This told essay is based on a conversation with Max Buckley, 38, a senior software engineer at Google based in Zurich. Switzerland. His identity and employment have been confirmed by Business Insider. The following has been edited for length and clarity.
I’m a senior software engineer at Google in Zurich, where I’ve been working since 2013.
Most people don’t go from business to a more technical background, but my undergraduate degree is in business studies, and I joined Google as a financial analyst intern during my undergrad.
Over the years, I pivoted from financial analysis to business analysis to trust and safety, and in 2016 I joined the engineering team. I joined several other software engineering teams and then eventually joined Google Cloud AI and worked on one of their cloud AI products for several years.
He then joined the LLM Innovation team within Google’s Core Infrastructure group. This team later changed to the LLM Information Retrieval Applied Research Team, which I currently lead.
Doing multiple shifts like this requires you to improve your skills and explore other areas. Here’s how I did it:
Completed approximately 40 online public courses
As soon as I joined Google, I decided that my north star was to become a data scientist. Initially, I was able to expand my skill set with online courses from Coursera, edX, and Stanford. I used them to explore finance, then statistics, and then spent most of my time in computer science and data science.
All in all, I have completed about 40 online public courses, most of them through Coursera.
Some of the courses I have taken include:
- Neural networks and deep learning
- Building a machine learning project
- algorithm toolbox
- sequence model
The course spans from 2013 to 2021 and I took it in the evenings and weekends. Even though I didn’t have much time to play video games, I still made time to go to the gym, eat, sleep, and spend time with my girlfriend.
My approach to taking courses was not very structured. I didn’t say, “You have to do five hours a day,” or anything like that. I took them because I felt like I needed to do something or learn more about a certain topic. So I didn’t burn out.
The most visible and impactful courses I completed were Coursera’s first two courses: Data Analytics and Computing for Data Analytics. I had an interview right before my internship interview at Google, and the interviewer happened to be taking the same course, so we quickly became close.
I went back to school to earn multiple degrees
I also did more formal part-time study.
I completed my Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration in 2013. I then spent a year at Google completing a part-time graduate certificate in statistics. I then spent two years completing a part-time master’s degree in business analysis. I then spent nearly five years completing a part-time master’s degree in software engineering. Most recently, I completed my Advanced Studies degree in Data Science, which took me another two years.
I earned many certificates at summer school. At summer school, students take doctoral level courses over a one-week period.
I don’t regret taking the long road
My message to those looking to transition is don’t get discouraged. When I first wanted to join Google, some recruiters weren’t interested because I didn’t have a bachelor’s degree in computer science. Similarly, when I applied for a master’s degree in business analytics, I was initially turned down because I didn’t have a technical undergraduate degree and two semesters of programming experience, even though I had previously programmed at Google. There were hurdles to get around.
I had always wanted to study computer science, but my father told me that I would end up in computer science anyway, so I should study something else. In hindsight, he was right.
Studying computer science would have certainly sped up my career track, but I’m in a place where that is no longer an obstacle and I’m familiar with many business theories like Porter’s Five Forces. It’s not always useful, but it comes up in conversation sometimes.
What is consistent here is that my background includes continuous learning. When recruiters and hiring managers look at my profile, they can see that I’m not a smug person.
Have you decided on your career? We look forward to hearing from you. Contact the reporter via email: aaltchek@insider.com or via the secure messaging app Signal aalt.19.
