A former Google employee who retired at 35 has opened up about his journey in a podcast. Nikhil Durgani spent a little over 15 years working for Google — first in India and then in Singapore. Speaking to the host of the Borderless podcast, he recalled how he bagged a job at Google through campus placement despite not being a computer science student.
Getting a job at Google
Nikhil Durgani explained that he was born and raised in India. It was while studying in college in Kolkata that he was recruited by Google.
“I've been living in Singapore now for just over 12 years. Started my journey in India; I was born and brought up there. Moved cities when I was younger, but eventually completed my graduation in Kolkata at St. Xavier's,” Nikhil explained.
Nikhil was in the last year of his Bachelor's in Business Administration (BBA) programme when Google came to his college for recruitment. This was in the year 2010.
Speaking on the Borderless podcast, Nikhil recalled being surprised to see Google recruiting non-science and non-engineering students.
“The impression back then was like, why is Google really coming to our university? We don't have any engineers; we are all studying commerce, arts, and journalism here. So why is Google really here?” he remembered.
Non-tech job at Google
Nikhil soon realised that Google also hires students who do not have a background in science and engineering.
{{/usCountry}}Nikhil soon realised that Google also hires students who do not have a background in science and engineering.
{{/usCountry}}“That's when we actually came across this term called Google AdWords, or AdWords,” he revealed.
He was one of the three people from St Xavier’s Kolkata that year to bag a job at Google. He started his career as an Account Optimizer with Google — a position where employees help advertisers improve their Google Ads campaigns to get better results.
Nikhil had planned to spend just a couple of years at Google before quitting to pursue his master’s degree, but fate had other plans. At Google, he climbed through the ranks for 15.5 years, before eventually retiring as Head of Paid Media, Ads Marketing APAC in 2026.
The former Google employee revealed that he started his career working out of the Google campus in Hyderabad.
(Also read: Indian techie in US quits 'dream' job at Google after 4 years, says 'I'm the most alive I've ever been')
From Hyderabad to Singapore
“All three of us started in Google in Hyderabad, and three years later I had an opportunity to do a rotation program. This is something Google used to encourage its employees to do, especially if someone was taking their maternity leave or paternity leave; they would open it up as a global rotation opportunity.
“If you were considering a career in sales or a different part of the team, this was a good way for you to spend a few months in the role and then decide if you wanted to continue doing that or not,” he explained.
After three and a half years in Hyderabad, Nikhil got the opportunity to go to Ann Arbor, Michigan, US, where Google has a large campus. It was while at Ann Arbor that he landed a job at Google Singapore. And the rest, as they say, is history.
“2014 is the time I arrived in Singapore. I've spent all of the last 12 years in Singapore,” he said.
Today, Nikhil has spent 12 years living in Singapore. He is married with two kids and looking forward to spending more time with them after taking an early retirement.