What’s the one major factor that could accelerate your career growth in life? A Google engineer revealed what drove his career successfully from Bengaluru to California and the answer is rather unexpected – choosing the right mentors in your career trajectory.
Deep Shah, who joined Google’s Bengaluru campus in 2018 to work on Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) for Google Maps, relocated to the tech giant’s global headquarters in 2021 to contribute to Google Search. Shah’s move, which was eased by Google’s globally consistent work culture, required a notable degree of personal and professional adjustment. He found that having senior guidance was essential to navigating through life in a new country and a highly complex role.
Mentorship is the single biggest factor
Speaking to Business Insider, Shah identified mentorship as the “single biggest factor” behind his professional growth and smooth transition to the United States. He explained that early conversations with older peers sparked his initial interest in computer science, and later, the counsel of senior colleagues helped him tackle organisational complexities.
“I’ve learned that mentors are one of the greatest things to have,” Shah stated. “Good mentors have changed the way I approach problems and have impacted the engineer I’ve become.”
Shah elaborated that the most valuable lessons came beyond technical coding tasks. “My mentors taught me how to navigate organisational dynamics and influence stakeholders – skills that are rarely learned just by doing the core work,” he added, highlighting the non-technical wisdom imparted by his guides.
Now, four years into his tenure at the US headquarters, Shah advocates strongly for young engineers to actively seek out and utilise mentorship. He advises those looking for guidance, stating, “It should be very clear what specific things you’d like to use your mentor for, and I recommend having a proper agenda to go over together.”
Crucial advice for students
“Each mentor will teach you different things, and the person doesn’t necessarily need to be a professor. They could be an alumnus or someone who’s more senior at your college. It doesn’t matter how you find them, but they should be someone who you think is a good role model,” he added.
“I’ve been fortunate to have had a lot of great mentors throughout my career, as well as in my undergrad, who actually supported me and gave me good ideas,” said Shah.
“College students should try to be involved with a professor or someone who can give them exposure to any machine learning or AI problems they’re excited about, no matter how small or large,” Shah added.
