Nikhil Durgani expected Google to hire engineers. So when the company arrived at St. Xavier’s College in Kolkata looking for recruits, its presence seemed out of place.
Durgani was studying for a Bachelor of Business Administration degree. His college peers came from commerce, arts and journalism backgrounds rather than computer science.
Google, however, was looking for something other than programmers.
Its advertising operation needed people who could work with businesses using the company's ad products. That requirement gave Durgani an entry point into one of the world's biggest technology companies and started a career that would last 15 and a half years.
He joined as an Account Optimizer in Hyderabad, later worked in the United States and moved to Singapore, eventually becoming Head of Paid Media, Ads Marketing APAC.
Durgani has now retired from Google at 35.
‘Why Is Google Really Here?’
Looking back on his recruitment during an appearance on the Borderless podcast, Durgani recalled the uncertainty among students when Google came to campus in 2010.
“The impression back then was like, why is Google really coming to our university?”
The question reflected how technology careers were commonly understood at the time. Google was associated with software, while the students it was interviewing were largely studying non-engineering subjects.
“We don't have any engineers; we are all studying commerce, arts, and journalism here. So why is Google really here?” Durgani recalled.
The answer was advertising.
Google needed employees for the commercial operation surrounding Google AdWords, which has since been renamed Google Ads. The jobs involved working with advertisers and helping them improve the performance of their campaigns.
Durgani was one of three students from St. Xavier’s selected by the company that year.
His First Google Job Was About Advertising, Not Coding
The distinction between the company Durgani joined and the job he was hired to perform is central to understanding his story.
He did not secure a software-engineering position without studying computer science. He entered Google through a business-facing advertising role.
As an Account Optimizer, his work involved helping advertisers improve campaigns and results.
That made a business education relevant rather than incidental.
The episode also exposes a common misconception about careers at large technology companies. Engineering may sit at the heart of their products, but those companies also employ people in sales, advertising, marketing, finance, operations, communications, policy and other functions.
Durgani found one of those routes straight out of college.
He Planned to Stay for Two Years
Google was not initially supposed to consume most of Durgani's professional life.
His plan was to spend roughly two years at the company and then leave to pursue a master's degree.
The plan changed as opportunities inside Google expanded.
About three years into his career, Durgani encountered an internal rotation programme that allowed employees to spend time working in different roles. Some opportunities arose when staff members went on maternity or paternity leave, temporarily creating openings that colleagues could explore.
For Durgani, the programme offered a low-risk way to test a different career direction.
“If you were considering a career in sales or a different part of the team, this was a good way for you to spend a few months in the role and then decide if you wanted to continue doing that or not.”
Instead of leaving Google for postgraduate study, he continued building experience within the company.
From Hyderabad to Michigan
Durgani began his career at Google's Hyderabad office.
After approximately three and a half years there, an opportunity took him to Ann Arbor, Michigan.
The move represented more than a change of location. By then, his career was already developing beyond the entry-level position he had accepted after completing his BBA.
His time in the United States then opened another possibility.
While working in Ann Arbor, Durgani secured a position with Google in Singapore. He moved there in 2014 and has lived in the country for the past 12 years.
What had begun as a campus placement in Kolkata had turned into an international career spanning India, the United States and Southeast Asia.
Singapore Became the Longest Chapter
Durgani's move to Singapore proved much more permanent than his earlier career plans.
He continued progressing within Google's advertising and marketing organisation, eventually reaching the position of Head of Paid Media, Ads Marketing APAC.
By the time he left, he had spent 15.5 years with the company.
The length of that tenure is striking partly because Durgani had once expected to stay for only two.
His experience also shows how career trajectories can become less dependent on an original university specialisation as professional experience accumulates. His BBA helped provide an entry route into an appropriate business function; subsequent roles were built on the experience and opportunities that followed.
Retiring at 35
Durgani's next decision was as unconventional as the way his Google career began.
At 35, he retired from the company.
He is married, has two children and has spoken about wanting to devote more time to his family after spending virtually his entire professional career at Google.
There is an important limit to what can be concluded about that decision.
Public reporting on Durgani's story does not provide a detailed account of his finances, investments, savings or compensation. His retirement at 35 therefore should not automatically be presented as the result of a particular investing strategy or level of wealth.
What is established is that he chose to leave Google after a 15.5-year career and has described family time as part of the next stage of his life.
What His Story Says About Getting Into Big Tech
The most useful part of Durgani's experience may be the part that sounds least sensational.
He did not prove that anyone can walk into any Google job without the relevant qualifications.
He found a job for which his background made sense.
Technology companies build software, but they are also large businesses. Their products need to be marketed and sold. Advertisers and customers need support. Finance teams manage money, policy teams navigate regulation, and operations teams keep organisations functioning.
For students without engineering degrees, that creates career paths that can be overlooked when “working in tech” is treated as synonymous with writing software.
Durgani's experience also suggests that the first role does not necessarily determine the boundaries of an entire career. Internal mobility took him into different responsibilities and eventually across countries.
The Opportunity Was Different From What He Expected
When Google recruiters appeared at St. Xavier’s in 2010, Durgani's confusion came from a reasonable assumption: a technology company would naturally go looking for technology graduates.
Google was looking for business talent as well.
Durgani entered through advertising, moved from Hyderabad to Michigan and then Singapore, and eventually took responsibility for paid media and ads marketing across the Asia-Pacific region.
The master's degree he expected to pursue after two years never became the next step.
Instead, the unexpected campus opportunity became a 15.5-year career.
His experience offers a more practical lesson than the idea that qualifications do not matter. They do. What also matters is understanding which qualifications a particular job actually requires.
