This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Aria Kim, a 26-year-old security program manager at Sony in Washington, D.C., who previously worked for Meta and as a contractor for Google. The following has been edited for length and clarity. The way I got into Big Tech was unconventional. I graduated with a biology degree from George Washington University in 2021. I thought I was on track for medical school , but while working part-time as a project lab assistant after graduating, I