Brian Yao
“SAAS provided me with career and job application experience, resume and professional development experience, and increased exposure to a plethora of jobs and industries in which I could work.”
Fun fact
I'm very good at whistling, which is weird because I can't sing to save my life. I can whistle to any song with perfect pitch, but when I sing I feel like a baby somewhere in the world dies.
Hobbies/interests
I'm a pretty big sports fan. Mostly like football, basketball, professional or college.
Any TV shows / movies you're into
I'm a huge Marvel fan, just anything Marvel. Besides that, at one point in time, I had a long anime phase. But some of my favorite shows are Breaking Bad, Better Call Saul, Game of Thrones, before the last season for obvious reasons, and The Boys on Netflix which I highly recommend.
What was your favorite anime?
I feel like, for pure nostalgia, the first thing that comes to mind is Dragon Ball Z. I grew up watching this TV show and Dragon Ball Super. Pretty big on that. In terms of pure quality, Full Metal Alchemist.
Hometown
East Bay Danville, it's 30 minutes east of Berkeley.
Professional experience
I was interning over at Amazon back in 2019 and it was pretty fun I guess, but I felt like I kind of overcorrected and then I wasn't doing any math anymore. I felt like before, positions I had were all math and not enough CS, and in software it was all CS and not enough math. So I talked to some people who told me my skills would be better suited to quantitative finance. So that's where I'm working right now. I work in quantitative research at a high frequency trading firm called Hudson River Trading, and will be returning there next year full time.
Other campus involvements
When first starting out at Berkeley I did try some clubs at first, but SUSA, now known as SAAS, really stuck out to me. And I've been in SAAS since my sophomore/junior year.
Past committees
I have since then been an advisor for three semesters now and it's been pretty fun. Doing lots of recruiting workshops and class advice.
What was your takeaway from these committees?
But I'd definitely say my initial years were particularly informative as a CX member and director in the club.
How has SAAS helped you with your career/professional development (e.g. decide on a career path, learning new skills)
SAAS provided me with career and job application experience, resume and professional development experience, and increased exposure to a plethora of jobs and industries in which I could work.
Favorite class
CS 189: Came in with theoretical math, over time I picked up stats and CS. This class was where my interest intersected with the math, stats and CS. Stat 155: Game theory. Didn't have much CS but in terms of theory it was my favorite, and it covered multiple topics on games which is always fun. Math 113: Favorite pure math class.
Favorite professor
Josh Hug, CS61B professor. He always really cared about the students and was a very objective teacher. An example would be when some non-native English students had a difficult time understanding some English slang on a test one time and he worked on trying to resolve the problem.
Favorite Berkeley memory
It was my 21st birthday during my senior year. That was a fun time. I was really young too and most of my friends are already 21 by that point. So we just went out and had a really nice dinner first. It was also nice because it was my birthday and I got to be the center of attention. And I go to bring all of my friends that were from very different groups. I bought my friends from SAAS and then my friends from my other friend group from my freshman year, and friends from high school. It was very fun to see those different groups come together and just have a lot of fun. And then obviously the 21st birthday was just very lit generally.
Favorite place to study at on campus
I'm a big Moffitt guy. I would do all nighters and just sleep there a couple days in a row. Sometimes a few of my friends and I would take turns sleeping. Never did get around to trying the sleeping pods though. Always in high demand, and no lights for studying.
In your opinion, prettiest building on campus
Doe and Moffitt library.
Favorite restaurant
Pretty big on Taco Sinaloa. Also have very good memories and it's very close to campus.
Favorite boba shop
I like U-Cha, mostly because of the Bomberman. It's this extremely sugary milk drink. Extremely unhealthy but very tasty.
The website version of this interview was mildly edited for length and clarity.
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