Three AI Programs, One Career Shift: Review of How a Civil Engineer Transitioned to an AI Leader

Sarika Hussain graduated with a Bachelor of Engineering in Civil Engineering from Nagpur University in 2000. For her 2 decades, she built a solid career in quality management and process consulting, eventually reaching the role of Quality Manager- I. Life was busy but largely predictable.

Then the COVID-19 pandemic made Sarika question what she had not stopped asking in a long time: What am I actually capable of?

Her answer, it turns out, was a lot more than she had imagined.

The Confidence Breakthrough That Led Her Toward AI Learning 

During the lockdown, Sarika decided to take the ASQ Certified Six Sigma Black Belt (CSSBB) exam, one of the most rigorous certifications in quality and process management. She cleared it.

That result did more than add a credential to her profile. It proved to her, in concrete terms, that her instinct to push harder was right. And it opened a question that she did not yet have the answer to: What should that next push look like?

AI was starting to show up everywhere in business conversations at that time, such as in meetings and strategy discussions. Sarika noticed that she could follow the conversation, but she could not yet lead it. For someone in a leadership role who was expected to evaluate AI-driven solutions with confidence, that gap mattered.

She also knew that her background in engineering, mathematics, and statistics was nothing. It was, in fact, a reasonable foundation to build on.

A conversation with Great Learning counselor Ashraf helped her connect the dots. He showed her how AI could complement her quality and process expertise rather than sit apart from it. That conversation pointed her toward her first program.

Two Programs That Built the Foundation

In December 2020, Sarika enrolled in the Post Graduate Program in Artificial Intelligence for Leaders from the McCombs School of Business at The University of Texas at Austin, offered through Great Learning. She completed it in March 2021, scoring 90%.

The program gave her exactly what she needed at that point. The curriculum was structured around the business applications of AI, which aligned with where she was coming from.

It showed her that AI was not exclusively a technical subject reserved for software engineers. It was a leadership tool for strategizing and decision-making. And people like her, with domain expertise and decision-making experience, had every reason to build that expertise.

With that foundation in place, she kept going. Between March and July 2022, she completed a second program: the Al and Data Science: Leveraging Responsible Al, Data and Statistics for Practical Impact program (previously called the Data Science and Machine Learning: Making Data Driven Decisions) from MIT Institute for Data, Systems, and Society (MIT-IDSS) through Great Learning. This one went deeper into the technical side, covering predictive analytics, recommendation systems, and data science foundations using Python.

By this point, Sarika was not just learning. She was applying. She had launched her YouTube channel 'sArIka speaks’, where her goal was to simplify AI concepts and make them accessible to people who do not come from technical backgrounds. Speaking invitations started coming in. The channel was growing. Something that had started as a personal upskilling initiative started getting public attention.

International Women's Day 2023: The NBC News Interview

In March 2023, on International Women's Day, Sarika was invited for an expert interview with NBC News, Washington, to speak about bias in AI systems and how to address it.

The conversation centered on how AI inherits biases from the data it is trained on and what needs to change to build AI more equitably. It was a meaningful platform for someone who had spent years thinking about quality, process integrity, and what it means to build systems that work fairly.

By that point, she had also delivered over 35 speaker sessions at institutions including KDKCE, the Indian Air Force, and NASSCOM. She had attended global AI conferences, including CES Las Vegas.

The Third Program: Enrolling in the Doctorate

After completing the AI for Leaders program and the Data Science and Machine Learning program, Sarika decides to go deeper into AI and ML. In 2025, she enrolled in the Doctor of Business Administration in Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning from Walsh College, which is offered fully online through Great Learning.

She is currently pursuing the program, which is designed to provide the depth and academic rigor needed to match the ambitions she has developed through her previous years of learning and application.

What It Took to Get Through It?

Sarika does not present this as an easy path. Balancing a demanding leadership role with coursework and personal commitments required real discipline and time management. Coming from a non-CS background, there were moments of doubt.

What kept her going was the belief that this was a long-term investment, and the growing evidence that the investment was paying off. As she put it, the momentum built as she began to see the applications of her learning in the real world.

Her message to anyone sitting with the same uncertainty she once felt is direct:

"You are never too late to start something bigger. Growth begins the moment you decide to take that first step. You don't need to have all the answers. You just need the courage to pursue till the end in every given circumstance. It might sound a little tough, but believe me, it becomes easier with discipline, consistency, and trust in the compounding effect of small actions."

The Bigger Picture

What Sarika's journey shows, from the Six Sigma certification during COVID to the McCombs School program, then MIT-IDSS, and then the Walsh College Doctorate, is what incremental but intentional progress actually looks like over time.

100-plus YouTube videos on AI. 40-plus speaker sessions. An NBC News interview on International Women's Day. Conferences at CES Las Vegas and the India AI Impact Summit. A growing reputation as someone who makes AI legible for people who have been told it is not for them.

None of it happened as the result of a single dramatic decision. It happened because she chose to begin, and then chose to continue.

As she put it: 

"The AI for Leaders program, other advanced certificates, and my current Doctorate program from Great Learning didn't just teach me AI. It helped me own the narrative. This journey proves that when women invest in themselves, they shape the future of technology. Thanks to the entire Great Learning team for being part of my AI journey. More to come.”

Choosing the Right AI Program: Benefits and Comparison

Sarika Hussain’s journey across three programs demonstrates a clear, structured pathway to building expertise in Artificial Intelligence, from foundational awareness to technical depth and doctoral-level mastery. Each program is designed for a specific stage of professional growth.

AI Programs Comparison: Which One Is Right for You?

A Clear Learning Path for AI Careers

What makes these programs especially powerful is how they complement each other:

• Start with AI for Leaders to understand AI from a business lens
• Progress to MIT-IDSS to build technical and practical skills
• Advance to the DBA to gain deep expertise and leadership authority

This creates a natural progression:
Understand AI → Apply AI → Lead with AI.

Final Insight

Each of these programs delivers strong value individually. Together, they form a comprehensive pathway for professionals who want to build credibility, capability, and leadership in AI.

Sarika’s journey shows that with the right sequence of learning, it is possible to transition into AI in a structured and impactful way.

Connect with Sarika Hussain on LinkedIn and explore her AI content on YouTube at @sarikaspeaks.