AnySDK beauty programmer Huang Yanli: Women's life and men's work

At the end of November 2014, on an ordinary afternoon, a coffee shop in Fuzhou was unusually busy. Before 2 o'clock, the 100 or so seats that were temporarily added were already full, and most of the attendees were local Internet practitioners in Fuzhou. Although the theme of the event was "AnySDK", many people asked at the sign-in counter: "Is Huang Yanli confirmed to be the guest today?"

An hour later, Huang Yanli, a girl born in the 1990s, appeared on the podium as the main programmer of AnySDK. If she hadn't been introduced in advance, she would have looked like a freshman with a slim figure and delicate features, and her smile was a little shy. Facing the crowd of listeners, Yanli looked a little reserved, like an excellent student who was called by the teacher to recite a book. But within a short while, she quickly integrated into the speech, her tone became more and more natural, and her gestures were quite professional.

"Be careful about the impact of posting to Moments in the future"

In just 30 minutes, she used multiple cases, metaphors, and data to vividly introduce "AnySDK", which provides SDK access services specifically for mobile game developers. When it came to the question-and-answer session, she seemed to be more and more at ease, answering professional questions that she was good at almost without thinking. Halfway through, someone asked the question "Are you single?", which caused laughter from the audience. She was stunned for a moment, then smiled politely and said, "Sorry, this involves personal privacy, I can't tell you."

After the event, Wang Zhe (founder of Cocos2d-x), who rarely brags about others, posted a status on his WeChat Moments: "The company's youngest main programmer, I just found out yesterday that he was born in the 90s... We are all old, and the future belongs to the young." He even privately reminded Yanli to "be aware of the impact and privacy when posting on WeChat Moments in the future."

[[126858]]

Live like a woman

Huang Yanli, the name first became known to the public in October last year. The AnySDK team planned an online training event and released photos of the main speaker Yanli. As we all know, female programmers are national treasures in the IT industry, not to mention a pretty girl. The event preview was forwarded crazily that day, and more than 400 people signed up in less than two days.

This incident had two effects: first, the AnySDK team proudly removed the label of "the monk team"; second, many people filled in the reason for applying for the job as "there is a beautiful female lead programmer with good technical skills."

In fact, the "beautiful hostess" in everyone's mouth is a "crazy woman" in the eyes of her friends. Even her best friend has become a "traitor". "When we first met, (Yanli) looked quite cool. After a long time, I found out that she is a crazy woman, careless and heartless when playing. Oh, I made a bad friend." The best friend laughed and complained.

Without the cloak of a technology evangelist, she is no different from an ordinary girl: a die-hard fan of Korean dramas and TVB dramas, she watches every episode of idol dramas such as "My Love from the Star" and "Fall in Love with You"; a talented microphone master who knows all the songs of JJ Lin by heart; a health enthusiast who never goes to bed after 11 o'clock to maintain her skin, and every weekend she makes a pot of delicious soup that makes her roommates salivate.

Only when she mentioned the person she admired the most did her answer give people a sense of IT flavor: "It must be Steve Jobs," she answered without hesitation. Like many people, she regarded the founder of the Apple empire as her idol. She would watch Jobs' speech videos over and over again, buy multiple versions of his biographies, and of course, all her electronic devices were Apple products.

"His speeches are charming, and his product's user experience is great, which truly solves users' problems. Also, he's an advertising genius. It's amazing that he could come up with the phrase 'put thousands of songs in your pocket'." When she mentioned her idol, she almost danced with joy, her eyes glowing.

[[126859]]

Work like a man

Many people think that as a "programmer girl", she should enjoy all kinds of princess treatment in the team (such as the picture above). But Yanli waved her hands and complained helplessly: "That's fake, there is no benefit at all, it's just being exploited." However, if it is said that the male compatriots in the team are not gentlemanly enough, it is unfair to them.

Every morning, Yanli starts her work by processing a large number of QQ messages. Until 6 or 7 in the evening, the QQ avatar in the lower right corner of the desktop is almost never quiet. Reading user feedback and providing technical support are always Yanli's top priorities, even though her role in the team has changed from research to main programmer.

"When AnySDK was launched, the entire team had only three people," Yanli recalled. "Every day, our work was to do research, build frameworks, write code, and develop various plug-ins." Before that, there were no similar open source packaging tools in China, and the project was completely at a "no-brainer" stage. After three months of research, Yanli finally succeeded in coming up with a technical solution that won the boss's approval.

"The pressure at that time mainly came from myself. There was a complete blank in front of me, and I had to start from scratch and explore everything bit by bit." The high demands on herself and the sense of responsibility for the project prompted Yanli to explore the unknown waters like a seagull flapping its wings.

In May 2014, the latest version of AnySDK was launched as scheduled, and technical support became a new challenge. "Some developers don't have a clear concept of connecting to SDK and Android market, and sometimes they can't even describe the problem clearly, and they are desperate to try any possible means. At this time, we need to explain repeatedly and guide them to describe and find the problem." Yanli still remembers the work scene at that time. "I was busy running around, and someone would call 'Yanli' every once in a while. I didn't know what I was doing all day. Sometimes I encountered a difficult problem that I couldn't solve, and I was looking for bugs even in my dreams."

Being close to users, we get the most timely and accurate feedback. These feedbacks later became an important reference for product optimization. "For example, at the beginning, AnySDK only supported C++ language, which many developers felt was not enough. Later, we gradually added Lua, Unity, Js, and Java frameworks, which were all requirements I raised."

At present, AnySDK has become "the most popular local packaging tool in China". From independent games of entrepreneurial teams to genuine IP mobile games with monthly revenue of over 30 million, all use AnySDK as a channel access tool.

Recently, the enterprise version based on the free general version has just been launched, and Yanli's life has become even busier.

"The two biggest features of AnySDK Enterprise Edition are that it allows users to specify their own servers to ensure data privacy. The other is an open plug-in interface that allows users to develop custom plug-ins. I am mainly responsible for plug-in development. Now, anyone, including users, freelance developers, and SDK manufacturers, can participate in AnySDK plug-in development and use collective strength to do things that are beneficial to the industry."

The most difficult thing for her nowadays may not be the technology, but the "management tasks" that are gradually added to her shoulders. Currently, the AnySDK team has grown from 3 people at the beginning to about 30 people, which is a full ten times expansion. Yanli is mainly responsible for leading the framework group and the technical support group. "When there were only 3 people before, the communication efficiency was high and things were done quickly. Now that there are more people, the problem of lack of management experience is exposed. This is also a headache for me."

Speaking of this, the post-90s girl showed a little helplessness on her face. I believe this is also a major turning point faced by many of the rapidly growing post-90s generation. And the answer can only be given by time.

Find ways to help people be lazy

Not long ago, the original PP Assistant programmer found Yanli and asked for technical support. It turned out that this expert who had jumped to the CP side also encountered the problem of channel access. Two years ago, the first channel Yanli accessed for AnySDK was PP Assistant.

"I am a little flattered that my former enlightenment teacher is now asking me for advice." Yanli smiled shyly, with pride in her tone. From knowing nothing and seeking advice everywhere to being able to work independently and answer questions for others, this sense of accomplishment is probably best understood by her.

Nowadays, many female students who are about to graduate will consult her, "Is it very hopeless to be a female programmer?" "Is it tiring to work overtime every day?" and so on. In Yanli's opinion, girls are rarely technology-geeks, and they will not study technology crazily. Their logic is not as clear as that of boys, and their bodies are not as strong as theirs. However, women are naturally more careful, patient, loving, and responsible than men, which can make up for their shortcomings and even do better.

"In fact, I am not a very confident person. I have to do things to my satisfaction before I release them." For this reason, she is used to spending a lot of time on repeated testing, and the bug rate is almost the highest in the group. How to stay efficient with so many things on hand? When asked about this common question of escape, Yanli picked up a half-worn notebook from the table, which was filled with yesterday's completed and unfinished tasks, and marked with priorities one by one. "Since the establishment of AnySDK project, this is the fifth notebook I have read. I used to do this to deal with final exams in school. It's a stupid method, but it works," she said with a proud tone.

When talking about future plans, Yanli seemed very determined. "Right now AnySDK can only help people package. But there are so many channels now, can we help developers in every detail and every step? In terms of helping people to be 'lazy', we still have a lot of work to do."

For her, AnySDK is like her own child. She has invested a lot of effort in it from its initial inception to its initial maturity and getting on the right track. "Many of my colleagues in the team are my old friends, and we are all doing something that gives us a sense of accomplishment. For me, this is enough."

After the interview, Yanli said embarrassedly that she didn't have any good photos to show. Fortunately, there is a photography expert in the AnySDK team, so we have the photos that appear in the article. We sincerely wish this lovely and determined post-90s girl a better future.