# Apprentice to Google VP

- Organization: Google
- Focus: Software and machine learning
- Type: apprenticeship
- Period: Jan 2025 – Feb 2025
- Stack: Java, Linear Algebra, Machine Learning
- Project write-up: https://ethanaustincruse.com/projects/chess-engine.md

## Highlights

- Designed a chess engine with alpha-beta pruning that reaches 500k–650k evaluations per second, used to benchmark a reinforcement-learning agent.
- Researched how gradient descent and cost functions are applied in LLMs.