Story So Far
My Journey
Melbourne, Australia | March 2024 to Present
The Arrival
Landing in a new country with nothing but a dream and $1,500.
March 2024Landed in Melbourne with $1,500
No connections. No friends. Alone in a new country.
I stepped off the plane at Melbourne Airport with one suitcase, a student visa, and $1,500 to my name. No family in Australia, no friends, no safety net. Just a Masters admission at Deakin University and the belief that I could figure it out. The first night in my shared room, I remember staring at the ceiling thinking, "What have I done?"
Survival Mode
The months where quitting felt easier than continuing.
May 2024Savings Gone, Survival Mode
Worked multiple part-time jobs just to eat.
Two months in. The $1,500 was gone. Rent, groceries, transport... Melbourne doesn't wait. I picked up every job I could: warehouse shifts, retail, food delivery. Some weeks I worked 30+ hours on top of full-time classes. I'd code at 2 AM after finishing a shift, teaching myself the AI stack that would eventually change everything.
Late 2024Failed a Subject
Repeated it while working two jobs.
The balancing act caught up. I failed a university subject, something I'd never experienced before. It hit hard. Not just academically, but financially, because repeating it meant more tuition, more time, more pressure. But quitting wasn't an option. I retook it, passed, and learned that failure is just data.
February 2025Visa Pressure
Find a 500hr internship or extend visa.
My course required a 500-hour industry placement to graduate. No placement = no degree = visa complications. The clock was ticking. Every company I approached said the same thing: "We don't sponsor." I applied to 50+ places. The rejections piled up. But I kept refining my approach, my resume, my pitch.
The Breakthrough
When preparation met opportunity.
March 20252nd Place at Global AI Hackathon
CEOs started following me. First real break.
I entered the Global AI Hackathon in Melbourne. 50+ teams, industry veterans, funded startups. I built a real-world AI agent solution in 48 hours and placed 2nd. Suddenly, people noticed. CEOs followed me on LinkedIn. Recruiters reached out. For the first time in Australia, I felt like I belonged in the room.
March - May 202520+ Rejections
Refined resume & LinkedIn for every application.
The hackathon opened doors, but not all of them. I applied to 20+ roles and got rejected from every single one. "Overqualified." "Not enough local experience." "We went with another candidate." Each rejection stung, but each one also taught me something. I rewrote my resume 8 times. I optimized my LinkedIn from scratch. I learned the Australian hiring system inside out.
June 2025Cold DM → Hired Same Day
Reached out to a CEO on LinkedIn. Interview same day.
I saw a post from the CEO of Sophiie.ai about voice AI agents. I knew I could do that because I'd been building conversational AI for years. I sent a cold DM with my portfolio and hackathon results. He responded in 2 hours. Interview that afternoon. Offer by evening. Sometimes the right opportunity only needs one message.
Exponential Growth
From hired to thriving, proving it wasn't luck.
September 2025Masters Done. Full-time AI Engineer.
AI Engineer at Sophiie.ai. Distinction.
Graduated with Distinction from Deakin University while working as an AI Engineer at Sophiie.ai. The same system that nearly broke me, the visa pressure, financial stress, and academic demands, had forged me into someone who could handle anything. Full-time role secured. 500-hour placement completed. Every box checked.
2024 - 2025Paid 50% of My Own Fees
A$30K from part-time jobs. Every dollar earned.
While most international students rely fully on family support, I paid A$30,000 of my own tuition, roughly 50% of the total cost, from money earned through part-time jobs in Melbourne. Warehouse shifts, weekend work, late-night deliveries. Every dollar was earned, not given.
Giving Back
Using the platform to help others walk the same path.
December 2025Parents' First Trip Abroad
Flew them to Malaysia with hard-earned money.
My parents had never left India. With the money I saved from my engineering job, I flew them to Malaysia, their first international trip ever. Watching my mom at the airport, passport in hand, was the moment everything clicked. This is why I came to Australia. Not just for me.
Exponential Growth
From hired to thriving, proving it wasn't luck.
December 202540% Raise in 4 Months
Helped scale the product 10x.
In just 4 months at Sophiie.ai, I helped scale the voice AI platform from handling hundreds of calls to 9,800+ calls per week across 800+ customers. Built the Agent-to-Agent testing suite that the LiveKit team recognized. The CEO gave me a 40% raise, which was unheard of for someone who'd been in the country for just over a year.
Giving Back
Using the platform to help others walk the same path.
January 202620K+ Followers in 2 Months
5M+ reach. Started @ketanai.dev to help others.
I started sharing my journey on Instagram, the real, unfiltered version. The failures, the part-time jobs, the rejections. It resonated. In 2 months, @ketanai.dev hit 20K+ followers with 5M+ reach. Now I use this platform to help other international students navigate the same path I walked. Because nobody should have to figure it out alone.
20+ rejections. Failed a subject. Broke.
Then I figured out the system.
Every rejection taught me something. Every failure sharpened my approach. Now I help other international students skip the painful trial-and-error and land their dream jobs faster.
Get the Career Package for A$39.99The same system that got me hired. Now it's yours.