Effective Altruism Forum
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Antony Henao

Founder @ The Utopian Engineering Society
6 karmaJoined Pursuing a graduate degree (e.g. Master's)Pursuing a doctoral degree (e.g. PhD)Working (6-15 years)Medellín, Medellin, Antioquia, Colombia
substack.com/@ajhenaor

Bio

I work at the intersection of Organizational Development, Learning & Development, and Engineering.

My most notable achievements include:
- Led and scaled the Data Engineering Department at Factored (an AI Fund company backed by Andrew Ng), growing the team from 12 to 70 engineers.
- Managed a team of 14 direct reports and 70 indirect reports, including Engineering Managers and Individual contributors.
- Conducted 100+ interviews to identify top engineering talent across LATAM.
- Mentored 50+ engineers, guiding them through personalized career paths and goals.
- Led two data engineering training programs, training over 20 engineers 
- Designed the initial curriculum for the DeepLearning.AI - Coursera Data Engineering Specialization.

Beyond my work in engineering, I’m passionate about Writing, Philosophy, Buddhism, and Ethics. Some of my achievements include:

- Published 20+ technical articles on Medium, reaching ~500k views (https://ajhenaor.medium.com/).
- Founded The Utopian Engineering Society on Substack, where I share ideas to help engineers build meaningful and impactful careers (Link).
- Founded Echoes of Aliveness on Substack, where I explore themes related to life, mindfulness, philosophy, and Buddhism (Link).
- Featured by Parallax Press in The Mindfulness Bell (Link).

How others can help me

Recommend organizations aligned with my interests.

How I can help others

- Organizational Development (how to build people-centered organizations).
- Leadership & Management.
- Data Engineering.
- Career development, coaching, and mentoring.
- How to reduce suffering in human being.
- Engaged Buddism.

Comments
4

Open thread: April - June 2025
Antony Henao1
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The last link that you shared is also helpful. I didn't know about the groups. 

Thank you for sharing!

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Open thread: April - June 2025
Antony Henao1
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Hey Toby! Thanks for replying. I didn't know about them. Thanks for pointing me in that direction. Really appreciate it.

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Open thread: April - June 2025
Antony Henao7
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Hi everyone! I'm Antony, and I work at the intersection of Data Engineering, People Development, Organizational Development, and Research/Writing.

A little bit more about me...

Three things I care about:

  • Helping people to build meaningful and impactful careers.
  • Designing organizations that become drivers of social change.
  • Voicing ideas to help people understand how the world works and how they can make a change.

Three things I'm good at:

  • Identifying inefficiencies and designing solutions with a deep understanding of what makes people and organizations thrive.
  • Creating frameworks to systematically approach complex problems.
  • Researching deeply and communicating insights clearly, because I believe solutions start with understanding.

Three things I have experience with:

  • Engineering Management. I scaled up a data engineering department from 12 to 70 engineers for an AI Fund company backed by Andrew Ng, managing a team of 14 direct reports and 70 indirect reports.
  • Mentoring. I've mentored over 50+ engineers over my career, helping them to gain clarity on what they want and how to approach challenges they face.
  • Writing. I've published more than 20+ technical articles on Medium (~500k views), and I'm now currently building The Utopian Engineering Society.

I’d love to connect with people and organizations working at these intersections. While I’ve been following the EA movement for a couple of years, my involvement has been passive. But I’m now actively looking to change that.

If you know anyone, please point me in the right direction or just say hi. You can also connect with me on LinkedIn.

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AI Moral Alignment: The Most Important Goal of Our Generation
Antony Henao1
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I like the idea of more compassionate models. Thanks for sharing, Ronen.

I noticed you are a Vippasana practitioner. Have you read the Diamond Sutra?

For instance, in the Diamond Sutra, practitioners are invited to let go of:

  • The notion of "self"
  • The notion of "human being"
  • The notion of "living beings"
  • The notion of "life span"

Practicing the insights of this sutra has led me to develop a more compassionate and less anthropocentric view of the world.

I would like to know your take on how Buddhist ethics can help propel the field of moral alignment forward.

Here are some books that might be of interest to you if you are curious about the Diamond sutra and Buddhist universal ethics:

  • Zen and the Art of Saving the Planet by Thich Nhat Hanh
  • Good Citizens: Creating Enlightened Society by Thich Nhat Hanh

Thanks for sharing.

Reply