Shrey Shah never applied to Microsoft.

Microsoft executives watched him give a talk on AI coding workflows, then reached out. Meta came knocking not long after, asking for something similar.

Here's the part that stings a little: that wasn't luck.

It traces back to a decision he made years earlier, when senior engineers around him said going all in on AI-assisted coding would hurt his career. He ignored them. He was building with agents before agent jobs existed, and using Cursor before most engineers could spell it.

In this episode of Ready Set Do, Shrey — now Senior Software Engineer, AI at Microsoft — walks through how inbound offers actually happen in tech, and what he did to make himself findable.

We get into the interview loop too. Four rounds, two technical, zero LeetCode. One problem was so big he had to keep solving it out loud while talking to his interviewer. He explains why that format tests something the standard algorithm grind never touches.

Then the harder conversation starts. Shrey doesn't believe in resumes anymore.

His argument: every resume is now tailored by the same AI tools, every application lands in the same ATS pile, and the traditional job application is finished. (If you're applying into silence right now, you already suspect he's right.)

So what replaces it? Visibility. Posting what you learn. Forming your own point of view on what you read. Building a public track record long before you need one.

He gets specific about what to build, what to post on LinkedIn as a software engineer, and how he never runs out of things to say. He also breaks down how meetup and conference speaking invitations actually arrive.

Then the technical gut-check. Most engineers using AI tools can't explain the difference between a skill, a sub agent, a hook, a rule, and MCP — or when to reach for which. Shrey can, and he lays out the architecture in plain language.

We close on his 2028 prediction. He doesn't think AI takes your job. He thinks roles merge, everyone carries more scope, and the new jobs created won't line up with the ones that vanish.

Worth your 45 minutes if the job market has gone quiet on you. 🎧

Timestamps:

00:00 Cold Open: How He Got Hired at Microsoft Without Applying

02:10 Hired at Microsoft Without Applying — How Inbound Offers Happen

03:42 Microsoft AI Interview With No LeetCode: What They Test Instead

09:46 Forward-Compatible Software: Building Agents That Survive Model Updates

13:29 How to Get Recruiter Inbound in Tech

20:57 Are Resumes Dead? Why AI Broke Job Applications

23:44 Personal Branding for Engineers: Visibility Before You Need a Job

27:58 What to Post on LinkedIn as a Software Engineer

30:57 How to Get Invited to Speak at Tech Meetups and Conferences

34:08 Vibe Coding Mistakes Most AI Engineers Still Make

36:08 Skill vs Sub Agent vs MCP: AI Tool Architecture Explained

42:27 AI Job Loss 2028 Prediction: Roles Merging, Not Replaced

Guest: Shrey Shah — Senior Software Engineer, AI at Microsoft
https://www.linkedin.com/in/shreyshahh/

Host: Naman Pandey
readysetdopodcast.com

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Thirteen years at Google. Trust and Safety in Hyderabad first, then the Bay Area, then most of the back half inside YouTube — finance, then analytics, then managing YouTube inventory and monetization.

Then Aishwarya Raghavan quit. No job lined up.

Two months later a friend referred her to a company she actually wanted. She didn't get it. That rejection landed right as the layoff headlines were peaking, and that's where this conversation starts.

Most advice about the AI job market in 2026 is built to make you feel behind. Aishwarya's take goes the other way.

She says a lot of postings that say "AI skills required" mean something far more basic than you'd guess. The people who never start are usually the ones who jumped straight to AI agents, decided it was too hard, and quit before level one.

(If that's you, no judgment. It was most of us.)

So she walks through four levels anyone can climb. Level one is small enough to feel silly: getting ChatGPT to stop sounding like a stranger. Custom GPTs come later. Agent orchestration comes after that.

Is that really enough to get hired in AI? Her answer is more specific than yes.

We also get into why she couldn't just move into AI work internally at Google, even with the badge and the tenure. How to read a job description and tell whether a company has actually thought about AI or is checking a box.

And the interview skill she rates above every technical signal. Fair warning — it has more to do with storytelling than with reciting the STAR method at a hiring manager.

Then there's the networking habit she regrets not building while she still had the Google email. Nobody tells you that your network has an expiration date.

She's now a principal product manager at Arrivia, wiring AI into a travel business full of legacy systems. Different problem entirely from YouTube creator monetization, and she's candid about what transferred and what didn't.

If you're a student, or a few years into your career and quietly worried the market already moved past you, start here.

Chapters below. If this helped, subscribe on YouTube and Spotify. 🎧

00:00 - Aishwarya Raghavan on Leaving Google After 13 Years

04:12 - How AI Is Changing Big Tech and Product Management

07:14 - Product Manager Job Search Advice in a Tough Tech Market

10:09 - Product Interview Storytelling: How to Stand Out as a PM

13:24 - Why Product, Engineering, and Strategy Roles Are Blending

16:10 - Best AI Tools and Workflows for Product Managers

19:08 - AI Agents and Agent Orchestration: The Next PM Skill

22:03 - Job Search Lessons After Leaving Google

25:17 - Travel Tech and AI: Modernizing Legacy Product Workflows

30:45 - YouTube Monetization, Creator Tools, and AI Product Strategy

35:59 - Networking Without an Agenda for Big Tech Career Growth

40:23 - Final Advice for PMs Building Rare AI Skills

Should an international student still move to the US for a master's right now?

That's the question sitting in thousands of inboxes and WhatsApp groups this admissions cycle. Not "which school," not "what score." Just: should I go at all?

Naman put it to someone who has watched this play out for over two decades — and who has no reason to sell you the dream.

Professor Benjamin Dunford taught leadership and management at Purdue's Mitch Daniels School of Business, where he was academic director over the full suite of Purdue MBA programs. He also taught in Kellogg's family business executive program, and most recently at the Indian School of Business in Mohali.

His answer on the headwinds international students face in 2026 is more direct than you'd expect from someone inside the system. He names what's real. Then he tells you what actually still holds up.

A big piece of it: work experience. Ben is blunt that it's the biggest differentiator in MBA admissions, and the thing most applicants under-invest in while they optimize everything else.

Which brings us to the 4.0. If you're chasing a perfect GPA, he'd argue you might be playing it safe — picking the courses you'll win instead of the ones that will stretch you. (Yes, this is going to sting a little. Sit with it.)

We also get into why so much leadership advice falls flat. The gap between the real and the ideal. Why change is a choice, not a command. "Compliance theater" — that thing where everyone nods in the meeting and disagrees in the hallway after. And how to influence people when you have zero authority over them.

Ben's research on pairing accountability with forgiveness comes up too, including why CEOs get visibly uncomfortable the moment you say the word forgiveness in a boardroom.

Then there's his work at ISB Mohali, teaching 20-something CEOs who inherited Indian family businesses. How do you honor your parents and still change the thing they built? He's watched a lot of people try. 🇮🇳

We close on where business education is headed as certificates and badges start pressuring traditional degrees, what AI is doing to how leadership gets taught, and the difference between advising and consulting.

If you're a student, a recent grad, or early in your career and weighing a move abroad, this one is required listening.

Timestamps:

00:00:00 - Professor Dunford on Purdue MBA Programs and Executive Leadership Education

00:03:59 - What Separates Elite MBA Students From Average Applicants?

00:06:12 - Perfectionism vs Excellence in Business School

00:07:45 - Should International Students Still Pursue a US Master's Degree?

00:11:59 - Why Students Should Stop Chasing a 4.0 GPA

00:17:09 - How AI Is Changing Leadership Education and Business Schools

00:20:02 - Will Certificates and Badges Replace Traditional Degrees?

00:23:42 - Best Advice for Early Career Leaders: Keep Going and Iterate

00:25:44 - Why Leadership Advice Feels Too Theoretical

00:28:40 - Change Is a Choice, Not a Command

00:29:38 - How to Influence Without Authority at Work

00:30:20 - Why Accountability Needs Forgiveness

00:34:26 - Teaching at ISB and Working With Young Family Business Leaders in India

00:38:53 - How Family Businesses Can Honor Tradition Through Innovation

00:43:32 - Consulting, Advising, and Why Human Problems Still Need Human Solutions

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