From Bangalore to Essex: How the University of Essex Shaped Akash Swamy's Career Journey

For Akash, moving to the UK wasn't just about adding an MBA to his résumé; it was about making a deliberate choice for the next phase of his career. From giving up nearly a decade of stability in India to breaking into product management in a new country, his journey shows what it takes to successfully reinvent yourself.

Akash's Journey at a Glance

• From: Bangalore, India
• Background: Nearly 9 years as an ML Engineer and Lead ML Engineer
• Course: MBA, University of Essex, England
• Decision: Left behind a stable career to pivot into product management
• Now: Product Manager at a UK-based AI startup (visa-sponsored)

Here's Akash, in his own words.

Q. Tell us about your background.

I spent almost nine years working in Bangalore, first as an ML engineer, then as a lead ML engineer. My wife worked at the same company, doing similar work, and we were genuinely comfortable, with good salaries, everything accessible, and a life that looked good from the outside. But I kept hitting the same wall: constant pressure to do more, ticket after ticket, project after project. I love coding, but not enough to let it take over my life completely. Eventually, I had to pause and consider what I was really working toward.

Q. Why did you choose the UK over the US for your MBA?

There were a few reasons for my choice. Culturally, the UK felt closer to India, English-speaking and familiar enough that the adjustment wouldn't be jarring. There's also a genuinely vibrant AI ecosystem there right now; companies like DeepMind and other frontier research labs are based there, and that matched my AI and ML background closely. A friend of mine was pursuing his PhD in the US at the time, and he was honest with me: the opportunity in the US is real, but visas are brutal, and you're constantly at your employer's mercy. My wife was weighing the same move, and between healthcare, cost of living, and family stability, the UK just made more sense for us.

Q. What made you decide on the University of Essex?

I come from a tier-two university background myself, so I wasn't chasing Oxford or Cambridge; I was being realistic. What mattered most was proximity to London, since that's where most of the job opportunities in my field actually were, a solid ranking, and tuition plus living costs I could genuinely manage. Essex met all my criteria, ranking well within the top twenty nationally, close enough to London for the job search to make sense, and without the cost of actually living in the city as a student.

Q. What was the hardest part of actually making this move?

Money, without question. I come from a middle-class background; my father ran a small business, and honestly, I wasn't great with money at the time. I was earning well in India and spending accordingly. The total cost of the move came to around 70,000 pounds: tuition, accommodation, everything, and that number was daunting. I got through it with my own savings plus help from my father in that final stretch.

Beyond the money, there was the mental side. Going back to structured textbook study after nine years reading research papers and technical blogs was genuinely difficult. And the doubt never fully left. I'd walked away from two cars, a near-ready house down payment, and a comfortable job for something uncertain. My parents were supportive, but they had their doubts too, and that seeps into you. What got me through it were friends already working in the UK, reassuring me it would work out if I just kept going.

Q. How did you land your first job in the UK?

I started job hunting in my final trimester, before I'd even finished coursework. I positioned my resume specifically toward product management rather than pure engineering, leaning on standout projects instead of a routine work history. I applied everywhere, LinkedIn, Indeed, and somewhere around fifty applications, before my first real interview.

A lot of early interest fell apart the moment visa sponsorship came up. Plenty of companies liked my profile but couldn't or wouldn't sponsor; that's a bigger structural issue than people realize. Sponsorship increasingly depends on company scale and salary thresholds. small startup with ten or fifteen people almost never sponsors, but a well-funded company with real scale can absorb that cost. I eventually landed at a startup doing genuinely cutting-edge research, well-funded, and willing to sponsor someone coming from a non-traditional path with directly relevant skills. I've been there ever since.

Q. Does university prestige actually matter in the UK job market?

Less than people assume once you have experience. I work alongside colleagues from Oxford, Cambridge, and Bristol, and none of us get treated differently because of where our degree came from. It depends on your experience and how you perform in interviews. Where it does matter more is straight out of university with zero experience; that's when people fall back on university names as a shortcut. Once you've built a track record, that becomes less important.

Q. What would bring you back to India, if anything?

Work-life balance would be my one non-negotiable. Life in India, especially in a tier-one city with a good job, isn't lacking materially; you can genuinely match a Western lifestyle. What's missing is the boundary. I used to get emails and Slack messages at one or two in the morning, and that was normal. Everything was needed yesterday. Here, people switch off, respect vacations, and don't reach out unless it's genuinely urgent. That's the one thing I'm not willing to give up again.

Q. What does life in the UK look like for you now?

Weekends are for my wife and kid, along with dinner parties, hikes, and time with friends. Swimming and fitness have become a real part of my routine too, something I neglected for years in India. I've also been dabbling with coding agents on personal projects lately, just out of curiosity about where that space is heading, a nice way to stay close to the field without letting it run my life the way it used to.