A 24-year-old Indian-origin engineer has opened up about how joining an artificial intelligence startup and moving to San Francisco reshaped his professional journey. In an as-told-to essay published in Business Insider, Jai Raj Choudhary, now an AI engineer at StackAI, shared that working at a startup gave him hands-on exposure that traditional roles often cannot offer.
Choudhary completed his Master’s in AI between 2023 and 2025, beginning his career in a data-focused role, he told Business Insider. He said the AI landscape began shifting around 2023-24 as large language models (LLMs) became practical for real-world products, turning what once felt like a research-heavy domain into an engineering-driven field.
The 24-year-old revealed that he joined StackAI in July after persistently reaching out to the company’s co-founder on LinkedIn. As a student, he had used the platform and began sharing feedback and suggestions online about what worked and what could be improved. As the company expanded, he went through 6 rounds of interviews before landing the role.
Today, Choudhary said that he builds architectures for AI agents. “One of the reasons I got offers from StackAI and other companies was because I understood data quality, the edge cases for the clients, and the matrix and the failure modes of the AI model or any LLM systems that we were using at the time,” he said.
Interestingly, he said that his degree was not a focus during the interviews. Instead, recruiters were more interested in his ability to work with backend systems, handle data patterns and code in Python. He was evaluated through project discussions and a take-home assignment. Questions about his academic background came only after he joined, he said.
While he values graduate school for helping him explore his interests, he admitted he does not directly use much of what he studied in his day-to-day job.
Moving to San Francisco made a ‘huge difference’
Choudhary also credited his move to San Francisco as a turning point. He described the city’s work culture as intense, with long hours and constant problem-solving. Casual coffee outings often turn into networking opportunities with startup founders and AI professionals, he said.
“Moving to San Francisco made a huge difference in my career. This city is a different beast. When you come here, it’s a whole different culture because we don’t work 9-to-5, cushy jobs. We work 9-to-9, six days a week,” Choudhary told the outlet.
His advice for youngsters prepping for AI era
The 24-year-old further went on to say that continuous learning remains central to his growth. Despite long workdays, he shared that he spends hours studying and keeping up with industry developments. “Even if I spend 12 hours in the office, seven to eight of those hours I’m studying, and then three to four hours, I’m actually writing the code,” he said.
He added that early sacrifices helped accelerate his growth in the fast-evolving AI ecosystem. “You have to decide what’s important for you, but I was ready to sacrifice everything at the start of my career to grow as much as possible. It does take a toll on your personal time,” Choudhary said.