This essay as told is based on a conversation with Hamza Mostafa, 21, who lives in San Francisco. The following has been edited for length and clarity. Growing up, I wanted to work in the medical field like most of my family did. But after taking a computer science class in high school, my ambitions
This essay as told is based on a conversation with Hamza Mostafa, 21, who lives in San Francisco. The following has been edited for length and clarity.
Growing up, I wanted to work in the medical field like most of my family did. But after taking a computer science class in high school, my ambitions changed.
While studying software engineering at university in Canada, I set out to get to San Francisco, where everyone who works in this field dreams of getting a job. Me, If you want to succeed in technology and learn from the best, you have to be in Silicon Valley.
I finally landed an internship at OpenAI in San Francisco and moved there full-time in October 2025.
like me‘As I continue to explore what my future in tech could look like, San Francisco feels like the place I need to be.
Once I arrived in San Francisco, my network grew quickly
When I started my studies, I wanted to work at a big tech company after graduating. My plans changed after I did co-ops, where you alternate between studying and working at different companies. I did my first internship at a very early stage startup in Canada, and I realized that I really liked the startup environment. You have a lot of ownership, you learn a lot in small teams and you get involved in the work. My ambition now is to work in a startup or start my own.
Mostafa recommends going to events in San Francisco to look for work or meet people. Courtesy of Hamza Mostafa
I did two more internships in Canada. During the latter, I visited the San Francisco office on a few occasions, where I intended to attend tech events and meet with engineers from different companies. A connection I made led me to my next internship at a company in San Mateo, about 20 miles south of San Francisco. My circle of friends in the city grew very quickly. I highly recommend going to events in San Francisco to find work or meet interesting people.
I applied for an internship at OpenAI, where I learned how to work faster.
As of late 2024, he was still traveling between universities in Canada and San Francisco, when some people I knew in the city told me that OpenAI was running an internship program. Their information helped me apply from the beginning and I was invited for an interview. I think it also helped that I had done a lot of internships before and gained some experience in machine learning. I cold emailed OpenAI recruiters to introduce myself and get their attention, which I think never hurts.
The two rounds of OpenAI technical interviews were the hardest I’ve ever done, because they seemed to really care about speed. In one 45-minute block, I had to complete a coding assignment while talking about my design process.
When OpenAI called me to tell me I had been accepted for a three-month internship, I was elated. From May to August 2025, it was incredible to work from their Mission Bay office and for such a prominent brand.
In just one conversation I realized that the people around me were very intelligent and capable. They were also humble. I learned a lot from the other engineers, like how to boost my own use of AI agents for tasks like coding. Now I move much faster than before practice.
Even though it was the largest company I had ever worked for, it seemed like a startup. I immediately dove into things I really liked. New employees are asked to merge or push something to the code base on their first day, so I was assigned a small change.
I didn’t get to interact much with OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, but I got the feeling that he really cared about us interns, because when he talked to us, he asked us questions about how we were finding the internship and if we felt well supported.
I want to stay in San Francisco even if it’s expensive.
I signed a return offer with OpenAI for fall 2026, but after having visa issues, I pivoted and for now, I’m focusing on my own agent AI projects. There is a huge window of opportunity to build thanks to AI, so I am open to the possibilities, especially since I am young and don’t have child-like responsibilities.
I moved to San Francisco full time in October. Getting the internship at OpenAI made me feel like my decision to be here was worth it. It connected me to really smart people on the frontier of AI, and while it is expensive and competitive, the density of talented people and opportunities makes the trade-off worth it to me.
Canada has great universities and is generally more affordable, but staying there would have limited me. There are fewer technological opportunities, particularly in cutting-edge AI.
San Francisco seems like the right place to me.
Do you have a story to share about deciding the right place to grow your career? Contact this journalist at ccheong@businessinsider.com