Andy Zhang - From early Figma to design engineer at Windsurf

This week's episode is with Andy Zhang who was the lead design engineer at Windsurf. So we're going to shine a light on all of the ways you can make an impact as a design engineer including:

• Owning more of the frontend polish
• Thinking through design patterns and packaging features
• Bridging the gap between technical features and intuitive UX
• Saying “no” to features to preserve the simplicity of the system

He also shares some great stories and advice including:

• What it was like working as an intern at Figma with <10 people
• How designers can start to get more comfortable with code
• How he taps into his experience as a PM at Uber while selecting the right design process
• a lot more

• Rasmus Andersson (https://x.com/rsms) - Designer/engineer at Figma, mentor to Andy
• Kevin Hou (https://x.com/kevinhou22?lang=en) - Lead product engineering at Windsurf, Andy’s basketball teammate who helped him get the job