Andrew Hua

Super excited to share that our Week 3 project for the Headstarter SWE Fellowship is done! This time, we built a customer support chatbot for Silver Spoons, a fine-dining restaurant. The chatbot handles all sorts of things—answering questions about the menu, telling you when the restaurant’s open, and even booking reservations for you. 🍽️🤖 Just drop in the details, and it’s all set! We put this together using: - Next.js and TypeScript for the front-end. - AWS Bedrock, Gemini 1.5 pro and Meta LLaMA 3 70B for the AI smarts. - MUI for the UI. - Firebase for the backend. Our main goal was to make it work smoothly, so the UI isn’t super flashy, but it gets the job done. Big thanks to my teammate, Harrison Akunne and the whole Headstarter team for their support! 🙌 Also big shout out to Bill Zhang and Yasin Ehsan 🚀 for all the support provided. Curious about how it works? Check it out here: https://lnkd.in/ddG3qRrq Can’t wait to tackle what’s next! 🚀 #TechJourney #AI #Chatbot #HeadstarterFellowship #NextJS #AWS #LLaMA3 #Firebase

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I've gotten some messages from fellow Illini asking about my professional experience and if I have any advice on becoming a software engineer, so I thought I would make one post for everyone to benefit from! Here goes... I originally went to UIUC to study physics. I realized that my ambitions were better aligned with Computer Science + Crop Sciences – a weird mix I never thought I'd hear, humorously known as "double CS" – and transferred into the major in the fall of 2021. In no time, I was in love with the subject and determined to become a software engineer in Chicago. With two incredible mentors, a lot of time, hard work, and a bit of luck, I made it happen – and SO CAN YOU! How? • Focus on truly understanding your CS course material until you could explain it to a five-year-old. A poor grade doesn't immediately indicate a lack of understanding of a topic, and a good grade doesn't always mean there was true understanding of a topic! • Join CS-related clubs and become a course assistant for your CS class(es). • Create personal projects outside of school. • Find a group of peers to go through this wonderful process with. Ask your study groups if they know of any job-searching groups you could join, or make one with your study group – because you do have a study group, right? 😉 • Attend your school's career fairs. Practice your elevator pitch, polish up your LinkedIn, GitHub, and resume, and get some professional business clothing. • Practice, practice, practice. Practice your "STAR" method responses to behavioral interview questions and practice your technical interview questions. • Apply, apply, apply. Apply some more. Then double the amount of applications you have. Then double it again. I’ll expand upon most of these bullet points in separate posts because there's a bit more to say for them. For now, consider this an elementary guideline and research anything you're unsure of. There's a lot of good advice out there. Then check back here to see if I provide any new advice! Most importantly, *enjoy* every part of the process! See you in the next post :)

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1️⃣2️⃣ Takeaways from Mofi Rahman's Talk with Headstarter AI SWE Fellows: I recently attended a session with Mofi Rahman, a Developer Relations Engineer from Google, and Headstarter AI's CEO, Yasin Ehsan 🚀 at a Headstarter AI fellows meeting. Mofi shared invaluable insights from his career journey and practical advice for aspiring software engineers. Here are 12 things I learned: 1️⃣ Background and Journey 🛤️ Career Path: Mofi graduated in 2017 from City College of New York and held roles at IBM, Vonage, and now Google, focusing on Kubernetes and AI/ML workloads. 2️⃣ Hackathon Experience 🏆 Participation and Judging: Participated in 20-30 hackathons as a student and judged 30-40 more. Fellows should actively join hackathons for skill-building and networking. 3️⃣ Industry Insights 🌐 Broad Scope: Software engineering spans multiple industries. AI tools boost productivity but require a solid foundation. Fellows should broaden their industry knowledge. 4️⃣ Challenges in the Job Market 🚧 Increased Competition: The job market is tough. Fellows should focus on building strong portfolios and staying updated with industry trends. 5️⃣ Effective Learning 🧠 Practical Approach: Learning should be problem-driven. Fellows should engage in iterative learning through building and breaking projects. 6️⃣ Team Collaboration 🤝 Diverse Skill Sets: Successful teams have diverse skills. Fellows should seek team members with complementary skills and collaborate effectively. 7️⃣ Accountability and Structure 🗂️ Structured Programs: Programs like Headstarter AI provide accountability and structure, essential for consistent progress. Fellows should leverage these programs fully. 8️⃣ Navigating Career Paths 🚀 Multiple Tracks: Headstarter offers tracks for tech leadership, individual contributors, and entrepreneurs. Fellows should align their efforts with their career goals. 9️⃣ Learning AI 🤖 Practical Projects: Start with practical projects using tools like LangChain and Llama Index. Fellows will complete 5 AI projects in 7 weeks! 🔟 Building Effective Teams 🛠️ Non-Glorious Tasks: Teams succeed when members handle essential tasks. Fellows should be willing to take on all roles in a project. 1️⃣1️⃣ Career Advice 🎯 Networking and Collaboration: Actively network and participate in discussions. Set and prioritize long-term career goals. 1️⃣2️⃣ Feedback and Iteration 🔄 Continuous Improvement: Regularly seek and provide feedback. Embrace challenges to grow skills. Mofi Rahman’s insights are invaluable for anyone looking to succeed in the software engineering field, Thanks Mofi Rahman! 🧠🤝🏽 Looking forward to learning more from Top SWE Panels every Thursday night during Headstarter AI's Pathways to Tech Events in the Fellowship Community. Shoutout to Yasin Ehsan 🚀 & Faizan Ahmed for putting this all together ! 🤝🏽✅ #HeadstarterAI #CareerAdvice #SoftwareEngineering #AI #Hackathons #TeamCollaboration #Google #SWE (H.AI.OK Track Day 1 of Posting ✅)

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🚀 Introducing SpectrumX: Next-Generation Multi-Device Data Acquisition Software 🚀 After 8 months of development, I’m excited to share SpectrumX (Alpha), a cross-platform, high-performance, and fully reactive solution built from the ground up with TypeScript, React, and Rust. Key features: ⚙️ Device-API: Developers can write their own device plugins in TypeScript and seamlessly integrate them into the Spectrum runtime. 📊 WebGL charting: Capable of rendering over 10 million points per second on average hardware, maintaining smooth performance at 40 FPS. 🧵 Multi-threaded architecture: Handles data acquisition, database operations, and real-time calculations with optimal performance and stability. 🖥️ Cross-platform support: Runs on Windows, Mac, and Linux, ensuring wide accessibility for different environments. 🎨 Custom accessible UI components: Built with React for a responsive and user-friendly experience. With SpectrumX, we are trying to push the boundaries of what real-time data acquisition and analysis software can achieve. Check out the promo video to see it in action! #softwaredevelopment #typescript #rust #reactjs #webgl #dataacquisition #crossplatform

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🚀 Excited to share my new portfolio! 🚀 After hours of hard work and creativity, I’m thrilled to finally launch my personal portfolio, built using Next.js and styled with the amazing Tailwind CSS library! 💻✨ 🔗 Check it out here: https://lnkd.in/gTM9kZGT What you can find: 💼 A showcase of my latest projects, skills, and achievements as a Full-Stack Developer. 🎨 Clean and responsive UI, thanks to Tailwind CSS, ensuring it looks great on all devices! ⚡️ Fast performance and SEO-friendly, thanks to the power of Next.js. Why I built this: As someone passionate about web development, I wanted my portfolio to be a reflection of my skills and creativity. With Next.js, I got the flexibility and performance I needed, and Tailwind CSS allowed me to quickly build beautiful components without hassle. Feel free to reach out if you're interested in collaboration, feedback, or just a good tech discussion! 🤝 #NextJS #TailwindCSS #WebDevelopment #Portfolio #FullStackDeveloper #ReactJS #Frontend #TechCommunity

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