diffbot team – Diffblog

Welcome Chun Han Hsiao – Senior Software Engineer

Jerome Choo • April 8, 2022

Hi there, my name is Chun Han and I’m a new Senior Software Engineer at Diffbot. I started programming as a senior in high school and have enjoyed it a lot. I then started studying Computer Science at National Central University in Taiwan.

While I worked as a Software Engineer for several companies, I enjoyed contributing to some open source projects and being a part of the community. I contributed to many projects like Netty, Mitmproxy, ModelMapper, and Trino. I enjoyed learning from those experiences, and working with different people. Afterwards, I started my own project, Nitmproxy (or Netty-in-the-middle proxy). This project started as a personal project, but never knew it would be used by someone other than me. I’m surprised and really appreciate that now it was used by Diffbot. I’m glad that my work really solves problems and is used by other people.

I’m excited about my new journey with Diffbot. I feel there are so many things I can do here. From working on different projects, to improving my skills, and growing with the company.

Welcome Elena Czubiak – Software Engineer & Designer

Jerome Choo • February 18, 2022

Hi! I’m Elena Czubiak and I recently joined Diffbot as a Software Engineer & Designer. My dual role reflects the fun and winding road my career has taken through tech.

One of my first jobs was as the help center writer for Gmail and Inbox (RIP), where I facilitated or observed hundreds of hours of UX research. I learned that it doesn’t matter how “tech-savvy” a user is, everyone prefers to use products that are more obvious and simple than subtle and clever. From there I became a Program Manager and helped investigate and solve the biggest issues users faced for a variety of Google products.

I always knew I had a technical side that wasn’t quite satisfied by my fancy spreadsheets. So I got serious about learning to code and completed an immersive software engineering program. Afterwards, I was ready to try something different and be able to both code and design, so I developed and launched my own app for iOS & Android, and built interesting web apps for clients.

At Diffbot I get to use the combination of all of my experiences and interests to design and build user-focused tools.

On a typical Saturday, you’ll find me taking a long walk through Berkeley while listening to podcasts, stopping to read a book in a beautiful park, and ending the day with a night at the movies.

Welcome Ananya Gupta – Machine Learning Engineer

Jerome Choo • November 19, 2021

Hi! My name is Ananya Gupta and I’m from India. I recently joined Diffbot as a Machine Learning Engineer. I got interested in coding when I was in eighth grade. It led me to pursue my Bachelor’s from NIT Allahabad in information technology.

I gradually developed interest in machine learning, fascinated by the capabilities of the neural networks. I decided to do a deep dive into machine learning. I did my Master’s in Computer Science from Umass Amherst. I liked studying natural language processing (NLP), machine learning (ML) and computer vision (CV). My research was based on making sure that machine learning systems are fair and unbiased, and ensuring high probability guarantees of safety.

My goal is to build NLP and CV systems which can be used to solve real world problems. I feel very fortunate to be working at Diffbot! I also like traveling, hiking, and cooking.

Welcome Bhabesh Chanduka – Machine Learning Engineer

Jerome Choo • October 29, 2021

Hey everyone, I’m Bhabesh Chanduka. I recently joined Diffbot as a Machine Learning Engineer. I currently work on DiffbotAPI, where my work revolves around developing algorithms for web data extraction.

I spent the entirety of my childhood and teen years in the city of Bangalore. I did my Bachelors in Information Technology from the National Institute of Technology, Karnataka, Surathkal (which is one of the few universities in the world to have a private beach).

Soon after this, I came to the US to pursue my Master’s in Computer Science at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst where I developed a keen interest in the field of Knowledge Graphs. I strongly feel that Knowledge Graphs are the key to truly realize the potential of Artificial Intelligence.

Having said that, I’m super excited to start my career at Diffbot. In my free time I like to play chess, swim, bike and play video games.

Welcome Will Hare – Sales Development Representative

Kevin Luu • May 12, 2020

Hello everyone! William (Hare) here, but you can call me Will. I will be joining the sales team at Diffbot as a Sales Development Representative. I am looking forward to meeting everyone – eventually in person – and welcome any opportunity now for a virtual get-together.

I have always been interested in problem solving and negotiation for mutual benefit, i.e sales! I was actually hired for my first sales job at 14 years old when I was hanging out at the local lacrosse store and started talking with customers about equipment. Ultimately, I was able to refine my skills to not only guide people into the gear and “cosmetics” that would fit them best, but also learned to love the client facing aspect of the job.

As I moved through college at Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo, I became very interested in technology. I was able to work an internship with a team doing inside sales at Uber for a new project for on demand delivery, and fell in love with the sales development process. After that internship, I went into the wine industry and worked as a tasting room associate at a local winery, learning as much as I could about wine, the industry, and the nuances of pouring. After I graduated, I became the first Sales Development Representative at a small social engagement start-up in Palo Alto working directly with the CEO on sales development and strategy. Once I saw the breadth of Diffbot and understood its mission, I was immediately intrigued. I now consider myself extremely fortunate to be a part of the team!

On a personal note, I love hiking, snowboarding, and wine. I also coach high school lacrosse (go PALY Vikings). Once we are back in the office, I am looking forward to using the pool table and organizing a tournament.

I’m absolutely thrilled to join the sales team at Diffbot and engage with prospective clients to understand the power and vision of the company!

Welcome Jerome Choo – Director of Growth Marketing

Kevin Luu • May 12, 2020

Hello! My name is Jerome Choo and I lead Growth Marketing at Diffbot. I spent the majority of my childhood in Singapore, eventually moving to Atlanta, GA, for high school and college where I started a career in biomedical engineering. My research focus, mostly unintended, was on mammal urination. Since then, I’ve found a new passion in leading data driven growth teams. I’m fascinated with blending objective scientific rigor and problem first design to create seven star user experiences. I’m pumped to help Diffbot solve the absolutely essential function of accessible structured data for everyone!

Welcome Andrew Harrold – Data Curator

Kevin Luu • March 13, 2020

Hello! My name is Andrew Harrold, a new data curator at Diffbot!

I was born and raised in Denver Colorado, and studied economics at the University of California, Berkeley. During my time at Berkeley, I took on a senior thesis which involved looking at the relationship between employee sentiment (scraped employee review data) and stock market returns.

Needless to say, I have a passion for data and love the many creative ways it can be used to derive meaningful insights; specifically within machine learning and web-scraping technology. Diffbot takes on the challenge of exracting data to find meaning out of chaos and can be used to help a wide range of businesses solve problems— which I am all about. I am very excited to join a talented team with such awesome technology!

Welcome Maosheng Guo – Machine Learning Engineer

Kevin Luu • February 18, 2020

Hello there! My name is Maosheng Guo and I am from China. I had just started recently as a Machine Learning Engineer in the research group. It’s my great pleasure to join the Diffbot family!

When pursuing my Ph.D. at the Harbin Institute of Technology, I focused my research on recognition, extraction and generating the reasoning relations in natural language (i.e., Textual Entailment and Natural Language Inference). During this time, I successfully improved several question-answering and dialogue systems/chatbots using inference techniques. On the one hand, reasoning in natural language is inseparable from the accumulation of knowledge. On the other hand, inference techniques also help the construction of knowledge graphs. When I learned about the Diffbot’s mission to build the first comprehensive map of human knowledge, I decided to join without any hesitation.

As for my hobbies, I enjoy traveling and doing outdoor sports in my free time. When I am not outdoors, I also find playing online party games with friends exciting. I am excited to start my new adventure at Diffbot!

Welcome Eriq Huang – UX Design Intern

Kevin Luu • January 16, 2020

Hi there! My name is Eriq Huang, a new User Experience (UX) Design intern at Diffbot!

I grew up in China. Currently, I am studying Web Design & New Media at Academy of Art University. I have been a visual designer for 6 years with multidisciplinary design skills in the area of UX, brand strategy, visual presentation, and ergonomics. The reason why UX is so fascinating to me is that I derive huge satisfaction by creating solutions that can positively impact people’s lives and their behavior.

As for my hobbies, I’m currently diving into aerial cinematography. I take my equipment with me whenever I travel so I can share stories of my journey.

Diffbot has solid technologies and approaches that solve the problem of acquiring human knowledge, and this is the exact problem that will be encountered whether in your daily life or business use cases. We possess a common vision of solving the user’s problem by addressing technology and design into sophisticated solutions. This is the reason why I joined Diffbot. I hope that I can contribute my own strength to the team by utilizing my multidisciplinary design approaches.

I look forward to starting my new journey here at Diffbot!

Welcome Ben Lin – Account Executive

Kevin Luu • December 30, 2019

Hi Everyone! My name is Ben and I’m joining Diffbot as an Account Executive.

I grew up in the Bay Area and attended school at UC Berkeley studying economics. During my time there, I became interested in Data Science and Machine Learning and how this emerging field would play a key role in business operations. I knew I wanted to pursue a career that would enable me to work on both the technical and business sides of a product.

After graduation, I began working at a Machine Learning startup called Vidora. I dove right into sales being their only sales hire and worked closely with the CEO to prospect, generate meetings, and close deals. During my tenure at Vidora, I realized that I was missing the technical knowledge to resonate with Data Scientists, CTOs, and engineering teams. I then enrolled in a data science bootcamp, Metis, a 3 month full-time program that taught basic coding, statistics, and machine learning models and pipelines. Having experience in web scraping and data collection, Diffbot is truly building a world-class product and I’m excited to be a part of the team and contribute to the growth.

On a personal note – I love watching basketball (Go Dubs!), MMA, and going to concerts. I also enjoy hiking and adventuring so I try to go to at least one new trail every month. I look forward to my adventure here at Diffbot!