Out of office, Niseko.

Hey, I’m swyx.

Pronounced “swicks”. Shawn works too.

I’m Shawn Wang, a Singaporean in San Francisco. Recovering finance geek, developer, writer, and community builder. I work on Latent Space, AI Engineer, and Cognition.

What I’m doing now →

Start here

This site is my public notebook. Some entries are technical; others are about careers, ambition, and figuring things out. If you’re new, these are a few places to begin.

Learn in PublicLearning by sharing what you know.
How to Create LuckMaking more room for good things to happen.
The Rise of the AI EngineerThe shift behind much of my current work.

Browse the library →Occasional letters →

What I’m working on

Most of my work lives in Latent Space, AI Engineer, and Cognition.

Latent Space is where I write and have conversations about AI and the people building it. AI Engineer brings together people turning new capabilities into useful software. You can read more about my work at Cognition here.

For what has my attention these days, there’s /now. This page is the longer view.

I took the scenic route

I grew up in Singapore and have worked mostly in the US and UK. Before software, I was a currency options trader, then a technology, media, and telecom hedge fund analyst. I still often approach technology from an investing and risk-management angle.

My developer-experience work took me through Netlify, Amazon Web Services, Temporal, and Airbyte. Along the way, I helped run the React subreddit and grow Svelte Society.

I wrote Learn in Public and collected my nontechnical advice for developers growing from junior to senior in The Coding Career Handbook, now free and open source. My technical writing includes the Self-Provisioning Runtime, the Third Age of JavaScript, and the End of Localhost.

If you’re building a company

I invest in AI and developer-tool companies. I mostly help with developer relations and community strategy, hiring early devrels, and AI product feedback and launch guidance.

My portfolio explains where I’ve invested and the boundaries between investing and my editorial work. I’m not taking new advising inquiries; the portfolio page has more detail for founders who are fundraising.

Want to support what I’m building and reach the people building with AI? I work with sponsors through AI Engineer and Latent Space.

AI Engineer

Conferences, expos & workshops for the people building AI.

Latent Space

Technical AI conversations, in your inbox and headphones.

Bios & photos

Introducing me? Here are two third-person versions you can use. For the name: Shawn Wang, usually swyx, pronounced “swicks”.

Shawn Wang, known as swyx, is a developer, writer, and community builder based in San Francisco. He works on Latent Space, AI Engineer, and Cognition, and is known for Learn in Public and The Rise of the AI Engineer. He is the author of The Coding Career Handbook.

Headshots & avatars ↓Conference & social photos ↓

Selected talks & conversations

I speak and write about AI engineering, developer experience, and learning in public.

More conversations on the podcasts page →

Previous bios & older links

Earlier work and writing

This is the previous About text, preserved for its links and history. The bios below retain their original dates; they are not current introductions.

I work on Latent Space, AI Engineer, and Cognition in San Francisco.

I am also a frequent writer and speaker, best known for the Rise of the AI Engineer, the Self Provisioning Runtime, the Third Age of JS, and the End of Localhost. On the nontechnical side, there's the Learn in Public movement and the now free and open-source Coding Career Handbook.

Earlier community notes

I am a developer, founder, and angel investor, primarily active in the AI and devtools community. I am a GitHub Star and Stripe Community Expert, helped run the React subreddit for over 200,000 developers, and grew Svelte Society from 0 to over 15,000 developers (writeup).

I grew up in Singapore 🇸🇬, but have worked mostly in the US and UK, working on Developer Experience for Netlify, Amazon Web Services, Temporal, and Airbyte.

In a past life, I was a currency options trader turned TMT hedge fund analyst. I still often approach tech from an investing and risk management angle.

I was known for being a #LearnInPublic evangelist and my speaking and writing on React, JavaScript, and the future of the Web. I am also known for my technical and book reviews, from TypeScript in 50 Lessons, Programming TypeScript, and Landing Page Hot Tips to The GraphQL Guide.

A few of my opinions on building for the web: Why I Enjoy Svelte, Svelte for Sites, React for Apps, Why Tailwind CSS, and setting up Svelte with Tailwind.

From the notebook: what I was doing in January 2025

This is an archived Now page update, not a current status report.

I am Editor of the Latent.Space newsletter and podcast, and co-organizer of the AI Engineer Summit.
I am also working on the Smol AI Company (unannounced) and Smol Haus in the Arena.
I less frequently update my personal blog and magazine DX.tips.
You can get more high frequency updates on my Twitter.

Speaker bio · January 2025

January 2025 version · Please confirm titles before reusing this bio.

swyx (Shawn Wang) is Editor of Latent.Space. As a developer experience leader and angel investor, swyx led developer tooling at AWS, Two Sigma, and three devtool unicorns (Netlify, Temporal, Airbyte). He is also the founder of Smol AI, the LLM data pipeline company that produces AI News, the widely read AI industry newsletter 99% created by customizable research agents.

swyx has started and run communities for hundreds of thousands of developers, like the Latent Space Paper Club, Svelte Society, /r/reactjs, and the React TypeScript Cheatsheet. His main platform Latent Space covers the Rise of the AI Engineer in podcast, newsletter, and YouTube formats.

Earlier talk selection

Alternative bios · January 2025

Short AI bio: Swyx is Editor of Latent.Space. He is best known for his writing on the Rise of the AI Engineer on the Latent.Space newsletter and podcast, and for curating the AI Engineer Summit, the top conference for AI Engineers. You can find him on Twitter, Github, and YouTube.

Long bio: Swyx is Editor of Latent.Space and founder of Smol.ai. After a quantitative finance career he has led developer relations at AWS and three devtools unicorn startups (Netlify, Temporal, Airbyte) and is best known for his work on the Latent Space podcast and the DX.Tips magazine. Swyx is currently working on the Smol AI Company in San Francisco and Singapore, as well as independently working on Latent.Space and the AI Engineer conferences. You can find him on Twitter, Github, and YouTube.

Earlier bio · February 2024

swyx is Editor of Latent.Space and Founder of the Smol AI Company. He has helped Developer Tools cross the chasm at AWS, Two Sigma, and three devtool unicorns — Netlify, Temporal, and most recently Airbyte.

He has started and run communities for hundreds of thousands of developers, like Svelte Society, /r/reactjs, and the React TypeScript Cheatsheet. While Latent Space covers the Rise of the AI Engineer, his personal blog covers Tech, Careers, and Indie Hacking, and his nontechnical writing was published in the Coding Career Handbook for developers going from Junior to Senior.

Short AI bio: Swyx is founder of Smol.ai. He is best known for his writing on the Rise of the AI Engineer on the Latent.Space newsletter and podcast. Swyx was most recently co-founder of the AI Engineer Summit and Foundation. You can find him on Twitter, Github, and YouTube.

Long bio: Swyx is founder of Smol.ai and author of The Rise of the AI Engineer. After a quantitative finance career he has led developer relations at AWS and three devtools unicorn startups (Netlify, Temporal, Airbyte) and is best known for his work on the Latent Space podcast and the DX.Tips magazine. Swyx is currently working on the Smol AI Company in San Francisco and Singapore, as well as independently working on Latent.Space, the AI Engineer Summit and Foundation. You can find him on Twitter, Github, and YouTube.

Press photos

Headshots, avatars, and recent favorites from AI Engineer World’s Fair 2026, plus earlier events and social photos. Each image links to its original or source post. For reuse of someone else’s photo, check with its photographer or original poster.