portfolio · 2026

Ali Shahzad

Computer Engineering @ UWaterloo

I build software that holds up under pressure, and the tests that prove it.

May – Aug 2025

Beem Solutions

Software Engineering Intern (Forward-Deployed)

Adapted a B2B AI voice-agent platform to each client's workflow with Python integrations into their databases, CRMs, and scheduling tools.

Worked directly with client engineers and stakeholders to review codebases, gather requirements, and plan integrations.

Merged email, phone, and social interactions into unified customer profiles for the voice agents.

Jun – Aug 2024

Punjab IT Board (PITB)

Mobile Development Intern

Halved app startup time by moving blocking initialization work to asynchronous operations.

Built and documented React Native screens with designers, wired to APIs, databases, and server components.

Wrote Laravel MVC backend code for apps handling national ID (CNIC) data; senior review found no security issues or bugs.

Python · FastAPI · JavaScript · SSE

Fraise

Browser workspace for training & testing language models

Launch training runs, compare checkpoints, and try models through streaming as-you-type autocomplete.

Validated forms, live loss charts and logs, and a graceful stop that saves a resumable checkpoint.

127-test suite, zero skips: exact checkpoint replay, compiled-model correctness, evaluation behaviour.

TypeScript · React · Bun · SQLite

Shale

Local-first personal knowledge base

Captures notes, email, and browsing into searchable local storage with a plug-in system for new sources.

Chrome extension with an offline IndexedDB outbox and backoff retries that survive network loss and restarts.

Safe AI-agent edits: scoped views, transactional writes, idempotency keys, dry-run preview, audit log.

Rust · Python · GitHub Actions

Deal or No Deal

Tested simulation & analysis CLI

Found, documented, and fixed three bugs in the original simulator.

Added 8 Rust and 26 Python tests, linting, an end-to-end demo, and Windows checks to CI.

Packaged an installable Python CLI for reproducible runs, plots, and model verification.

also

Smaller threads

watworks-mcp — MCP server that lets an agent find the WaterlooWorks jobs that suit you best

lobot-lang — A toy language built on Brainfuck with real conveniences, running on a stack-based VM

uwhpc-onboarding — UW High Performance Computing onboarding challenge

2026 – 2031

University of Waterloo

BASc, Computer Engineering

IB Diploma · SAT 1600/1600 · 100% Merit Scholarship

Tools

Languages
TypeScript, JavaScript, Python, SQL, Rust

Applications
React, React Native, Laravel, FastAPI, Bun, SQLite, AWS, IndexedDB, Chrome extensions

Quality & Tools
Git, GitHub Actions, pytest, Cargo, Regression testing, CI, Root-cause analysis