I've always wanted to publish content online, but I've never really gotten around to it. I write plenty for work—design docs, proposals, and code—but I haven't engaged much online with my own content, like a blog.
Lately, I've started writing more, through tweets and casts, but long threads or screenshot essays are rare for me.
I haven't given myself the time due to other commitments. I'd like to share my experiences and thoughts, assuming others find them useful. I prefer asynchronous communication, which is why Farcaster appeals to me more than group chats. So, I'm looking to experiment with an asynchronous AMA , of sorts, and see if that works for me and others. Kind of an interview podcast/newsletter where I’m the interviewee. This could lead to stand-alone posts that grow from those “conversations”.
Initially, I'll prompt for questions with a cast, select some, and answer them in a podcast/newsletter in the following week.
Since I prefer podcasts, I'll offer that format alongside text—no live spaces, just audio responses to questions.
There's no set schedule... I might aim for weekly releases, possibly dividing questions into separate posts if there's enough interest.
I’ll start by doing a very brief intro for now… I can expand on it based on people’s questions or I might just feel like telling a longer story myself at some point…
A little about me
I was born and raised in a touristy beach town in the pacific of Mexico. I got into movies, games and computers at an early age. Although I didn’t really learn to code until college, in Mexico. Before then I mostly played around with photoshop and Flash so technically ActionScript was my first language. I considered majoring in Graphic Design or Physics but I chose Computer Science instead because it combined the technical and the creative.
After college I moved to Germany since I had never been to Europe and wanted to experience living there. While living there I worked at Nero which was a Windows software company but I was part of the Online Services building things such as online storage, photo printing, payments, etc. After four years I quit my job and moved to Mexico for a bit before searching for jobs in the US. While I was there I built a Tumblr MacOS client but, soon after I put it in the Mac App Store, Nero offered me a job in their LA office, so I took it to get my foot in the US.
I helped build a photo synching service for a new mobile app Nero was building but after a bit over a year there a Google recruiter reached out so I went through the job interview process and got the job so I moved to SF. That was a little over 9 years ago.
At Google I’ve mostly worked in Search, in the data engineering side of things supporting experimentation, strategic analysis, growth, quality/ranking, etc. When I moved back to LA, I switched to work on YouTube Ads for a couple of years where I worked on the ad formats on Android and iOS, before going back to Search.
A couple of years ago I got hooked on the idea of a new decentralized web (web3) powered by blockchains, p2p networks, etc. I joined crypto twitter and Discord servers where I met many people working in the space. Unlike many others, I stayed at Google since, as a true believer of Google Search’s mission, I saw the new decentralized web as a return to the origins of Google, a great fit.
I managed to build an internal community of Googlers that were excited about “web3” and I was even one of the first Googlers to work on “web3” explorations full-time, even assisting GV with crypto deals. However, after the bear market hit and ChatGPT’s wake up call to Google, I switched from working on web3 to AI related data and quality stuff. However, I’m still a true believer of the new decentralized web so I try to stay active and engaged in the community mainly through Farcaster.
Participate
Follow me on Farcaster or X, I'll post the AMA call-to-actions there (I'll also link them from http://gabrielayuso.com/programmista/cta). Reply to the post with your question and I might answer it on the next post.
Audio
Since many of us consume more audio than text these days, like myself, I'll include an audio version of each post and will provide a link to a feed (coming soon).
I'm experimenting using ElevenLabs to generate the audio version using AI to make it sound more like me. So you know, in case it sounds odd.