Moving to San Francisco and joining a fast-growing artificial intelligence (AI) startup changed everything for 24-year-old Indian-born engineer Jai Raj Choudhary, who says the city’s unforgiving work culture pushed him to grow faster than he would have in any traditional job.Choudhary is now an artificial intelligence engineer at StackAI, a no-code platform that helps users build artificial intelligence agents. He says the transition from a traditional software and data background to the intense entrepreneurial environment reshaped his career. “We work 9 to 9, six days a week,” he said, describing life in California’s tech hub, according to Business Insider.
How the Artificial Intelligence Journey Begins
His journey in artificial intelligence began in graduate school. Between 2023 and 2025, he studied for a master’s degree in artificial intelligence, initially working in data-centric roles. Around that time, large language models were becoming increasingly practical for real-world use. Choudhary said artificial intelligence is starting to look less like a purely research-driven discipline and more like an engineering challenge that can be built and deployed at scale.After a determined outreach effort, he joined StackAI in July. As a student, he had already used the company’s platform and began messaging its co-founder repeatedly on LinkedIn. He shared feedback, posted information about the product, and suggested improvements. When the company entered a period of rapid growth, he applied and went through six rounds of interviews before landing the position.
What does this role offer?
Today, Chowdhury’s work involves the architectural design of artificial intelligence agents. He believes his early statistical foundation helped him stand out. Understanding data quality, client edge cases, performance metrics, and failure modes in AI and large language model systems gives him an edge.Interestingly, he said his formal degree was not a deciding factor during the interview. “I know the backend, I know how to talk to the data, and I understand the patterns it follows,” he told an interviewer.He added, “They said it was the perfect background and they could help me grow from there into a true AI engineer.” Choudhary was asked about his coding skills, specifically in Python, and was given a take-home assignment to show how he built a solution.Only after joining the job did colleagues ask about his academic background. While he cherishes his time in college and credits it with helping him explore his interests, he admits that he does not directly apply much of what he learned in graduate school to his current day-to-day tasks.
move to san francisco
However, the move to San Francisco proved decisive. “Moving to San Francisco had a huge impact on my career. The city was a different beast,” he said. He added, “When you come here, it’s a completely different culture because we’re not a cushy 9-to-5 job. We’re 9-to-9, six days a week. You wake up and you think about the problems your customers have, and you go to bed thinking about the problems that haven’t been solved yet.”Chowdhury said the city was built around ambition and how a casual coffee trip could turn into a social opportunity. “In San Francisco, even if you go out for coffee, you’re going to meet at least two founders who are doing something related to what you’re doing,” he said.Surrounding himself with people solving similar technical challenges helped him refine his thinking and problem-solving approach.
Study while working?
Despite working long hours in the office, he still spent most of his time studying. “Even if I’m in the office for 12 hours, seven to eight hours of that is studying, and then three to four hours, I’m actually writing code,” he said. The rapid expansion of AI courses and resources can feel overwhelming, but he focuses on practical insights from founders and builders. He credits online content, including YouTube lectures, for helping him stay informed while commuting or exercising.For Choudhary, joining a startup before being fully prepared was a calculated risk that ultimately paid off. “The best decision I made for my career was to join a startup in a job where I had little experience and learning at StackAI,” he said.
 startup changed everything for 24-year-old Indian-origin engineer Jai .){kind=link}