Ling Zhang

There are a lot of non-traditional paths you can take, and you can really work on a lot of interesting things and come up with something that you really enjoy.

As an engineer for a small AI start-up in London, we're building a virtual assistant to help empower marketing analysts by helping them easily interact with the massive amounts of data in modern marketing.

I'm also doing a lot on the side, playing with new technologies and app ideas, as well as writing a technical blog and speaking at conferences. Recently I spoke at the AI Assistant Summit in London and Python Moscow Conference. I also participated in a television episode about engineers in the UK working on human-centric problems.

We don't have a direct chain of reporting and can individually decide what to work on every day. Because we are a small team, it feels like every week you have a big impact on the company.