She Quit Her Software Engineer Job, Used AI to Teach Herself Baking, and Now Sells Out Pop-Ups

Most people use artificial intelligence to write emails, answer questions or boost productivity. Sabrina Lim used it to leave her career behind and build an entirely new one.

The former software engineer left her job in software development at a major bank despite having no professional baking experience and turned to AI to teach herself how to make bread. Less than 100 days after setting herself the challenge, she had achieved her goal of selling her creations. Today, customers queue up for her signature salt bread at pop-up events across Singapore.

From Software Engineer to Baker

Lim, 28, earned a master's degree in engineering from Imperial College London before beginning her career as a software engineer. She later moved into software development at a major bank, but after several years realised she wanted to build something for herself rather than continue working towards someone else's dream.

Her career took an unexpected turn following a trip to South Korea, where she tasted salt bread for the first time.

'I had never been to a bakery that had left such a strong impression on me, and I wanted to recreate it,' she told Business Insider. 'The problem was that I had zero baking experience.'

Leaving behind a secure career was not an easy decision. Lim admitted she worried about how others would react, particularly given the expectations surrounding her academic achievements and career path.

'I have a good degree from a good university, and coming from an Asian family, I feel like people have expectations for how my career path should look,' she said. 'I'm not living my life for them, though.'

Lim spent months producing failed loaves while trying to understand how Singapore's humid climate affected recipes that had largely been developed overseas.

'I was terrified that I wouldn't be able to figure it out,' she said, adding that her husband ended up eating many of her unsuccessful attempts.

Throughout the process, Lim documented her progress on Instagram under the account @sabnbuns, sharing the highs and lows of starting a business from scratch. In one Day 58 video, she joked: 'I have done 4 corporate orders so far, and the delivery logistics give me literal mini heart attacks. Let's talk about my two biggest delivery traumas so far.'

How AI Helped Her Learn Faster

Rather than enrolling in culinary school, Lim relied on Google's Gemini AI to help her understand the science behind bread making.

Instead of simply asking for recipes, she compared multiple versions, asked the chatbot to explain why different methods produced different results and used it to troubleshoot problems whenever a batch failed.

'It feels like I have someone to throw ideas around with 24/7,' she said. 'That's invaluable as someone doing this alone.'

AI has also become a valuable business tool. Lim said she uses it to edit social media scripts, organise her business goals and build her own pop-up ordering form, reducing the amount of time she spends on administrative work by around 80%.

The technology helped her learn more efficiently, but Lim has made it clear that it could not replace practice. Every improvement still came from testing recipes, identifying mistakes and trying again.

From Home Kitchen to Pop-Up Success

Lim's persistence eventually paid off when a local café owner discovered her videos on TikTok and invited her to use the café's commercial kitchen during its downtime.

The opportunity gave her access to professional equipment and guidance from an experienced baker. From there, she launched a pre-order website before expanding into regular pop-up events selling several varieties of her signature salt bread.

Her social media pages have become the main way customers keep up with new products and upcoming pop-ups, with followers closely tracking her journey from complete beginner to business owner.

'She's Still an Engineer'

Lim's story has attracted thousands of followers online, including plenty of support from those who have watched her career change unfold. Among them is her husband, Ryan Quek, who shared a heartfelt LinkedIn post reflecting on her journey.

He revealed that many people do not realise Lim graduated from Imperial College London with first-class honours and made the Dean's List twice before deciding to leave her software career to pursue baking.

He also joked that friends still remembered she 'used to bake rocks', making her transformation all the more remarkable.

Above all, he said her success was built on consistency rather than overnight fame. Instead of relying on viral moments, she kept showing up every day, refining her recipes, listening to customer feedback and working late into the night preparing orders.

His tribute ended with a line that neatly captured her unconventional career change.

'She's still an engineer,' he wrote. 'She just builds bread now.'