I'm an optimistic person.

I’m a reverse Apple product. Made in California, designed in China. Specifically, the Bay Area in California and Shanghai China.

I’m fluent in English, but some say I have a slight Chinese accent. Barely noticeable though. I think it’s slightly fashionable nowadays to sound like where you are from.

I remember my first encounter with a mechanical device was in kindergarten, where my teacher Mrs. Brown whipped out an rotary apple-shaving machine every time I said I missed home.

My love for all things mechanical grew since then. Taking apart my grandpa’s bike, removing kitchen drawers, combining Lego Bionicle sets..

After third grade, our family made the move back to China. On the first day of school, I had to take a placement test, which I absolutely bombed. I only knew how to write my name and I could barely even say it. It was a tough time fitting in. I was a guest lecturer for our English class and whenever I wasn’t “guest lecturing”, I’d be sitting in my Chinese teacher’s office doing extra work.

Soon enough, I discovered that what I loved doing in the US(combining Lego Bionicle sets) was actually a class. That was when I dove into the world of robotics.

Lots of people, including my mother, ask me why not pivot to computer science, it’s a versatile high-paying skill-set to have. I definitely agree. Software scales much easier and it won’t ever slice my finger off. But to me, the beauty of mechanical design is that it can cut your finger off, it can impact people in a tangible way. That’s what excites me.

Of course, it’s not as if I box myself in a world of all things mechanical. I design solutions, such as event ticketing software and it excites me just as much.

10/6/17