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Devin Liu
Dorzay | fmr early Cresta
Devin Liu is a software engineer and growth specialist who is passionate about pushing the boundaries of artificial intelligence to enhance human performance. With a degree from Penn State University, Liu has gained a wealth of experience working for top tech companies such as Tradecraft, Cresta, and CoverHound. At Cresta, Liu has served as both a software engineer and a growth specialist, developing innovative solutions to enhance the company's productivity and growth. Additionally, he has worked as a growth contractor for Udacity, where he helped to increase the company's user base and improve its overall performance. With his extensive knowledge of software engineering and growth hacking, Liu is poised to continue making significant contributions to the tech industry.
Highlights
Full Marathon #3 completed! Yesterday I got 28th overall at the Oakland Marathon with a complete time of 3:04:57 OR 7:03min/mile pace. It was a challenging, hilly course with an elevation gain of 900 ft. Imagine taking the steps up 90 stories!
A Goal: Enjoy the marathon and lovely Bay Area course ✅
B Goal: Under 3:00:00 ❌
C Goal: Under 3:10:00 ✅
"But Devin, why do you run? That does not seem fun!"
I find it builds resilience, and I enjoy the blunt immediate feedback from the stopwatch. Whether you have a good day, bad day, or skip a day, it shows up.
"What kind of day did you have then?"
A tough one. I was not in optimal shape, and it was a grind. Two Sundays before, I finished my peak 87mile week. Then immediately caught a cold. A classic sign of overtraining is a weak immune system, and sudden illness. I set the goal too high. Although the race predictor had a very optimistic estimate of 2:57, I knew pacing this race would be difficult.
"Why is pacing so challenging?" Most first marathon stories are the same. The protagonist goes out very strong, feels good for half the race, and then gets passed over and over again. The second story is going for the negative split; ACCELERATION for 26.2 miles.
"Was that you?" That was not me. I kept up with the 3 hour (6:52/mile) pacer until mile 17, when the long uphill section across the Bay Bridge killed my pace. I knew the only reasonable goal was to finish without stopping.
"What motivated you to continue? Nobody is paying you!" Well first of all, I paid to run on a beautiful clear course on a sunny day! Secondly, it's a massive stress release. After mile 17 I felt like a spectator, cheering for myself. I was in a odd spot for pace, running my own race with nobody to follow. The legs had no feeling, and mental focus went 100% to standing up straight.
"Why is that a stress release?" It's almost an unconscious experience, your mind is only thinking to run past the pain. You don't want to lose focus because you know that'll end your the race. You can take every step in slow motion and have confidence that it's building resilience. In that way, it's a fantastic feeling.
"Sounds great! What's next?" In July, I'll be going for under 3 at an even hillier marathon course. The San Francisco Marathon. Let me know if you're thinking about signing up, or if I'm going to see you there!
Visible hallucinations may stifle your AI project. IF you obsess over complete elimination. Keep your focus on what matters. Talk to the customer, and deliver small, quick iterations and validate your hit % on key use cases.
#ai #llm #hallucinations
