It’s almost been 90 days since we moved to London! It took pretty much the whole three months to get settled, with the remaining logistics wrapping up only about a week ago.In May, we secured our long-term flat and moved out of our temporary accommodations. The final piece was the arrival of our ...| Vivian Qu
Looking ahead to the future of programming that increasingly involves LLMs, it’s becoming clear that the most important thing for software engineers to cultivate is taste. As I discuss in GenAI is not a silver bullet, training great software designers will continue to be the essential challenge o...| Vivian Qu
As someone who works in tech, you can barely go a full day without getting confronted with debates about how generative AI is going to affect the industry. The predictions vary wildly in terms of the expected scope and impact, with arguments constantly shifting and evolving with every new release...| Vivian Qu
We just moved to London at the end of April 2025. It was our second time moving abroad from the Bay Area and (spoiler-alert) we made it to the UK. Now that we have a semblance of calm, I can take a moment to breathe and reflect.The funny thing about doing something a second time is that it can fe...| Vivian Qu
This article was written for April Cools' Club 2025. Last year I wrote about the Ninja Creami. I usually don't write about anime or my nerdy nostalgia for high school slice-of-life so this was quite a fun change of pace. This essay also ended up being more like a visual essay with all t...| Vivian Qu
On Valentine’s Day 2025, I officially announced the release of my first book Autumn: A Local’s Guide to Travel in Japan. It’s been a long journey from initial idea to the final product, more than 14 months from start to finish. It still feels slightly unreal to hold a physical copy in my hands. A...| Vivian Qu
Most companies have structured onboarding for new engineers and managers. At FAANG companies, the onboarding period has even more clearly outlined expectations. While the particular flavor of new hire programs may vary, the basic structure is the same: in the first few weeks, you familiarize the new folks with tooling, processes, and important people, while also completing any necessary legal compliance training and paperwork that’s required. There are usually very clear milestones for new ...| Simulated Annealing
I normally don’t delve into the world of industrial design and hardware, preferring to stick to my lane with software design. However in the spirit of April Cool’s day and writing about topics outside of my comfort zone, here is a love letter and strong recommendation for our household’s newest d...| Vivian Qu
We moved to our current house in Oakland in November 2021 and over the last few years here, I’ve been slowly transfiguring each space in the house to better fit our needs and whims.| Simulated Annealing
This is the office.Our home office is the most used room in the house. My husband and I have been working from home since the pandemic shutdown so we are in this room at least 8 hours a day, 5 days a week. We also use the office as a maker space during evenings and weekends for our creative hobbi...| Vivian Qu
At the start of each year, my husband and I each pick a “yearly theme” instead of new year’s resolutions. The yearly theme acts as a guiding spirit to help direct our energy, activities, and decisions throughout the year.The original inspiration for choosing a yearly theme came from The Cortex po...| Vivian Qu
