Journey To Success - MIT Alumn's Who Changed Careers

Thursday - October 26 2023, 13:29 UTC - 1 year ago

Andy Bloch followed a unique career path from electrical engineering to poker after being fired from a startup, and Ann Guo, Praneeth Namburi, and Miray Omurtak have all made major career changes of their own. These career switches have become more and more common, with US Labor Department statistics suggesting that most people will make changes a dozen times during their working lives. With new technology tools available, it's possible to make a living in a niche market.

When Andy Bloch ’91, SM ’92, graduated from MIT, he fully intended to use his degrees in electrical engineering. He got a job with a New York City startup, working on 3D stereo displays and other projects, until one day he got in an argument with his boss and was fired. It was an early career setback with a silver lining. It gave him time to take the LSAT, and he scored high enough to later qualify for Harvard Law School .

More important, it gave him a chance to master three-card stud at the Foxwoods Resort Casino in Connecticut, his home state. He figured out a way to beat the house consistently, attracting the interest of J.P. Massar ’78, SM ’79, one of the founders of the acclaimed MIT blackjack team, known for its ability to use card-counting to beat the odds at casinos in Atlantic City, in Las Vegas, and finally around the world .

Bloch became a champion poker player, completing his degree from Harvard Law along the way. He has won more than 15 professional poker tournaments, earned a gold bracelet at the World Series of Poker, and garnered more than $5 million in winnings. Though Bloch’s pivot from his original academic pathway was especially dramatic, it’s not unusual to see MIT graduates shifting from one career to another .

Nor are they alone. Ann Guo ’98, MEng ’99, a career coach who switched her own path after starting out in computer science, says more and more college graduates are reimagining their futures. In fact, US Labor Department statistics suggest that most people will change jobs—and in some cases, careers—more than a dozen times during their working lives, often embracing self-­employment to find the right fit .

"I definitely see more career changes and people carving out niches for themselves," Guo says. "With all the technology tools you can leverage, you can make a thriving one-person business, whether it’s creating a product or a service that serves a smaller niche." Here’s a look at four more alumni who, like Bloch, have made major career changes. Praneeth Namburi, PhD ’16 From neuroscience to biophysics of movement Twelve years ago, Praneeth Namburi made a detour in what turned out to be the right direction .

Then a neuroscience grad student about to join the lab of Kay Tye ’03, he was walking through the Stratton Student Center when he heard music and voices coming from the Sala de Puerto Rico. He stepped inside to investigate and found himself in the middle of a ballroom dance class, where he was immediately mistaken for a dance student. The accidental encounter might have ended right there, but Namburi stayed .

And then he went back. And then he went back again. In the MIT.nano Immersion Lab, Praneeth Namburi, PhD ’16, places a wireless muscle activity sensor on dancer Kaelyn Dunnell ’25 for the Archive of Dance project studying expressive movements across cultures. KEN RICHARDSON Today, he is considered an advanced dancer. He routinely delivered showstopping performances in competitions with his most recent dance partner, Miray Omurtak, who just wrapped up a pre­doctoral research fellowship in economics at MIT .

And Namburi, who was lead author on two major papers showing how tai chi and ballroom dancing can help Parkinson’s patients, has come full circle—heir to two complementary fields through one unexpected connection.