My Story

When I was seven, I moved from China to Australia. It was hard. I knew so little English that I didn’t understand the teacher at school, and I was a bit of an outcast. It took me several years to catch up.

My parents also struggled at first; they searched for months for their first jobs.

“Why did we move?” I asked my dad much later.

“So that we could have the opportunity for a better life,” he replied.

That word – opportunity – has became a defining feature of my life. It took me to summer schools in maths, science, and computer science; overnight rowing camps and rowing before dawn on the water; debating competitions that went well past 9pm and once even led me to Spain. I’ve been lucky enough to find a world full of opportunity, and I just learned to take them.

After high school, I found a home at the Australian National University - a bunch of cool, bright, and profoundly kind people and an environment that let me thrive. I did internships at Optiver (a fancy finance company where I stared at six screens all day) and The Trade Desk (a more down-to-earth place where I only stared at two). I also taught courses as a casual academic; sometimes I felt underqualified, but I prepared enough to still do a good job.

I caught wanderlust late in my degree and went on exchange consecutively in Korea and Singapore. After graduating, I did AI safety research in the UK. I met some wonderful people, and I’m glad to have friends from all over the world. Yet again, it was opportunity.

Nowadays, I build software infrastructure at The Trade Desk, but I secretly fancy AI research a little bit more. I think a lot about what the world will look like and how to make it better.