Mikhail Sychev

I led the complete rebuild of YouTube.com and worked on AI research infrastructure at Waymo during 12 years at Alphabet. I'm now co-founder and CTO of Fictional.ai, backed by a16z Speedrun, and my independent AI research produced models used to generate over 3 billion images.

I've interviewed hundreds of engineers, mentor through MentorCruise and Prepfully, and teach AI product development with ByteByteGo. I work with experienced engineers preparing for senior, Staff and technical-lead roles, focusing on system design, AI/ML systems, project deep dives and behavioral interviews.

We'll identify what the role demands, practice a realistic interview and work on how you explain your decisions and impact. One engineer I mentored landed a Staff role at Google after we sharpened the way they presented the experience they already had. My aim is to give you an honest assessment, clear priorities and confidence you can back up.