yingchao

YouTube

today, a tall guy in a colorful sweater walked up to me. i was already at the end of my social energy reserves, having dozens of people walk up to me, never having 5 minutes to breath. the guy just wanted to say hi and thank me for pi. i thanked him for his kind words, like i did a lot of times today, hoping that i finally get my 5 minutes. until i looked at his name tag. it was @lucasmeijer one of the most instrumental people behind the Unity game engine. i was sort of star struck and we ended up speaking for 4 hours, chilling outside the venue, finding out that while we never meet IRL we had an immense amount of shared history. we reminisced about AOT compilers we worked on, shared ex-business partners , our shared emotional rollercoasters when we had to let go of the technical achievements that defined our lives, burning out, finding your identity again, all paired with an immense amount of laughter and the joy of having found a kindred spirit. we eventually went on a hilariously inefficient pub hunt, ending up at the weirdest fucking "upper class" establishment called "The OWO" where everyone was looking at us two dorks like we were aliens. They made us put stickers over our smartphone cameras and sold us lagers for £11 a pop. hilarious. i now remember why i loved speaking at conferences 15 years ago. i think i made a friend today. so, thanks @swyx and crew for putting together @aiDotEngineer and letting me clown around on stage. fantastic vibes, great people.