By Jacob Zinkula
Publication Date: 2026-01-16 09:35:00
Earlier this year, Joslyn Orgill faced a career-defining choice: keep her six-figure data engineer job at Google — or leave it behind to pursue a path she hoped would make her happier in the long run.
There were many reasons it made sense to stay put. For one, Orgill had long viewed Google as the top destination for aspiring technical engineers — and she’d worked hard to get there. She spent two summers interning at ExxonMobil and Adobe, and in 2021 earned both a bachelor’s and a master’s degree in information systems from Brigham Young University through an integrated program.
From a financial standpoint, she was doing well — and she and her husband had bought a home in Austin less than two years earlier, a decision that made staying at Google feel like the practical choice.
However, the reasons to leave began to build — she was concerned about job security in a tech career, felt somewhat invisible at a large company, and had a growing desire to…
