After getting laid off from a corporate job, I started bartending — and it changed my approach to office work

Tech Insider : Business
Julie Levin
Julie Levin

Courtesy of Julie Levin

Big Tech turned me down. At Walmart, I found a career opportunity, work-life balance, and good food.

Tech Insider : Business, Environment
Kanish Shah
Kanish Shah

Kanish Shah

I've made 5 career pivots across music, retail, and startups. I reset my goals every few years — but 1 thing never changes.

Tech Insider : Business, Environment, Technology
Ryan Edwards with a screen showing audoo's logo
Ryan Edwards, who was previously in a band, founded Audoo.

Courtesy of Ryan Edwards

I won the Microsoft Excel World Championship. Here's what every office worker should know about Excel.

Tech Insider : Business
Diarmuid Early is pictured at the Microsoft Excel World Championship.
Diarmuid Early won the 2025 Microsoft Excel World Championship. He has some Excel pointers for today's office workers.

Diarmuid Ealry

My family is stranded in Puerto Rico because our flights were canceled. It's having an impact on our finances.

Tech Insider : Travel, Business
Passengers wait at Luis Munoz Marin International Airport as all flights are cancelled following US military action in Venezuela,
A family of four is stranded in Puerto Rico after their Frontier flight back to Colorado was canceled due to Nicolas Maduro's capture by the US.

MIGUEL J. RODRIGUEZ CARRILLO/Getty Images

My daughters attended Harvard, Yale, and Stanford; they then became the CEOs of YouTube and 23andMe. Letting them fail helped them grow into leaders.

Tech Insider : Business
side by side of Anne Wojcicki and Susan Wojcicki
Anne Wojcicki and Susan Wojcicki

Andrew Harnik/ Getty Images; Eric Gaillard/ Reuters

I was told to cover my shoulders at my first finance job. Now I share tips about how to dress at work.

Tech Insider : Business, Environment, Style
Arielle Sotiropoulos
Arielle Sotiropoulos said she tktk.

Arielle Sotiropoulos

I'm a Google engineer who thought I wasn't qualified for an AI role. One thing helped me transform my career.

Tech Insider : Business
Emrick Donadei looking at computer
Emrick Donadei said doing a hackathon helped him turn his career around.

Emrick Donadei

I went from factory worker to software engineer after 3D-printing a fix that impressed my boss. Here's my top tip for getting promoted.

Tech Insider : Business, Technology
Justin Flint holding a drill on the factory floor
Justin Flint started on the factory floor. He is now a Software Engineer II.

Courtesy of Justin Flint

When I started my company, my wife and I were in our 20s. Ten years later, we've made over $250 million in sales.

Tech Insider : Business, Travel
Tate Stock and wife Hannah
Tate Stock started his company with his now-wife, Hannah.

Courtesy of Tate Stock

Subscribe to as-told-to