Q&A with Ryan Liang, Software Engineer, Audere
Tell me a little bit about your background and what led you to work at Audere.
After changing my mind from studying business to civil engineering to mechanical engineering, I landed on computer science in the summer after my freshman year of college. During my junior year, I enrolled in a career advice seminar led by Philip, Audere’s founder. At the end of the quarter, Philip sent an email to the class searching for students interested in a full-time position and I replied as rapidly as possible asking about potential internships.
After graduating, I joined Amazon, where I had also interned, to work on the Amazon Halo app to deliver content such as workouts and recipes to users. During that experience, I began to miss the people, culture, and experiences at Audere and realized that returning to the company would allow me to develop in the direction that I wanted.
In your own words, what are your core responsibilities at Audere?
I am a software engineer on the front end team where I am responsible for mitigating app bugs and delivering new features and releases. The goal of my team’s work is to create graceful user experiences so that rapid test workflows are completed easily and correctly.
What is your Why? Why do you work at Audere?
The people at Audere have cultivated a culture of care and kindness that makes it easy and inspiring to be here. I am continually impressed by how often people express genuine appreciation for each other. It creates an environment that encourages me to flourish as an engineer and person.
I strive to do things that result in positive outcomes in others’ lives. Audere offers a great opportunity for me to pursue this goal through my career.
What are you most excited about working at Audere?
I am most excited about collaborating with my fantastic colleagues to deliver applications and technology solutions that unlock access for humans to take control of their health.
What new hobbies have you taken up during the pandemic?
A few months ago, my perspective on bouldering radically shifted when a friend sent me some videos on fundamental techniques. I had climbed a handful of times in the past but only viewed it as a strength-dominant sport. I only became seriously interested in bouldering once I recognized the amount of growth that could occur from learning the expansive world of climbing technique and kinesiology.
Last summer in Mexico, my friend and I were running out of activities to do so we went on a bird watching tour to try something new. After that trip, I spent a fair portion of my summer break birding at the Union Bay Natural Area and have enjoyed observing birds in the different environments that I visit.
Share three facts that your colleagues would be surprised to learn about you.
I have never lived outside of a 5-mile radius circle.
I am the oldest cousin out of 12.
My favorite books are The Dispossessed by Ursula K Le Guin, A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles, and Johnny Got His Gun by Dalton Trumbo.
If you could have a superpower what would it be?
Requiring no sleep! If I didn’t need to sleep, I’d hope to utilize my extra time by chipping away at my ever-growing movie and reading lists.
