Asians & Gingers in Tech

Hi, my name is Hoi aka Hoiboy!

After 32+ years of extensive research* I’ve concluded that Asians and Gingers naturally end up becoming friends.

*Research = my life.

To formalise this groundbreaking discovery, I’ve created a home dedicated to bringing Asians and Gingers together.

Welcome to Asians & Gingers in Tech!

Networking? Friendship? World domination? We’ll see.

Come join the weirdest niche community. 🧡🤝

Our group rules

  • Be kind.
  • Be respectful.
  • Jokes are welcome (if they’re funny).
  • Sarcasm is welcome too (if it’s actually funny).
  • Asian jokes? Fine.
  • Ginger jokes? Also fine.
  • Racism? Absolutely not.
  • Being rude? Also not.

Join and follow us

Help build this

Right now the meetups are London only, because that’s where I am. It’s not meant to stay that way.

If you want to run a real-life event, in London or in your own city, get in touch. I’ll help you set it up, or just talk you through building the community where you are.

And if you simply want to be part of this and help build it, come and say hello. I’m one man, and I can always use the help. If you’re willing to put the work in, because building a community is work, I’ll happily bring you into the team. We do this together, city by city.

Email me at [email protected].

Why we exist

Let me be honest about why I built this, beyond the joke.

I’m Asian. I grew up surrounded by ginger mates. And a lot of us shared the same wiring: head down, get the work done, don’t make a fuss. We rarely ask for the pay rise. We rarely chase the promotion. We just quietly do good work and let someone louder take the credit.

I know how that feels, because I live it. I’m ADHD, OCD, and probably dyslexic. School made me feel stupid for 30 years. A lot of us are wired a bit differently, and that same wiring is often exactly what makes us good at what we do. It’s also why we sometimes go quiet and stay out of the spotlight.

I’m not here to speak for anyone or put a label on you. I can only tell you who I am. What I want is a space where you can tell me who you are, on your own terms.

Because here’s the bit nobody says out loud: the quiet ones are holding a lot of it up. The fixes that never got a thank you. The systems that just work, so nobody notices. Real value, real contribution to businesses and the economy, done by people who never asked to be seen.

So this is a home. A place for the heads-down, get-shit-done crowd to be themselves, share their story, and finally get a bit of the light they’ve earned. You don’t have to become someone louder to belong here. Just come as you are.

And if you’re not Asian or ginger? You’re welcome here too, genuinely. In fact, we want you here. Because a lot of us only got the promotion, the pay rise, the moment in the light, because someone who wasn’t like us noticed the work and said something out loud. You saw us when we wouldn’t put our own hand up. That mattered more than you know. So come and be part of it, and help us shine a light on the people who never ask for it themselves. That support is the whole point.

That’s why Asians & Gingers in Tech exists. The name makes you smile. The reason underneath is real.

(self-promotion for people who hate self-bragging)

This is a feature series for the quiet, heads-down people doing brilliant work. You’ve got the bragging rights. You just never feel the need to flex them. So let us do the flexing for you. A submission form is coming soon so you can share your story and get featured. For now, join us on any of our channels and say hello. Even a lurk-and-wave counts.

Here’s what a feature looks like. I’ll go first.

Hoi aka Hoiboy

Hoi aka Hoiboy. Before all the AI stuff, I spent eight years at Canonical, the company behind Ubuntu. My title said Data Centre Engineer the whole time. Flat organisation, and I never needed a new title to prove what I could do.

What I quietly did: the role outgrew the title almost straight away. Data Centre Engineer on paper, but in practice the infrastructure architect, the procurement lead, the project manager (PMP certified) and the data centre manager, all at once, running the sites largely on my own for years. I designed and rolled out Canonical’s cloud data centres across London, Boston and Taipei, mentored the engineers who came after me, sat across the table from everyone from contractors to the COO, and negotiated the supplier deals down hard enough to save the business a small fortune. Whatever I was handed, I gave back in better shape than I found it. Nobody threw a party for any of it. The work just spoke for itself, even when the title didn’t. That is usually how it goes for the quiet ones.

The identity bit: classic Asian introvert. Head down, headphones on, let the work talk. I’m ADHD, OCD and probably dyslexic, which is either a gift or the reason I’ve rewritten this sentence four times.

The flex, nothing to do with tech: I started dancing at 28, the only bloke in a room full of women. I went and found teachers, practised and practised, explored, and kept a curious mind wide open. The hard knocks humbled me, and that is exactly how I got good. Years later I’d helped build one of the biggest Brazilian Zouk communities around. The learning never really stops, and I’m glad it doesn’t.

Tech tip: don’t let the AI lead, you lead it. A good harness (rules, guardrails, review gates) beats a clever prompt every time. If you are still prompting constantly, you are doing it inefficiently. Learn to build a harness, or easier: mine is public, so point your AI at it and ask it to build one into your own setup using mine as a framework. github.com/hoiung/sst3-ai-harness

Life tip: you don’t have to become the loud one to get noticed. Do the work, then let someone you trust point at it. That’s what this group is for.

To anyone reading who never puts their hand up: your work is worth more than your comfort with self-promotion. Come say hello, and we’ll do the shouting for you.