Nothing in my career went according to plan. Looking back, that was the best thing that could have happened. In college, I was convinced that I was going to be a lawyer. But my passion for building led to my first big pivot: packing up my life and moving across the country to join Google. Early Google taught me what big swings look like – a culture of unbridled ambition where anything felt possible. But the itch to build from zero to one took over, and after several years, I left to start my own company. Running a startup was a masterclass in ambiguity. When you build from scratch, you quickly realize the 5-year career blueprint is an illusion – the plan changes every day based on what users actually need. That mindset carried over to Instagram, where the focus shifted from building from zero, to hyper-growth and scaling experiences globally. Returning to Google brought everything full circle. It reaffirmed for me that who you build with matters just as much as what you build. If you’re navigating your own path, don’t feel pressured to follow a rigid plan. Follow your curiosity, tackle hard problems, and let the journey unfold opportunistically. Letting go of the plan was the best career move I ever made.