About Simulated Annealing

If you like to read about technology, software engineering, creativity, and good books, this is the newsletter for you! You can also check out my writing on my blog.

Simulated annealing is a statistical algorithm in computer science and applied math, used to approximate the globally optimal solution in large search spaces when time is a significant constraint. The term is based on the technique of annealing in metallurgy which alters a material to improve its physical properties.

The algorithm is the inspiration for this newsletter because it’s a perfect analogy for my interests—that is, the intersection between key technological concepts and real-world phenomena. I’ve written more than 4,000 words on how you can generalize simulated annealing to be an effective framework for making life decisions, so I pretty much have to double down at this point.

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About Vivian 👋

By day, I am an engineer and product thinker. I am currently a software engineer at Meta building iOS infrastructure for mobile apps. Previously, I was Head of Engineering at an early-stage B2B SaaS startup and a mobile engineer at Pinterest.

I currently live in London with my husband and our border collie, Knuckles. Before that, we lived in Oakland and San Francisco for a decade. We also spent a year abroad in Tokyo. I was born and raised in the magical swamplands of Orlando, Florida.

I’ve also written a book based on our year living and traveling in Japan. Check it out — Autumn: A Local’s Guide to Travel in Japan.