About Me

Background

I started programming when I was around 8 years old - I was introduced by my dad to Fox Pro and GameMaker. They were easy-to-use visual programming tools that were comprehensible for me even at that age, and made a few simple games (though I had far greater aspirations), a calculator, and some simple text adventures.

The next defining step in developing my programming expertise took place towards the end of high school, when I signed up for a programming competition organized by the University of Waterloo. I was disappointed by my performance and took it upon myself to improve. I built many different small tools, like a chat room and a server, and decided to combine them all together to make a game - that way I could get my friends to help test it out! This game ended up being Pew Pew Pew Game, a formative project on which I spent over 500 hours.

Work History

I've had the great fortune to intern at a great diversity of companies, starting with game development at Relic Entertainment. I then went on to work on the Canvas team at Microsoft, before pivoting to more financial roles on the Fixed Income and Derivatives team at Morgan Stanley, and the Risk Analytics team at GTS. I then took a semester to do an enterprise co-op, whereby I had the opportunity to treat a project of my choice as a startup, and work for myself for a semester (this is when I did most of the development for Amitue and Rysumy). For my last internship, I decided to try working at a "real" startup, and work with AI in a work environment, so I joined Boosted AI.

Leadership Roles

In addition to volunteering for various clubs/events on campus, I've also served in several leadership positions. I was elected as the Vice President of the Computer Science Club for two semesters, as well as the CFM Representative (representing students of my program in our faculty's student council - MathSoc) for a semester. Moreover, I've been a member of the Student Venture Fund (SVF) for five semesters, being the first student to do so. Of those five semesters, I served two as a Senior Associate, and one as an Associate.

Interests

I'm passionate about growth and self-development, and actively frame my goals within this context. I believe that introspection and self-understanding are critical, and I therefore enjoy learning about and discussing philosophy and psychology. Recently, I've found myself leaning towards Aristotelian philosophy, on account of the emphasis on balance and context - I believe both are critical, and solid guiding principles for decision making.

In addition, I'm naturally drawn to computer science, and programming in particular, which I see as a logical extension of my interest in growth, because programming is - to me - problem-solving at scale. I've also dabbled with hardware (like Arduinos), which I enjoy, but needing physical components makes the process slower and not so easily scalable.

Outside of these more intellectual pursuits, I try to stay active and enjoy soccer, swimming, bouldering, and whatever other activities my friends come up with. I also enjoy cooking and baking, as I found that eating well plays an important role in feeling happy and fulfilled.

Beyond all of this, I believe in being in an on-going state of curiosity. Many of my interests ebb and flow, and I think it is important to always keep an open mind and try new things, because you can never know where they'll take you.