Hello guys. I'm Alex from Africa, specifically Kenya. I've spent the last year focusing almost entirely on AI automation. I've invested countless hours learning, building workflows, and creating solutions, but I'm honestly at a point where I'm questioning whether I should continue. I've used up most of the little money I had, and I'm now close to being broke. One challenge I've faced is that many businesses in Kenya seem hesitant to adopt AI automation. Even when they show interest, they often don't feel comfortable trusting a young person who's still trying to establish himself to implement these solutions. For those of you who've been in this industry longer, did you ever reach this stage? How did you land your first consistent clients? Did you pivot, target a different market, or simply keep going? I'm not looking for sympathy—I'm looking for honest advice from people who've been where I am. I'd really appreciate hearing your experiences and what worked for you.

I've been building in AI/ML since my first year of college — not just following tutorials, but going deep. Textbook-level ML in year one, Deep Learning in year two, and now LLM engineering, RAG architecture, LLMOps and MLOps in year three — which started about two weeks ago. I've already deployed a live AI-powered review automation system for a real commercial client. It runs daily, in production. Not a demo — an actual working system. I'm now looking for a paid internship or a part-time role with an AI-first startup or agency where I can contribute real work and grow inside a team that's actually shipping things. I'm a fast learner, I'm comfortable with ambiguity, and I bring genuine depth — not just surface-level API wrappers. If you're building something in the AI automation or LLM space and need someone who can hit the ground running — I'd love to talk. 📩 aryan@tandem-ai.tech LinkedIn URL: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aryan-dhawan-40760a160/ GitHub URL: https://github.com/aryandhawan