About Me

Even as a toddler, I was fascinated with how things work. My parents tell stories of how before I could talk, I would lean over the side of the stroller to watch the wheels roll or swing the bathroom door back and forth, studying the hinges. As I grew up, this innate interest bloomed into a love for technology and dreams of the future. When I was six years old, I took apart my dad's computer in an attempt to make a robot. In elementary school, while other kids played video games during indoor recess, I would draw blueprints for the flying car I dreamed of constructing.

When I was eight years old, my dad shared with me an article he found about a coding camp where kids could learn how to make video games. Being a somewhat avid video game player myself, I often daydreamed about making my own video games, but until this point, I had never realized it was something kids could do. My curiosity was piqued. That night, I found a free programming course online and began working through the modules of my own volition. Even though I wasn't learning how to make games, I immediately fell in love with coding. From that point on I've been engulfed in the world of computer science.

By continuing to challenge myself and pursue my interests, I've learned many programming languages, experimented with machine learning, and built robots in my free time. These experiences helped me discover my love for programming, problem-solving, and engineering. To me, programming is the art of speaking to technology and harnessing the awesome power of computers to do amazing things. Throughout my life, it has been a tool that lets me transform my ideas into reality. My ultimate goal is to use technology to bring the future to the present and make the world a better place.

For as long as I can remember, I've craved challenge. I've always had a learn-by-doing mentality, jumping straight into the deep end even when I have no idea where to begin. That's just how I'm wired. If something sparks my curiosity, I dive in and figure it out along the way.

Each project I take on leads to the next, becoming more ambitious and further outside my comfort zone. I started learning C# because I wanted to make video games. That eventually turned into building multiplayer networking systems, AI pathfinding, and complex state machines. When I got tired of manually adjusting my alarm clock, I built my own from scratch. That meant learning how to wire circuits, use a soldering iron, and program microcontrollers. When I wanted to replicate my handwriting with a robot, I dove into Stanford lectures on neural networks, trained an RNN model, and wrote a full SVG-to-motion pipeline. One day I thought building an autonomous drone would be cool, so I spent hundreds of dollars on parts, and two years later, I completed the project with a full-stack flight system and a whole lot of drone expertise to show for it. When I wanted to level up my mobile dev skills, I gave myself 24 hours to build a TikTok clone, even though I had no clue what I was doing. A few weeks later, I launched my first app on the App Store.

Every time I hit a wall, I taught myself what I needed to know and just kept going. Creativity set the destination, logic was the path I took, and hard work propelled me along. The more I pushed through, the more confidence I gained, not just in what I knew but in my ability to figure things out, learn new things, and reach my goals. Along the way, I've learned to treat failure as a stepping stone, not a dead end. I've blown through savings on a failed startup, lost weeks debugging broken code, and chased down ideas that didn't pan out. But I never stopped. Each setback gave me another data point, another reason to keep building.

What I've realized is this: if I can learn anything, I can do anything. That opens up infinite possibilities. My philosophy of aiming high, starting even when I don't know where to begin, and pushing through struggle with grit and determination has contributed so much to who I am today. Each success underscores the importance of never giving up and gives me the confidence to dream big.

I've discovered that through a combination of creativity, logic, ambition, and resolve, I can make my dreams a reality.

If you've browsed my projects, it may seem like I do a little bit of everything. One minute I'm evolving virtual snakes; the next, I'm launching a TikTok clone or building an autonomous drone that picks up dog poop. I've seen those posts on LinkedIn, the ones from recruiters who say they don't like to see a variety of different projects on a resume. They argue that no one can be good at everything, so it's better to show mastery in one domain. “A jack of all trades is a master of none,” they say. I have a few disagreements with this.

First off, if you've been programming every waking moment of your life since you were eight years old, it's entirely possible to get pretty damn good at a lot of things. Most recruiters probably discount this possibility, maybe because it's rare to find a candidate so chronically low on "life balance." But beyond raw hours, I believe there's a deeper benefit to breadth of knowledge. If I had only ever built websites since I learned to code, sure, I'd be a better frontend developer than I am now. But I'd be missing something much more valuable.

Because I've worked across so many domains—robotics, video games, embedded systems, AI—I've developed a kind of muscle memory for solving problems across contexts. That breadth gives me a unique perspective. I can draw on ideas from seemingly unrelated fields and approach problems from angles others might never consider.

When I built my TikTok app, for example, I used vector embeddings and clustering techniques I first explored during robotics research to power a recommendation system. Geometric algorithms I originally implemented for video game bot pathfinding turned out to be perfect for optimizing motion on a pen plotter robot. Even multiplayer game dev concepts like lag compensation and client-side prediction helped when integrating high-latency object detection into a drone platform running on the edge.

Every project sharpened my intuition and gave me another lens to look through. And it's not just that I can apply insights across domains. I've developed a visceral knowledge of the problem space itself. The one constant across all my projects? I had to solve hard problems. That combination of breadth, creative reframing, and thousands of reps in the arena is what sets me apart. I've seen enough edge cases and built enough real systems that I don't just solve problems, I solve them faster, and from angles most people miss.

If you're looking for someone to churn out boilerplate CRUD apps and cookie-cutter landing pages, there are plenty of AI chatbots for that. But if you want someone who gets fired up by the unsolved, who wakes up wired to wrestle with complexity, who thrives on flipping problems inside out and attacking them from unconventional angles, who shows up ready to tackle difficult problems with ferocity, passion, and a deep love of the game, then you're in luck, because that is the stuff I live for.

I'm usually filling up all my free time with side projects, many of which you can find on the “Projects” page. Honestly, those are my main source of fun. But I like to engage my brain in other areas too, and even touch grass sometimes.

When I'm not programming all night, I'm usually chasing down something else that feels like a challenge. In the car, at the gym, or while cooking an elaborate meal, I'm constantly working through a podcast or nonfiction audiobook. My interests range from psychology and biology to biographies, politics, business, philosophy, and self-help. Basically anything that makes me want to pause and take notes. Before bed, I wind down with fiction, from high fantasy to crime thrillers. And when I need a mental reset, a long run or any intense physical activity is my go-to. With all that information input, I eventually needed an outlet. So for one semester last year, I hosted a podcast with friends where we debated controversial ideas and sharpened our ability to argue thoughtfully, or at least loudly.

YouTube is my go-to filler activity if I need a moment to relax during the day. I use it to keep up with politics, tech news, project inspiration from other makers, and whatever funny reaction videos the algorithm throws my way. Over time, my own YouTube channel has become a creative outlet where I get a chance to explore my passion for communicating, teaching, entertaining, and video-editing.

When I'm with friends, I'm usually in the middle of something active, competitive, or chaotic. Pickleball matches, intramural soccer games, spirited debates, board games, or full-blown Overwatch meltdowns. I'm the one yelling callouts and sweating the scoreboard.

I've also taken deep dives into writing and ecommerce. In high school, between soccer practice, AP classes, and running the Computer Science club, I threw myself into building dropshipping stores, mastering Facebook Ads, optimizing copy, and chasing high-converting funnels. Back in middle school, I spent nearly a year writing a 40,000 word fantasy book that ended up winning our school's novel-writing competition. One of my favorite fun facts: I earned my black belt in Taekwondo when I was in sixth grade, after five years of commitment.

I'm set to graduate college in about a year, and I've been thinking a lot about what's next. I'm a little overwhelmed by all the different paths I could take, but I guess that is a good problem to have. Part of me is seriously considering a PhD in robotics. I've been deeply involved doing research in the field throughout undergrad, and I genuinely love working on hard problems at the bleeding edge. At the same time, my experience working at a small startup this past summer flipped a switch for me. I loved the fast pace, the extreme ownership, and the fact that I could wear a bunch of different hats and actually see the impact of what I was building. Long term, I want to find a company or a team whose mission I believe in, somewhere I can use technology to make the world better in a way that actually matters. And, of course, there's the entrepreneurship itch I've had forever. I've got a list of business ideas that keeps me up at night, not because I think they're all winners, but because I don't have the time to chase them down. Eventually, I'd love to channel my obsession with creative problem solving, my ability to focus on long-term projects, and my love for building into something of my own.