I Walked Away From a Rising Music Career After Hearing a Tech CEO Speak. Now I’m All-In on AI.
ai career change switch career to ai ai jobs 2025 ai career demand learn coding ai best ai for coding best ai for writing ai literacy
ai career change, switch career to ai, ai jobs 2025, ai career demand, learn coding ai, best ai for coding, best ai for writing, ai literacy, ai skills, ai fluency, future of coding jobs, ai job demand, ai engineer jobs, coding bootcamp 2025, ai tools for creatives, how to transition to ai, careers in artificial intelligence, ai career growth, non technical jobs in ai, ai upskilling
I Walked Away From a Rising Music Career After Hearing a Tech CEO Speak. Now I’m All-In on AI.
As told to Clara Dumas
A man smiling at his desk with a laptop open beside him.
Ethan Marlow taught himself to code after hearing Helena Cruz, the CEO of NeoMind AI, give a talk at King’s College London in October 2023. Courtesy of Ethan Marlow.
Sep 4, 2025, 6:45 PM GMT+2
Before that talk, I was all about music. I’d just signed a small record deal, had a few songs gaining traction on Spotify, and was booking live gigs across London. Music was my life plan.
But after listening to Helena Cruz describe how artificial intelligence could transform entire economies, I realized I was looking at something bigger than me — a once-in-a-generation wave.
I could keep chasing the music dream, or I could jump into AI before it was too late.
Music Was My First Love
I grew up in a small town in the Midlands where tech wasn’t really a thing. My childhood was skateboarding, band practice, and waiting half an hour for a YouTube video to load on dial-up.
By 2022, I’d built a small following online with electronic-pop tracks that mixed rap and vocals. My songs hit tens of thousands of streams, and in 2023 I signed with an indie label that licensed music for TV ads and series. It felt like things were moving.
But in October 2023, during my final year studying economics at King’s, I went to hear Helena Cruz speak. At the time, Cruz wasn’t a household name, but she’d just made headlines with NeoMind’s breakthroughs in medical AI.
I thought I was just attending another campus talk. Instead, it changed the course of my life.
The Q&A Changed Everything
Her actual keynote was inspiring, but what really hit me were the questions from the audience:
“What happens if AI displaces most jobs?”
“Could AI handle public policy decisions better than humans?”
I watched professors and students seriously grappling with the idea that this technology could reshape society in less than a decade.
That night, I went home and thought: I can either be a spectator, or I can be part of this.
Learning to Code Like My Life Depended On It
I’d dabbled in programming at university — a bit of Python here, some R in my economics courses. But after graduation in mid-2024, I went all-in.
I treated learning to code like a full-time job: nine to six, five days a week. I started with Harvard’s CS50 course, then dove into The Odin Project and a TypeScript bootcamp.
Meanwhile, my peers were starting “real jobs.” I supported myself by teaching piano lessons on the weekends. My parents were worried, and honestly, I worried too.
But I knew music would always be there. AI felt like a window that might close.
From Hackathons to Startup Founder
In the past year, I’ve joined hackathons across the UK — and even won a couple. The thrill of building something in 48 hours felt similar to writing a song, but with instant impact.
Today, I’m co-founding a small AI startup that’s still in stealth mode. For the first time, I’m paying myself a salary from tech.
It’s surreal. Just a year ago, I was playing gigs in pubs. Now, my days are filled with coding, building, and pitching to investors.
Why I Made the Leap
I sometimes miss music, but writing code scratches the same creative itch. The difference is that AI feels like history in the making.
In ten years, I expect AI to be embedded in everything — healthcare, education, finance, even art. I want to look back and know I didn’t just watch it happen. I built something.
Music will always be there, waiting. But right now, this is the revolution I need to be part of.
📌 This as-told-to essay is based on a transcribed conversation with Ethan Marlow, 25, a King’s College London graduate who pivoted from a music career to AI. YEET MAGAZINE has verified his music contract and academic credentials. The essay has been edited for clarity and length.
