Hi! I’m Michelle Lim, and I live in NYC. I’m a founding software engineer at a 5-person startup. I also write essays. You can find me at Twitter, Linkedin, Github or email.
During my undergrad at Yale, I co-founded a healthcare startup called Pillnotes and a startup incubator called Yale Helix. I also invested in startups with Contrary Capital. In the summers, I interned at Robinhood (building Video News), Slack, and Facebook. Prior to undergrad, I grew up in Singapore.
I’m passionate about healthcare, privacy, and climate change. In my free time, I read fiction, paint oil paintings, play squash, and cycle. If you’re interested in chatting about these, please email me.
Sep 13, 2020
Stop just using “Frontend” or
“Backend” to describe the Engineering you like —
Why the “frontend” vs “backend” engineering axis doesn't map well to engineers’ psychology. And
how using just one division can lead to job mismatches, turnover, and even push some new grad
engineers into product management.
Jan 23, 2020
It's Not About the Stars —
My Yale Daily News essay about why milennials and I love horoscopes unironically.
Oct 24, 2019
Gold Rush —
"I notice that the two main streets running through downtown San Francisco are Mission Street
and Market Street. They run parallel to each other; they never intersect."
Jun 26, 2021
Into the Fediverse —
Social media apps should share the same social graph by implementing ActivityPub
May 1, 2021
Federated Learning—a primer —
A quick introduction to the decentralized machine learning technology that's already changing the internet.
Mar 27, 2021
Speaking in Tales: conversing in Chinese means constantly alluding to folklore —
Through my favorite Chinese idioms, I illustrate how the language efficiently packs historical folklore into 4-character expressions and discuss the implications.