Jenny Lian

The weekend is over, and learning continues. I've decided just to share fun facts on daily learning (Pardon me if I don't post as frequently as I should). Today's fun fact is that the AWS CLI (Command Line Interface), is built on AWS SDK (Software Developer's kit) for Python. Explaining what the terms above represent; The CLI is an AWS service that allows users to interact with AWS services on the terminal instead of the console (AWS' website). The SDK allows developers to implement AWS services in their code, it varies depending on the programming language being used. I find it interesting how interconnected these services are. #aws

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From Waiter to Visionary: Jensen Huang's Journey Jensen Huang started his career far from the tech world, working as a waiter, dishwasher, and busboy. His path was anything but straightforward, yet it was this humble beginning that shaped his determination, work ethic, and vision. Years later, he went on to co-found NVIDIA, a company that has transformed the world of graphics, gaming, and AI. Remember, you are not defined by your current circumstances. Where you are today is just a chapter in your story, not the whole book. You are capable of so much more than you might think. Keep pushing, keep believing, and never stop dreaming big. Your potential is limitless. "You are not defined by your current circumstances; you are defined by the possibilities you choose to pursue."

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Honored to receive recognition for my evaluation of GitHub Copilot and RAG approach for writing unit test cases. 📜 Each tool brings its own unique strengths to the table, proving that there’s no one-size-fits-all solution in tech.💡 #TechInnovation #GitHubCopilot #RAGApproach #ContinuousLearning

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✨ Headstarter AI's Pathways to Tech Event 2 Takeaways ✨ I had an incredible experience at the Pathways to Tech event, gaining valuable insights from industry leaders. Dennis Crowley, Co-Founder of Foursquare Tariq Afaq, First Engineer at Applovin Hamza Ali CEO of Olostep Erik Cupsa, Machine Learning Engineer Intern at TRC Julian Alvarez 🚀, CEO of Wisdolia and ex-Meta SWE 📌 One of the most striking statements came from Dennis Crowley, who emphasized that "companies are not sold but bought." This underscores the importance of a company's performance and value proposition to attract acquisition interest from larger corporations. 📌 Another key takeaway was the crucial role of AI tools in modern development. As developers, it's essential to harness AI to create efficient blueprints and optimize time-consuming tasks, thus enhancing productivity and innovation. 📌 The event also highlighted the inevitable link between risk and mistakes. It's through navigating and addressing market gaps with innovative solutions that we truly make a difference. Embracing this mindset is vital for growth and success. 📌 Lastly, I learned the importance of detachment from specific products or solutions. It's crucial to recognize when progress stalls despite consistent effort and to shift focus toward broader problem-solving skills. Building a successful startup often hinges on collaborating with individuals who share a similar vision and passion. My favorite speaker was Julian Alvarez 🚀. His views on startups and the persistence and mindset required to build a successful company were particularly insightful. He emphasized that resilience and adaptability are key components of success. #HeadstarterAI #SoftwareEngineering #TechCommunity

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🎉Big moment for our team at Phia—we launched our beta! 🎯If you’re someone who loves saving money and shopping smarter, you have to check out our new Chrome extension on your computer: https://bit.ly/3Zs2nkl If you’re considering buying an item, Phia shows you how much you could resell it for later, so you’ll know if it’s a smart purchase that holds its value or if it’s better to find a cheaper option secondhand. To find it secondhand, we take you directly to resale options (you can find it up to 75% off!!) for any item from top marketplaces like eBay, Poshmark, and Depop—like Google for secondhand shopping. Just a few months ago, this was a concept we were sketching out. Now, our beta is live, and I’m so excited to share it with you! 🔗Try it out and tell me what you think—feedback is everything to us right now. Leave a comment or message me with your thoughts! https://bit.ly/3Zs2nkl P.S. We also have some open roles for engineering and product management, if you’re interested hit us up at [email protected]

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Learn more about what I do and how to become a front-end engineer at Amazon! 

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As I continue my journey in software development, I'm excited to seek full-time opportunities where I can apply my skills and passion for building software systems that create real impact. This past year, I’ve had the privilege of exploring Robotic Process Automation (RPA) under Sami Mikhail's mentorship, learning how to craft reliable, efficient, and scalable solutions. Initially, I was a bit skeptical since RPA felt different from traditional coding. But as I dove deeper, I saw the parallels, and also the nuances, beyond just learning new languages. Whether it's integrating APIs or applying low-level design skills, I continue to think like a software engineer, driven not only to deliver solutions but to make them scalable, maintainable, and impactful. Every project has strengthened my ability to blend software engineering with automation, creating processes that are faster, more efficient, and adaptable. This experience has also been a journey of self-discovery as an engineer. Ambiguous requirements, once challenging, have become opportunities to test the strength of my system designs. Whether it’s working with cross-disciplinary teams or leading ideas that solve complex problems, I’ve come to enjoy the demands and rewards of this field. And amidst the daily hurdles and occasional rejections, this is a reminder for me, and anyone who could relate, that every step forward counts and none of it is in vain! Through these experiences, I’ve enriched my skills in system design and automation, layering them onto a strong foundation in software engineering. Now, I’m excited to connect with teams pushing boundaries in technology—those looking for someone who brings a solid mix of software development and automation insights. If you know of opportunities or teams where I can make an impact, I’d love to connect! #OpenToWork #SoftwareEngineering #SDE #RPA #Automation #CareerGrowth #FullStackDeveloper #PythonDeveloper #BackendDeveloper #JobSearch

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🚗🍏 𝐀𝐩𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐏𝐢𝐜𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐂𝐒 𝐀𝐥𝐠𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐦𝐬 🚗🍏 My SASE - Society of Asian Scientists and Engineers chapter is heading out for a fun apple-picking adventure this Saturday! 🎉 I had the role of organizing transportation to the farm. Coordinating rides for the trip gave me the perfect opportunity to apply some computer science concepts to a real-life challenge (I love seeing computer science come to life), so I had to make it happen! 😄 For this task, I wrote a Python script that assigns riders to drivers based on proximity, ensuring that we make the best use of available car seats. The code clusters riders by their coordinates, calculates the distance between riders and drivers, and assigns people to the closest car with available seats using Dijkstra's algorithm. It’s a great blend of logic, creativity, and efficiency — all in the name of teamwork and smooth logistics! 🙌 Feeling super grateful for how these technical skills can turn a seemingly simple task into a rewarding learning experience. If you're interested, check it out: https://lnkd.in/e6Vd4Pyx! #SASE #ComputerScienceInAction #ApplePicking #CodingForFun #Teamwork

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Hello everyone, Recently, I expressed to those around me my desire to get LLMs to write unit tests so they can actually run and test their code. A major criticism I have of LLMs is their reliance on guesswork to solve problems. As valid as their guesses can be, that’s really not how human engineers approach problem-solving. Typically, we: 1. Run the drafted code (it almost never works first try). 2. Analyze errors or issues from the run attempt. 3. Identify necessary changes based on those errors. 4. Repeat until resolved and running properly. There is no foreseeable way we can get LLMs to solve engineering problems past a certain complexity if they aren't running the code they write, and listening to the computer's response. Human engineers already know that guessing will only get you so far. Until you run the code, you don't know if the library is broken, if the code doesn't iterate as intended, etc. Likewise, imagine how much worse we are at guessing the right code on the first try at this point than #LLMs like #GPT4o are, yet we can solve so much more simply because we iterate on that loop above. Imagine how much more LLMs could solve if they iterated on that loop too, and tested their code. These are the experiments I think people in this space should be running, and since I have a personal LLM Coding R&D lab in the form of https://codactor.com, my Intellij IDE engrained AI coding assistant, I decided to modify it to allow GPT4o to create unit tests to run their code on the fly. Demonstrated on the attached video is this feature in action. I had put this off for a while, but recently I attended the #WeightsAndBiases #JudgementDayHackathon centered around AI evaluation. During this weekend in their office, I sorted out the technical hurdles related to this task. It's not as easy as it looks: in order for the JUnit API to recognize unit tests and code that was created/modified seconds ago, it first must recompile the subject classes dynamically, then use a custom class loader built on that output which does not defer to the cache when dealing with these specific files, to also load both the unit test and the code file being tested dynamically. It's only because of this that the changes I make are reflected immediately in the test loop captured on video here. I will be now creating a comprehensive directive based on this experiment and the test loop described above, to throw GPT4o at hard category Leetcode problems which it is known to fail on the first guess. We will see if it, and/or other LLMs of its caliber, can use this to draw itself closer to the truth/better solutions. Likewise, this is also looking like one of the better, more useful AI assistant coding features I have made. I will release a new https://codactor.com update including this feature to the public, alongside a fresh coat of polish on other buggy areas, hopefully as soon as this week. I look forward to seeing what LLMs can achieve! https://lnkd.in/gTRQ7gVi #ai

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Today I'm sharing this 🔥 video from our recent Engineering onsite at Demandbase HQ in SF! https://lnkd.in/eFAFR6QG We were so fortunate to host Zhengxuan Wu and Aryaman Arora, two upcoming AI researchers from Stanford University Department of Computer Science. Their approach to fine tuning, called ReFT, targets the representations emitted by neural net layers rather than the weights of the layers themselves. This makes it very flexible when using the same base model for swapping multiple fine tunes. The memory overhead is also very low for their intervention weights. Another highlight is how powerful it can be. One POC they showed forced the LLM to speak in only emojis exhibiting ReFT's power to control output. Control is crucial when, for example, you want to prevent your bot from offering customers unauthorized refunds!! If you're already familiar with LoRA, it should be pretty simple to use with only a few extra hyperparameters -- details in the video. Here's a link to the repo. Give them a star! https://lnkd.in/eJScNbzK Thanks again for letting us host your first external talk Aryaman and Zen. It's very exciting tech!!

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🖥️ Frontend Developer Meets Startup Bootcamp: My Summer at USC Viterbi Just wrapped up an exhilarating 8-week journey at the USC Viterbi Startup Garage Summer Smasher Program! As a frontend developer, this experience was a game-changer. Here's what I accomplished: 👨‍💻 Tech Triumph: Spearheaded frontend development for Kintsugi Global, Inc., an innovative anime-focused startup. Transformed complex designs into responsive, user-friendly interfaces. 🛠️ Skills Sharpened: Mastered new frameworks and libraries Optimized code for performance and scalability Collaborated with UX/UI designers to bring concepts to life 🚀 Startup Savvy: Dove deep into the startup ecosystem, learning about: Pitch deck creation and presentation Market analysis and product-market fit Agile development in a fast-paced environment 🙏 Grateful for the mentorship from a diverse group of experts Ron Scovil, Arcelia Navarro, Dr. David Gerber, Ellis Meng, and Dave Eastman. Their insights were invaluable in bridging the gap between coding and entrepreneurship. 💡 Key Takeaway: The fusion of technical expertise and business acumen is powerful. I'm now equipped to not just code, but to contribute strategically for company's growth. #Kintsugi Global, Inc. #FrontendDevelopment #TechStartups #USC Viterbi School of Engineering #USC Viterbi Startup Garage

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💻🚀 Excited to share my progress from a recent mock interview with Headstarter AI! 💻🚀 Tackled a challenging 'Two Pointers Nearly Perfect Sequence' problem, scoring 75%. Proud of my problem-solving approach and code implementation, while identifying areas to boost efficiency and quality. Key takeaways: Earned a Career Capital point Improved my 'Rook' score by 11 points in just a week Focusing on balancing speed with accuracy for future growth Grateful for this learning experience as I continue to refine my coding skills. Always striving to improve! #HeadstarterAI #CodingJourney #TechInterview #ContinuousLearning

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why did i get into tech? a) i was a UCSB political science major from the bay area looking to get a job b) all the poli sci literature i was reading about the potential of ICT4D (Information Communications Technology for Development) struck me as ignorant of how technology actually worked c) i got the opportunity to learn to code. Plus a magazine i interned at allowed me to mess with their WordPress site and that was the instigation There was a clear personal upside for me to learn how to code and learn about how the internet works. I hope that employbl helps other people break into tech and find their upside 📈 #tech #startups #jobs

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I had the pleasure of attending the Pathways to Tech event hosted by Headstarter for the second time. The event featured an exceptional lineup of panelists, including Dennis Crowley (Founder of Foursquare), Tariq Ahmed(First Engineer at AppLovin), Julian Alvarez 🚀 (CEO of Wisdolia), and Hamza Ali (CEO of Olostep). One key takeaway shared by the speakers was the importance of finding passion in your work. Julian highlighted the five core intrinsic motivations: autonomy, ownership, curiosity, purpose/passion, and mastery. These motivations perfectly encapsulated the evening's theme. Dennis emphasized that a startup's success is deeply rooted in having an emotional connection with what you are building. This resonated with Tariq's insight on the significance of enjoying the process. Tariq explained that his success came from a love of learning and implementing new technologies. He also shared powerful wisdom: “Failure is a teacher” and “Chaos is a form of opportunity.” Overall, the event was a profound reminder that passion, perseverance, and a love for continuous learning are essential ingredients for success in the tech industry. A big thank you to Headstarter, Yasin Ehsan 🚀, and Faizan Ahmed for organizing such an inspiring event and to all the panelists for sharing their invaluable experiences and insights. #TechEvent #Inspiration #GrowthMindset #Leadership #PathwaysToTech #HeadStarter #Grind #StartupSuccess #ContinuousLearning #Innovation #TechIndustry #Motivation #Entrepreneurship #TechCommunity #PassionInTech #TechLeadership #FutureOfTech #StartupJourney #TechInsights

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Two years ago, I began my journey as a software engineer. Along the way, I’ve picked up some important lessons: Stay informed to stay valuable: Keep track of everything you learn, and don’t shy away from asking those “dumb” questions—they’re the smartest move to deepen your understanding. Consider the bigger picture: Every software system lives within a broader domain context. Let that context guide your design decisions—it’s your compass in creating something truly impactful.

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Shorebird is one of the tools that can help your business save time instead of losing it, thereby minimizing costs and enhancing the quality of your services. #Shorebird #flutter #softwareeconomy

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Writing is such valuable skill! ✏️💰 This is a great post that highlights the importance of that. #growthmindset #mastery #hacking

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While job hunting is traditionally a time when we turn our sights towards growth and new opportunities, I find it’s also a great occasion to reflect on our path up to this point, and what we have learned along the way. Reflecting on my two years as a Software Engineer at Savage X Fenty, I’ve come up with my top 5 non-technical insights I learned from my first software engineering job: 1. If a coworker needs help with a task and you have time, always volunteer to lend a hand. Product Manager needs someone to check and see if an old feature flag is still in the code and operational? No problem! QA team needs a developer to help set up the correct environment for testing? You got it! Offering to help with these tasks not only makes others enjoy working with you, but it also helps you to gain familiarity with all sorts of different tools, tasks, and areas of the codebase that you might not have otherwise. 2. Searching through past Slack conversations can be a very effective way to gather information about a problem or task you are working on. I often would come across threads about similar problems, links to documentation I didn’t know existed, or old Jira tickets with insightful comments relevant to the work at hand. Before you ask a question, a quick Slack search will let you know if someone has asked the same question before, and often provides quick answers. On one embarrassing occasion, I posted a question and someone linked me to an old Slack thread where I had already asked and received an answer to the same exact question 🤦 3. When scoping a project or estimating tickets, always add time for testing and updating documentation. It’s easy and tempting to overlook these components in favor of shipping new features as quickly as possible. If you want robust testing, comprehensive documentation, and a team culture that values these things, it’s essential to include time for these tasks from the get-go. 4. If you work remotely– turn on your camera for meetings! Building solid relationships with teammates is challenging in a remote setting, and keeping your camera on helps foster connection. I’ll admit, as an introvert this one is tough for me. But nothing is stranger than going to an on-site meetup and half of your colleagues don’t recognize you because your camera is always off (been there!). 5. Last, but certainly not least, keep a record of the projects you work on and your accomplishments, often referred to as a ‘brag doc’. This information comes in handy in so many scenarios: during promotion cycles, while job hunting, or even on days when imposter syndrome sets in and you need a reminder of how much you have accomplished. Any other insights you would add? I’d love to connect and hear about the takeaways from your experiences! #softwareengineer #frontendengineer #opentowork #softwaredevelopment #jobsearch #jobhunt

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