- Keith Anderson transitioned from teaching to Big Tech in 2016 and boosted his salary significantly.
- He faced burnout in academia but soon learned Big Tech roles included some of the same challenges.
- Anderson learned to advocate for himself and manage his stress, and he now runs Career Alchemy.
This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Keith Anderson, a 36-year-old former English teacher and Big Tech worker who’s now the founder of Career Alchemy in Greater Boston. It’s been edited for length and clarity.
Within seven years, I transitioned from teaching English to working at Google, Uber, YouTube, Meta, DoorDash, and the weight-loss startup Calibrate. I was an individual contributor at Uber and Google, in design leadership roles at Meta and DoorDash, and in senior leadership at Calibrate.
As a university lecturer at the start of my career, I faced relentless anxiety about job insecurity and low pay. My passion for educating the next generation kept me going.
Once I moved into tech, my salary rose to seven times what I made as a teacher — from $30,000 to more than $200,000 a year, plus $150,000 in equity in one of my leadership positions — but at the cost of my mental health.
In 2015, I’d been teaching English for 8 years and was burned out
I became so burned out that I developed pneumonia, mainly due to exhaustion. While in the ICU, the university I worked for asked when I would be returning. This was a wake-up call, and I didn’t return.
If I had continued teaching, I would also have had limited career growth. My salary wouldn’t have increased much, and I would probably have needed to continue living in my rent-controlled apartment in San Francisco and would never have been able to buy my own place. That wasn’t the life I wanted for myself.
I learned web development and graphic design to pivot to a new career
I attended a front-end-coding boot camp called Thinkful and took graphic-design classes at the Academy of Art University to hone a new skill set. I finally shifted to a new job in 2016: a contract position at Google.
A recruiter reached out about the opportunity, and both the recruiter and Google’s hiring manager were impressed by my portfolio. My teaching background was also seen as an asset for a role with the customer-education team.
I stepped into a world of innovation and speed. I remember thinking, “This is it, I’ve made it,” but I soon realized the pace at Google was a different beast.
Starting at Google was a rude awakening
Before I started, I’d seen this video about the resort-like experience Google employees had every day. It looked like heaven, and I dreamed of being a part of it.
I soon learned the resort-like experience I’d dreamed about was only a small part of Google culture. I hadn’t considered that transitioning from academia to tech would require a major mindset shift.
The stress was familiar, but the context was entirely new. In academia, an average project typically lasted two to three months, which allowed time for thorough research and planning. At Google, a similar-sized project needed to be completed within a week. The focus shifted from perfection to effective execution, which was challenging but vital to success in the tech industry.
Also, before joining, I thought Big Tech companies were innovators not just in their products but also in their operations. When I saw it all up close, I realized that these organizations had many growing pains, like what I experienced in higher education. All of this stressed me out, just like higher education did.
From 2016 to 2018, I moved from Google to Uber to YouTube. From 2019 to 2021, I worked as a learning-design manager at Meta.
I had an epiphany during my time at Meta
Courtesy of Keith Anderson
During my time at Meta — amid the intensity of high-profile speaking opportunities at conferences and strategic planning — I had an epiphany: No matter what your job is, handling stress and anxiety in the workplace is within your control. The key is how you navigate and tackle it.
This realization changed everything for me. I began to advocate for myself more strongly at work, understanding that my happiness and mental well-being were in my own hands, not dictated by the prestige of my job or the company.
My approach to work transformed when I observed successful colleagues’ behaviors. They would strategically evaluate requests and weren’t afraid to say no when appropriate, always linking their decisions to key business metrics like revenue generation, cost savings, or efficiency improvements. This insight helped me shift from a people pleaser working 60-plus hours weekly to a strategic team player focused on impact.
Success isn’t just about what you achieve but how you manage the journey
Stress is a part of any job, but it doesn’t have to define your experience. My teaching and corporate roles taught me the importance of prioritization and built my resilience.
For those moving into tech, remember your unique background is an asset. You, not the company, can define what you do. Your health is more important than the bottom line of a large tech company like Meta or Google, and you need to prioritize it.
Last February, I left DoorDash and Big Tech entirely to focus on my career-coaching company I started working on part time in May 2022. While launching my business brought new challenges, my varied background equipped me well.
I’m now privileged to support hundreds of professionals through their career journeys. Every step of my journey, including the challenges, has contributed to who I am today.
Want to share your Big Tech experience? Email Lauryn Haas at lhaas@businessinsider.com.