For many, working at Google is a dream. But for Sara Wilczynska, the dream job no longer felt right. After nearly 8 years at the tech giant, she quit without another job lined up. Today, she runs her own art studio, even though she has never formally studied painting, as per a report by Business Insider.
In an as-told-to essay published in Business Insider, Sara shared how she walked away from a successful career in tech despite enjoying good pay, promotions and generous workplace benefits.
From Poland to Google
Sara shared that she was born in Warsaw in the 1980s, when Poland was still under communist rule. “I remember witnessing the shift into capitalism,” she said.
She said that she earned a master’s degree in computer science from the University of Warsaw, and after internships in Barcelona and studies in Edinburgh, she moved to London at the age of 25 to work as a software engineer at an investment bank.
Although the job was stable, Sara said that she often questioned whether it was the life she truly wanted.
Sara shared that she joined Google in Zurich in 2015 and later moved to New York, where she worked on the news section of Google Search. “On paper, my career was everything I had worked toward,” she said.
She described the company as flexible and supportive, with talented colleagues, generous benefits and the freedom to choose projects and work locations. Her routine included coding, meetings, yoga classes, gym sessions, gourmet birthday meals and subsidised massages. “There was also stability – a good paycheck and stock grant options,” she said.
However, after receiving 2 promotions, she found herself spending more time in meetings and less time writing code. “I started to feel disconnected. A growing sense that the pace wasn’t sustainable for me. That constant stimulation – screens, deadlines, notifications, expectations – was pulling me away from myself,” she wrote.
Realising something was missing
Sara shared that during the pandemic, she and her partner moved to San Diego. She said that the move forced her to slow down. “I started noticing small things again. The scent of jasmine on a warm evening. The simple joy of eating a fish taco. That realization made it impossible to ignore the misalignment in my work,” she recalled.
Before resigning, she said that she tried several ways to make her work feel more meaningful. She trained in sound healing, led diversity and inclusion initiatives at Google, switched projects and even reduced her working hours. But she said that none of it fully addressed the core feeling. “At some point, I understood that a job can tick every box – it can look perfect on paper – but if something deeper is missing, it’s not enough,” she wrote.
(Also Read: Indian-origin woman, 23, quits Google to pursue podcast and AI startup: ‘Financial security can also be a trap’)
The trip that changed her career
Sara said that it was at the end of 2022 that she decided to leave Google without another job lined up. She shared that her partner too had lost her own job the previous year, so together they decided to rent out their apartment in San Diego and spend a year travelling.
“We spent most of 2023 in Southeast Asia, with shorter trips to Australia and New Zealand. At first, we moved quickly, but eventually we slowed down. We spent six months in Koh Tao, a small island in Thailand,” she shared.
“Life there felt simple. My partner was working as a dive master, and I had something I hadn’t experienced in years: unstructured time,” she added.
Eventually, Sara said that she picked up watercolours for the first time. “I had no formal training. I just felt drawn to it,” she wrote.
She shared that she began taking online classes and painting everyday scenes from the island. And after sharing her artwork in local Facebook groups, people started buying her paintings. “They would tell me, ‘This captures my memory of this place perfectly,'” she wrote.
(Also Read: ‘I never had a 10-year roadmap’: Google employee shares journey from Jamshedpur to tech giant)
Starting over as an artist
After returning from her travels, Sara said that she decided to pursue art full-time and launched her San Diego-based studio, Swil Arts. Today, she revealed that she creates original watercolour illustrations and sells prints, homeware and custom artwork through her business.
She admitted that she earns less than she did at Google, but said that she no longer measures success by salary.
“Success is completely different now. It’s not about productivity or output. It’s about impact. If one person pauses because of my work – if they feel something, remember something – that’s enough,” she said.
