A former Google data engineer gave up a lucrative career to pursue her PhD program, prioritising meaning growth over financial stability. According to Business Insider, earlier this year, Joslyn Orill quit her six-figure job at Google’s Austin office, despite being considered a dream job by many.
Ex-Google engineer’s big move
30-year-old Joslyn Orgill considered her job at Google as a quantum leap, following internships at ExxonMobil and Adobe and securing an integrated bachelor’s and master’s degree in Information Systems from Brigham Young University in 2021.
Although Orgill and her husband enjoyed a comfortable and stable income and homeownership in Austin, she told Business Insider that she often felt disconnected from her work, adding that her contribution went “unseen” and the position didn’t feel right for the long-term career path." Google's an amazing company, but the job just wasn't a great fit for me," said the 30-year-old.
Orgill’s doubts deepened as the tech industry became unstable. Six months into her role, Google decided to lay off about 12,000 employees, which she describes as ‘crazy’ and scary.’
At the same time, watching her friend struggling to find a job during the slowdown shook Orgill’s confidence and made her question whether switching to another tech might not bring the satisfaction and security that she wanted. She explored various options but found few roles exciting, strengthening her doubts about job security and satisfaction in tech companies.
Beyond security and satisfaction, it was her love for teaching that pulled her away from Google. As an adjunct at BYU, she taught two sections of an introductory programming and analytics course and realised she truly enjoyed the classroom. Although she once planned to spend years in the industry and earn a high pay cheque before retiring to teaching later in life. She eventually started questioning whether postponing her passing made sense or not,
In August, Orgill resigned from Google and enrolled in a computer science PhD program focused on education at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Her wider goal is to encourage more students, especially the underrepresented groups, to feel confident with technology.
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