"Dad, what am I going to do with my life???"

A Saturday morning of 2017, after months spent in consulting, I took a slap in the face.

It just wasn't what I imagined. When I became an AI consultant, I had a strong interest in Machine Learning, and I thought being an AI consultant was having a special access to anyone. I thought I would be able to work on the next Jarvis, Tony Stark's armor, and flying cars. But the reality was... I was spending my days on Powerpoints and Spreadsheets; and after a few months, I just lost that spark that made me start in engineering.

Until this Saturday morning, when I discovered online learning.

It happened through Sebastian Thrun, who I met in a video where he was sharing his amazing story as the godfather of self-driving cars. I was mesmerized. I felt inspired, empowered, and through his program teaching self-driving cars, I clearly saw a way out of the consulting world, and in the cutting-edge world.

"I can actually have a career building self-driving cars!"

It didn't take me long before I enrolled in his online program, and to decide to secretly spend 20 hours per week learning self-driving cars.

Here I was, learning Python, Computer Vision, Deep Learning, and all these fascinating and exciting technologies.

I started with the fundamentals, and built project after project with a discipline I didn't suspect I even had...

After 9 months, I had graduated from the Udacity Self-Driving Car Nanodegree, and I was ready to apply for a job as a self-driving car engineer...

I browse a few startups, and I found some.

Surprisingly, I had an interview in a few days, an offer after one hour.

But this offer turned out to have issues...

My heart rate pumped.
I was at the finish line.
If I said yes to this offer, I would be a self-driving car engineer.

My dream would come true.

But 30,000€ per year? It was 10,000€ less than the average salary for an engineer in France, and that's for a "normal" engineering job, not autonomous vehicles.

But they knew I had no choice but to take it.

But if I said no, where would I go? Paris wasn't Silicon Valley — and in 2017, you could count the number of self-driving car companies on the fingers of one hand.

After many consideration, I realized the offer wasn't a good one. For many reasons, but the lowball was already a good indicator.

So I said no...

I decided to take a job as a Computer Vision Engineer, and to keep perfecting my skills.

Online learning became a part of me. I was spending my weekends on Computer Vision, my nights on Deep Learning, and my vacations on Robotics (although I did also take some time off!).

I discovered a passion for teaching, that I had acquired through my years as a consultant, and I built advanced skills as an AI Engineer.

Teaching AI to over 100+ Engineers surely can feel intimidating, but not when you've been a consultant.

Until I made it!

drag to make the switch