OfferOnsite

Cold Applied from Finance, Extra System Design Round Led to an Offer

MicrosoftMachine Learning Engineer · Onsite · Apr 2026

I come from finance and wanted to move into AI and LLM work. For a few months I took on projects with early-stage startups, building RAG systems and AI-native products on the side. I want to stress one thing, because I didn't really believe it myself before: you can switch fields even in the middle of a career, with no big tech background. I had no referral either and just applied cold. What got…

Shared by a candidate · reported Apr 2026. Interview formats change; use it as a guide, not a script.