Zaheed Sabur’s success at Google

Zaheed Sabur is the first Bangladeshi principal engineer at one of the world's leading technology companies, Google. He harboured an interest in electrical engineering from a young age, drawing circuit diagrams and building electronic circuits with the help of his mother from the age of 10. He graduated from AIUB as a computer engineering major, with a 4.0 CGPA, making a record in the university's history. Taking part in programming contests at AIUB helped him develop his analytical and problem-solving skills. He was spontaneously interviewed by representatives from Google at the final round of one such programming competition. A month later, he received a job offer from the company. "My initial days at Google were quite nerve wrecking.  It was important for me to get comfortable in my surroundings and to not lose faith in my abilities," says Zaheed. His determination and hard work paid off, as with time, he climbed up the ranks at Google. He started his career as a software engineer at Google's backend system development project in 2007 at India's Bangalore office, and six months later, in their office in California. In May 2019, he was promoted as the principal engineer and also a director at Google's Zurich office.  His work generally involves coming up with and implementing new and transformative ideas, hiring people, building teams and creating an environment where everyone is motivated to work towards shared goals.   

Zaheed was also the engineering leader for the very first Google Assistant Smart Displays that were released last year. The product won over 20 awards at CES and had many positive reviews in the media.  In an attempt to build something new and valuable for users, he started working on the Next Generation Assistant, which was announced this year.  

Zaheed believes that there are no shortcuts to success. His plans ahead include spending time on a weekly basis to share more of his experiences and the lessons he has learned at Google with young people, as he is already receiving many messages and questions from them on social media.