Meet the Engineers: Pine Wu

At Hypermode, open source is a large part of both how we're building our company and also a big part of our engineering culture. We encourage our team to contribute to open source on behalf of Hypermode and in their spare time.

We're excited to introduce you to Pine Wu. His experience in open source and a keen eye for user-friendly design, honed through his work at Vue.js and Microsoft's VS Code, offers a unique talent for well-designed systems with an emphasis on user empathy.

KVG: Pine, can you introduce yourself and tell us about your career before joining Hypermode?

Pine: My journey in tech started about seven years ago when I was a fresh graduate from Cornell.

I was heavily involved in open-source projects during college, particularly with Vue.js. I wrote one of the language servers for Vue (https://github.com/vuejs/vetur), which provides editor support for .vue files in VS Code.

This work interested me in static program analysis and programming languages.

My open-source contributions eventually led me to join the Vue.js team. Microsoft then recruited me to work on Visual Studio Code. I spent over two years there, eventually focusing on language servers and smart editor capabilities.

KVG: How did you originally get involved in the Vue.js community?

Pine: I was drawn to Vue.js because of its approachability. As an information science major, I appreciated technologies accessible to people from diverse backgrounds, not just those with strong engineering foundations. Vue.js was easy to get started with and catered to a wide range of users.

While React had great tooling, Vue.js was lacking in this area. I saw an opportunity to contribute by improving the developer experience for Vue.js users, especially in Visual Studio Code. That's how I started working on the language server for Vue.

KVG: When did you realize your Vue plugin was becoming a significant open-source project?

Pine: It hit me when I was invited to join the Vue.js team by Evan You, the creator of Vue. He started retweeting some of my tweets, and my plugin reached over a million downloads when I graduated in 2017. That's when I realized it was gaining serious traction in the community.

KVG: What have you been focusing on here at Hypermode?

Pine: At Hypermode, I've primarily worked on our console and hosting platform, with some work on the backend.

Our goal is to present the complex backend required to run AI in an intuitive and user-friendly way through our console. AI is a challenging field, and we strive to make these advanced features approachable to users.

I've been working on expanding our “cmd k” project recently. We're reimagining the UI for command selection, incorporating AI features to enhance the user experience. Designing intuitive interfaces that can handle non-deterministic results is an exciting challenge.

We're very big on building with our tools. I'm excited to implement our “cmd k” component into our console and docs.

KVG: What interests you most about working with these non-deterministic systems?

Pine: The way AI interacts with users is fascinating because it challenges our traditional expectations. With typical interfaces, users know exactly what to expect when they click a button or enter data. However, AI introduces a layer of nuance. We're not just designing for users to interact with a computer, but rather for a more natural, human-like conversation with an intelligent system. This shift in focus from human-computer interaction to a more human-like, conversational experience with AI presents new challenges and opportunities in design. We need to create interfaces that can handle the unpredictable nature of AI output while still feeling intuitive and user-friendly.

KVG: You've had such a successful career in open source. What advice would you give to engineers who want to get involved in open-source projects?

Pine: My main advice would be to focus on what's meaningful to you personally. Don't shoehorn yourself into other people's projects or ambitions. Instead, identify what you want to see in the world and work towards making that happen. Open source is a marathon, not a sprint. It involves long-term maintenance, improvements, and community engagement. If you choose something you're truly passionate about, you can sustain your efforts and enjoy the journey.

KVG: That's great advice. Shifting gears, what project at Hypermode are you most proud of?

Pine: I'm particularly proud of the work we've done on the logs, inferences, and deployment interfaces - essentially, our observability UI layer. Our peers have well-received it for its consistency and ease of use. I believe it's crucial because we're dealing with complex systems, and having great observability helps users understand what's happening, debug issues, and iterate on their AI models effectively.

KVG: Lastly, I know you're a digital nomad. How has that experience influenced your work?

Pine: Being a digital nomad has been incredibly rewarding. It allows me to experience different cultures and gain new perspectives, enhancing my creativity and problem-solving skills. For instance, spending time in Europe deepened my understanding of privacy concerns and regulations like GDPR. These experiences help me design and program solutions that are more globally accommodating.

While there are trade-offs - like missing out on spontaneous in-person conversations with colleagues - I find that the diverse stimuli from traveling and experiencing different cultures contribute significantly to my work. It broadens my horizons and helps me approach problems from various angles.

At Hypermode, we value these diverse experiences and perspectives. They help us build better tools for developers worldwide, understanding that our users come from various backgrounds and work in different contexts. Pine's journey from open-source contributor to digital nomad engineer exemplifies the diverse, adaptable talent we nurture at Hypermode as we continue to push the boundaries of AI and developer tools.