is owned by Google . `` I 'd like to finish college , '' he added , which he agreed could pose the bigger problem . Much like Google Instant , YouTube Instant lets people type in what they 're looking for , and the engine guesses what that video is . By design , it plays the video immediately . However , based on feedback , Aboukhadijeh said he 's working on play and pause features , among other improvements . `` It 's not as useful as Google Instant if you know exactly what you 're looking for , since you 're shown distracting YouTube videos on the way to your destination , '' Aboukhadijeh told All Thing Digital 's Peter Kafka . `` But I think this is perfect for many Internet users . '' He built the site using the YouTube API but scraped YouTube search suggestions after Google blocked his server for making too many repeated requests to the search suggestion endpoint . Aboukhadijeh ended up re-writing the site to instead query YouTube directly for search suggestions , `` eliminating the round-trip to my server , '' he said . Aboukhadijeh , who is from Sacramento , California , said he 's been blown away by how quickly his tool went viral and is grateful for all the supportive feedback . `` I 'm amazed and humbled by all the attention it 's received . So thank you , '' he said . But imitation is the highest form of flattery , and it appears he 's got that , too . TechCrunch on Saturday pointed to Alabama-based developer Michael Hart , who , inspired by Aboukhadijeh , used jQuery and the Google Maps API to build Google Maps Instant . And the same blogger later pointed to an all-encompassing Instantise page that gives a home to the evidently quickly growing number of sites with instant , predictive search results . Instantise was reportedly designed by Scottish engineer Tam Denholm , TechCrunch said . Aboukhadijeh is a majoring in computer science , but his technical expertise has been developing over many years . Around age 5 , when his parents bought a new microwave oven , he took the manual and learned how to turn on the child lock , something his parents never learned to do . That knowledge came in handy when he was old enough to get grounded -- he would lock it up and use it as a bargaining chip . © 2010 CBS Interactive Inc. All rights reserved . CNET , CNET.com and the CNET logo are registered trademarks of CBS Interactive Inc. Used by permission .
Stanford University student creates YouTube Instant in three hours . The site lets people search enormous YouTube video database in real time . Student says he 's been blown away by how quickly his tool went viral .