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The amount of time it takes to gain enlightenment is different from person-to-person and from place-to-place but I suppose the harder you work at it and the more time you commit, the sooner you will achieve it.
Of course if you begin at a younger age you will achieve your enlightenment at a younger age. I'm always a bit skeptical of those 12 year old "enlightened" kids though. I think that some communities are just concerned with churning out enlightened beings for their own benefit. I think that the idea of enlightenment is devalued by this sort of thing. On the other hand, the only thing that matters is knowing that you earned your own enlightenment, after all, being enlightened is really just a status thing within your own community. You can't really compare enlightened people between different groups.
I, myself, am just a beginner. I've done a lot of research on the internet and read a few books, though, and I've learned a lot from listening to other people who have become enlightened.
What I've learned most is that there's no value in rushing to enlightenment or gaining it before you've really earned it. You should be focused on the quest for enlightenment. All of the most enlightened people that I've seen aren't really worried about enlightenment by the time they achieve it. Some would even claim to be beginners like me. I suppose that's a lesson in itself. I would like to stick with enlightenment and to do this I guess I should just focus on my own progress. I don't want my enlightenment to just end up hanging on the wall someday; which is I'm sure what happens when those 12 year old "enlightened" kids get bored with their's.
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