Archive · 4 Jan 2026
Google Engineer Shares Career Shift to AI
Emrick Donadei started working at Google in a role that didn't involve AI.
He felt he wasn't qualified for AI roles because he didn't have the right background.
However, after ChatGPT was launched, Google started moving faster with AI, and Emrick saw an opportunity.
He participated in a hackathon and built a small prototype, which helped him learn new tools and connect with other teams.
He kept learning and talking about his work, which eventually led to a public technical disclosure from Google.
Emrick believes his success came from taking action and not just luck.
Emrick Donadei initially worked at Google in a non-AI role, feeling unqualified for AI positions.
The launch of ChatGPT pushed Google to accelerate its AI efforts, opening internal pathways for engineers.
Donadei participated in a 2024 internal hackathon, building a small prototype to learn AI tools and infrastructure.
He leveraged the hackathon experience by networking with technical leads and presenting his work.
His efforts led to a public technical disclosure from Google in 2025, strengthening his position in AI.
- Who
- Emrick Donadei, a 32-year-old software engineer at Google
- What
- Transitioned from a non-AI role to Google’s AI safety team
- When
- Shift began after ChatGPT’s launch and continued through 2024-2025
- Where
- Google, based in New York
- Why
- Increased demand for AI roles and personal initiative through hackathons and learning
- Name
- Emrick Donadei
- Current Role
- Software Engineer, Google’s AI Safety Team
- Initial Role
- Software Engineer (Non-AI)
- Key Event
- Google’s 2024 Internal Hackathon
- Tools Used
- Claude Code, Gemini, ChatGPT Deep Research, NotebookLM
- Learning Resources
- Andrej Karpathy’s YouTube Lectures, Podcast on AI
- Hackathon Outcome
- Public Technical Disclosure from Google in 2025