This essay is based on a conversation with Gautami Nadkarni, 33, who lives in New Jersey. The following has been edited for length and clarity.
In 2024, six years after joining Google, I began to question myself.
I joined the Google Cloud organization in 2018 as a Customer Engineer. My job was to design a scalable cloud solution that enables Google’s enterprise customers to manage their data and operations. At the time, cloud computing was what everyone in the industry was talking about.
By 2023-2024, AI will be appearing more and more in my projects and conversations with clients. One customer says they want to implement AI into every part of their business. It felt like a big change and I could see the writing on the wall of where the industry was going.
By early 2025, I decided to pivot my career to AI. In November 2025, I transitioned from a customer engineer at Google, where I had focused on infrastructure and data analytics at various times, to a customer engineer specializing in AI.
Rather than protect themselves from the disruption that AI was causing in their industry; ”An ‘inner voice’ told me to move towards them, and it paid off.
I wasn’t sure if I was smart enough to work on AI, but I needed discomfort to grow
I’ve been interested in AI for years before the chatbot boom of 2023, but I wasn’t sure if I was smart enough to tackle something this complex. With the growing presence of AI, I realized I needed to think strategically about my career.
I knew that in order to grow, I needed to be uncomfortable, and that just saying “I’m interested in AI” at a networking event without proof of work wouldn’t get me anywhere. Instead of overthinking it, I jumped into AI upskilling in late 2024.
Nadkarni started spending 20% of her time upskilling her AI. Courtesy of Gautami Nadkarni
I followed the “80/20” rule, spending 80% of my week working on my existing role, using AI to automate parts of my role, and 20% of my time upskilling the AI. For example, we use AI to take meeting notes and create action items, but also work after hours when important parts of the job need to be completed.
To learn more about AI, I took the GenAI certification, watched YouTube videos, and used AI to learn about AI itself. I have dumped the resources such as PDF into NotebookLM. NotebookLM can generate summary audio and visual aids and answer questions about the information you enter. I used it like a personal tutor, quizzing me on core concepts.
We also used AI to create an automated newsletter that displayed the top 5 or 10 news articles about general trends in the world of AI, emailed to you every morning at 9am.
I took advantage of the opportunity to improve my AI skills in my role. If a customer has an AI-specific problem, I tackle the challenge myself before consulting with Google’s AI experts and asking for feedback on how we addressed the problem.
My network has given me more confidence
I had a goal of meeting one new person in the AI field every two weeks, both inside and outside of Google, and I was using Fridays to schedule time with others on my calendar. They told me how they started their careers, and I thought thoroughly about how I could replicate their success.
When I asked someone with a PhD in AI if it was necessary to work in this field, they assured me that it was not necessary. This kind of encouragement during networking made me feel less anxious about entering AI.
I started networking with colleagues and then spoke to Google’s marketing team. They said they were looking for a technically skilled Googler to represent the company at speaking events. I asked if there were any AI-related speaking opportunities I could volunteer for, which led to my first speaking engagement. I introduced new Google AI products that I have experience using in my role and also discussed Google’s agent AI vision.
Since then, I have spoken at several AI-focused events, allowing me to aspire to become an industry leader in this field.
I see my career as determining my future, not just guaranteeing it.
In August 2025, I became aware of an opening within Google for an AI and Machine Learning Customer Engineer position within the Google Cloud organization.
The interview process tested my AI skills and the interviewer said he saw me excelling in the AI field. I feel that building my personal brand has put me in a better position.
I joined the company in November 2025. My role is still customer-facing, but unlike before when I was more of a first point of contact, I am now a specialist who is called in when an AI expert is needed to solve a customer problem.
Courtesy of Gautami Nadkarni Nadkarni considers her career transition to be a defining moment for her future.
I see my career as defining the future, not just guaranteeing it, actively positioning myself where disruption is happening and where it creates the most economic value.
I don’t know what will happen in the future, but I think AI will remain for a while. For me, it was important to be on the front lines and take responsibility for my career, rather than playing it safe.
Do you have a story to share about how AI is disrupting and transforming your career? Contact this reporter at: ccheong@businessinsider.com
