Intern Spotlight: Lia Jiang, Engineering Intern

Amplitude’s University Recruiting team strives to inspire early-career talent to build better products through internships and learning opportunities. Our Intern Spotlight series celebrates the achievements of its participants, including the subject of our latest interview, Lia Jiang, an intern on our engineering team.

Tell us about yourself and what you do at Amplitude:

I earned my bachelor's degree in Computer Science from Tongji University in Shanghai, China. Then, I came to the U.S. to pursue my master's degree in computer science at Washington University in St. Louis. I had just completed my master’s degree when I began my internship at Amplitude.

I work as an engineer on the Analytics Insight Objects team, which is responsible for building and maintaining core features of the Analytics product. I became familiar with our product by delivering minor updates and bug fixes. I was also involved in building a prototype for a new feature. I developed a fully functional part of the prototype, which became my intern project.

What’s been your favorite thing about your internship?

My favorite thing about my internship has been the opportunity to make meaningful contributions to the product and work closely with my talented team members. I've learned a lot from them, not only in terms of coding techniques and best practices but also in developing effective work habits and gaining insights from non-engineer teammates. People here are fantastic; everyone on my team and the company is willing to help and offer support. (Plus, I really enjoy the weekly pizza and board games nights!)

Lia Jiang (center) and fellow Amplitude interns celebrate a summer of innovation and growth.

What has been your most impactful project while at Amplitude?

For now, I would say it’s the bug fixes related to the horizontal bar visualization of the event segmentation chart. Event segmentation is the most commonly used chart type in Amplitude Analytics, and the horizontal bar visualization is designed to better compare multiple data points among different groups when a “group by” is applied. I fixed bugs related to horizontal bar selection and color mismatch, which our customers had reported. Those bug fixes were positively impactful.

However, the question doesn't specify whether the impact should be positive or negative. So here's a negative example: One of my fixes unintentionally crashed all dashboards containing horizontal bar charts, resulting in a highest-priority incident. Other engineers quickly identified and fixed the issue. When I felt bad about this, my mentor reached out to me and emphasized that we don't blame anybody in this situation. In the post-mortem meeting, people discussed what we could learn from the incident and how to prevent similar issues. This experience was precious and taught me a future-oriented attitude when facing incidents.

Outside of your work as a Datamonster, what are your hobbies?

I enjoy various forms of rowing and paddling and always want to experience more of these activities. Luckily, there are many great places to go boating in the Bay Area.

What advice would you give to people aspiring to a career in your field?

Seek practical opportunities and let them become your teachers. Try your best to solve problems independently, but at the same time, don’t hesitate to ask for help when you need it.

What is your favorite comfort food?

Noodles, both dry and with soup.