Ex-Google techie says her income tripled after getting divorced. Now earns Rs 8.7 crore pa

Within a year of working with Google, Venus Wang realised she wanted more growth, and it led her to quit in 2024. (File photo)

Getting divorced in 2021 was a “wake-up call" for 37-year-old Venus Wang. “I remember the personal identity shift was a very big thing for me — to transform from someone else’s wife to a single mom," the former Google techie based in the US told CNBC Make It. At the time, she was unemployed for a year while caring for her daughter and had $10,000 (about Rs 8.7 lakh) in savings.

Prior to that, Wang — who moved from China to the US in 2013 — had built a stable six-figure career managing purchases at a big tech company. After the divorce, however, she not only needed to rebuild her career, but also her financial future. Now, Wang boasts of a $1 million (about Rs 8.7 crore) paycheck and is working in the AI division of a major tech firm.

She had reentered the workforce overseeing software quality and operations at Google in San Francisco, ensuring reliability for products such as Gmail and Google Drive. But within a year, she realised she wanted more growth, and it led her to pivot into artificial intelligence, Wang said.

“When we were splitting up, I took a really hard look at my personal finances,” she told the publication. “I had less than $10,000 in cash... I started to realise that up until that point, I had managed my personal finances really terribly. I had to make a really drastic change in terms of my mindset. This is not only just about me anymore. This is also about me taking care of my daughter’s future as well.”​

Wang took on three different roles in AI up until 2024 when she quit Google to join a startup before returning to another major tech company. The job switches helped her nearly triple her annual income.

While the paycheck is a massive perk, Wang finds the work rewarding as well. “When I walk into the office, I know I’m working on something really important to the future of this technology, and that most excites me,” she told CNBC Make It.