This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Adrit Rao, a freshman at the University of California, Berkeley, who landed a full-time job at the AI health company Cognita before ever setting foot on campus. His identity and employment have been verified by Business Insider. This story has been edited for length and clarity.
I was 8 years old when I got introduced to a block-based programming language called Scratch. I was really into playing video games, and I could put these blocks together and see my own simple games come to life. I was instantly hooked.
Four years later, the pandemic was underway, and school was online. I had a lot of free time, so I taught myself how to build apps by watching YouTube videos. I really appreciate all the content creators who make these tutorials. You can learn anything online for free.
Once I got the hang of things, I realized making apps was my passion. Around this time, Apple introduced its Swift Student Challenge, an annual app-making competition for students around the world. I was pretty new to Apple’s programming language Swift, but I decided to enter it anyway.
To my surprise, I was one of 350 winners and the youngest. I got to meet Apple’s CEO, Tim Cook, which was the most exciting and motivating experience. I told him about my projects, including an app I was building called ShopQuik to help elderly people in my neighborhood avoid long wait times at grocery stores.
We spoke virtually because of COVID, and he told me he thought my app was going to make a lot of impact and that he hoped to meet me in person one day.
From there, I went on to publish five apps in the App Store. Age wasn’t a barrier. It didn’t really matter that I was 12, as long as I had a computer and the motivation to solve a problem. I didn’t need to rely on anyone. I didn’t need an investment. It was really just a solo operation, and that really excited me.
The cold email that changed everything
I’ve always had an interest in healthcare, so a year later, I emailed Oliver Aalami, a Stanford professor who had built a lot of healthcare apps. I told him I was an app developer and that I wanted to work with him. To my surprise, he wrote back the next morning and agreed.
I spent the next five years working in my free time at Stanford as a teaching assistant, helping undergraduate and graduate students build apps. I also collaborated with Stanford researchers on two big projects, including an FDA-cleared algorithm for detecting aneurysms in patients. Louis Blankemeier, the CEO of the company I now work for, was part of the team that built it. He was a Ph.D. student at the time.
In the fall of 2025, when I was a senior in high school, Louis sent me a Slack message and said he was starting a company called Cognita that would build AI models, or “co-pilots,” for helping radiologists do their jobs faster. He wanted to know if I’d be interested in working there.
By then, I knew how to build AI models. I learned a lot from my research experience at Stanford, reading research reports, and watching YouTube videos. I said I’d love to hear more. Professor Aalami took me to Cognita’s office, and he, Louis, and I had a conversation about my future. Later that day, Louis called with a job offer. I accepted, but told him I still planned to go to college.
Dealing with rejection from Stanford
I thought I would get into Stanford. I applied to their restrictive early action program, but got rejected. It felt like my dreams had been shattered a bit. Then I realized how random this college application process is. So many qualified students get rejected.
In the end, things worked out well because I got into Berkeley. You can always have a dream school, but there are so many different paths your life can take. It’s not always best to have a preconceived path just because it feels comfortable. At Berkeley, I realized I could explore a new environment. If I went to Stanford, I wouldn’t have met all the amazing people I did across the Bay. So now I’m affiliated with Berkeley and Stanford.
Today, I’m a full-time technical product lead at Cognita and a college freshman. At first, it was very challenging to do both, but I found a way to make things work. I signed up for early-morning classes because most students prefer afternoon and evening classes. When my classes end, I have lunch and go to work until late at night, though I take breaks to hang out with friends and play basketball.
Overall, my experience has taught me that leaning into whatever you’re passionate about at a young age sets a really good foundation for the future. That is what allowed me to accelerate my career, along with support from mentors like Professor Aalami.
Focusing on the present is also important. I never really thought about what’s going to come down the line. Good things happen when you really throw yourself into learning something new. I’m like a lifelong learner. I started with YouTube, and now I’m at Cognita and Berkeley.
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