This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Aimen Moten, who has worked as a software engineer at Google since March. She’s in her 20s and lives in the San Francisco Bay Area.
I work as a software engineer at Google, and I don’t code that much anymore.
Instead, I spend more time reviewing AI-generated code, making design decisions, and deeply understanding how things work.
The job of an engineer is 100% changing due to AI, and we need to adapt. But before I had to think about adapting to AI, I first had to land a job.
Getting a job at Google was far from easy. For me, that journey started long before my first Google interview.
My original goal was to graduate from college early
I’m originally from Pakistan, and I came to the US in 2022 to pursue a computer science degree at DePauw University.
My goal was to graduate in three years because college was expensive. Even with a partial scholarship, school-related expenses still cost more than $10,000 a semester. And since I wasn’t a US citizen, I wasn’t eligible for federal student loans. My parents helped pay for my first few semesters, but I knew I might have to rely on scholarships and internship earnings to get me through the rest of college.
If I graduated early, I’d need a job right away. So, during my sophomore year, my strategy was simple: apply to as many internships as possible, land the best one, earn a return offer, and put myself on the quickest path toward a full-time software engineering job.
I was strategic in my internship applications
I attended tech conferences like the Grace Hopper Celebration to network and learn when different internship applications would open. The conference gave me a heads-up, and I made sure to apply as soon as the applications were released.
The summer before my sophomore year, I also spent a lot of time cold-messaging people on LinkedIn at companies I was interested in to learn about their experiences. When I eventually applied, I was able to ask some of those people for referrals and received several.
During this search, I applied to what felt like hundreds of internships and went through several interview processes, including one that stretched six rounds.
I landed an internship at Google and had to adjust my plans
Eventually, I landed an interview for a software engineering internship at Google, and ultimately received an offer for the internship, which was based in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Ironically, Google was one of the few companies I interviewed with where I didn’t have a referral.
My first Google internship was a very positive experience, but I had to adjust my graduation and full-time job search timeline. I was told that returning to Google for a second internship would be the best path to a full-time software engineering offer.
The following summer, I returned to Google for my second internship and received the full-time offer I’d been waiting for. After graduating in three and a half years in December 2025, I moved to the Bay Area and started as a full-time software engineer in March.
Looking back, I’m especially grateful that I received my return offer because I know how difficult today’s tech job market has become. I know so many incredibly qualified people who are still looking for opportunities.
My career advice for young engineers
One lesson I learned from my job search is that taking care of yourself matters. Everyone talks about optimizing your résumé and preparing for interviews, but if you can’t show up at your best, none of that matters.
I’ve met people who have gone from one internship search to another or from one job search to the next. Everybody tells you to work hard, but nobody reminds you that you need to take care of yourself. No matter how good your résumé is, if you’re too burned out to talk about it, there’s no point.
I also think today’s job market requires students to adapt more quickly than ever before. Schools are still figuring out how to incorporate AI into their computer science curriculums, but engineers entering the workforce need to learn how to use these tools effectively.
Given how fast AI is moving, I think all of us in tech feel some level of pressure to use AI at work and in our personal lives — and “FOMO” if we don’t. That said, I don’t think AI is taking my job anytime soon.
From what I’ve seen during my first few months at Google, AI isn’t replacing software engineers — it’s just changing how we work. If you’re a good engineer, you know how important humans still are in the engineering process.
Still, I know the job market for engineering roles isn’t easy — and I don’t take my opportunity at Google for granted.
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