Sahil Walia didn’t stumble into the iSchool. He came on the recommendation of a senior colleague who knew what the program was worth, and he arrived ready to work. What drew him in was simple: the curriculum was contemporary, the resources were excellent, and for someone eager to build a real profile in the industry, it felt like the right environment. “I always receive support,” he said. That support, it turned out, would carry him further than he expected.

He earned his MS in Information Management and a Certificate of Advanced Studies in Data Science, and left in 2017 with more than credentials. He left with a foundation — and a sense of what grit actually looks like. “I learned the value of grit and perseverance by observing my classmates’ helpfulness and diligence,” he said. That lesson stuck.

The career that followed moved fast. Walia started at Ernst and Young, where he learned early that data isn’t just technical — it’s how leaders make decisions, and sometimes it reveals things a business didn’t even know to look for. From there he moved to FiiX Software, where he worked on a patented predictive maintenance platform. One of their customers was a major airport, and the platform’s ability to flag issues before they became disruptions was exactly the kind of real-world impact Walia had been chasing. Then came Slalom, where his work was integrated directly into platforms with over a billion users. “I am very proud of my work at Slalom,” he said simply.

Now he’s at Snowflake, one of the most recognized names in enterprise data, where he specializes in building scalable data pipeline architectures that help organizations actually own and control their data. His work has helped cut enterprise data costs by over 50% for some organizations — the kind of number that gets attention in any boardroom. He’s also been invited to present at Snowflake Summit twice, sharing his expertise with peers and industry professionals on the biggest stages his field has to offer. “It gives me a dopamine rush,” he said, laughing.

What keeps him going is the work itself. The edge cases, the nuances, the constantly shifting landscape of AI and data interaction — none of it intimidates him. If anything, it’s the point. “The lesson I’ve learned is to work on things that showcase impact and challenge you.” For Sahil Walia, that bar keeps getting higher. And he keeps clearing it.