I first met Xibin in September of 2000 when I interviewed him for a spot on my team at Connexn. I remember I liked him from the start. The summary at the top of my interview notes says, “Sincere, humble, good potential.” I was building a team to do telecom software in Java. Xibin didn’t have any professional Java experience, and for most software managers, this would have disqualified him, but I hired him anyway. Fast study is one of the most important skills for a software developer, and Xibin showed me he was a fast study in the interview. He treated my hard technical questions as opportunities to learn. The tech bubble wasn’t over yet, and I had interviewed hundreds of developers who couldn’t admit they didn’t know something, and would try to fudge answers. Xibin did the opposite, answering as best he could, then quizzing me on whether there was a better answer, an additional detail I would share, or a nuance he had overlooked. He took every opportunity to turn the interview into an advanced Java lesson. - John Kaplan