Karolina Xin - Computer Science Student



Karolina Xin

About Me


Hey, welcome to my website! I'm currently a Computer Science COOP student at the University of Waterloo. I am a bubbly, outgoing person, who loves to climb trees, go outdoors, and write during my spare time.

One of my favourite quotes is: "Success doesn't just come and find you, you have to go out and get it."

Feel free to contact me through my email as shown above. You can even email me to say a hello, or ask if chedder cheese is better than mozzarella.
You can even visit my blog at: karolinaxin.wordpress.com


My Blog



Work Experience


Web Developer Intern

NRX AssetHub

Newmarket | May 2018 - September 2018

    Powered by HubHead Corp., NRX provides maintenance, reliability, and operations professionals at asset-intensive businesses with world-class software solutions.


    Tasks:

    Enhanced website (Java Spring framework) by investigating and fixing input bugs by creating a regex for validation, properly escaping special characters, and creating new Angular directives to fix reload bugs

    Used data analytic platform, Qlik (with SQL), to manipulate and manage large quantities of data

    Created Selenium tests to ensure all changes made do not decrease the quality or functionality of the website


Software Engineer Intern

Toast Inc.

Boston | May 2017 - August 2017

    Toast, Inc. is a cloud-based restaurant software company, with its headquarters in Boston MA. The company provides a restaurant management and point of sale system built on the Android operating system. Since its beginnings in 2012, Toast has grown exponentially, with over 600 employees and winning multiple awards, such as in 2016, New England Venture Capital Association (NEVCA) named Toast the winner of the Hottest Startup.


    Tasks:

    Worked with databases (PostgreSQL), front-end (HTML, CSS, JavaScript), and backend (Java with controller, model, and views structure) in order to create new features and upgrade old ones to enhance user experience in Toast restaurant management system

    Created TAF (Selenium) and ITests for every project finished creating, while also debugging code and using Github for code review

    Audited user creation and modifications in postgres and hibernate

                                                             

Swim Instructor

North Toronto Aquatic Club

Toronto | Winter 2014 - Summer 2016


Assistant Swim Instructor

North Toronto Aquatic Club

Toronto | Fall 2013 - Winter 2014


Volunteer Experience


First-Year Representative Director

UWaterloo Math Society

Waterloo | Fall 2018

    MathSoc (i.e. Math Society) represents students in the Math Faculty and their interests which include the Math C&D cafe, mathNews, and student services (e.g. lounge space and exam bank).


    Tasks:

    Lead first-year representatives on organizing events to make first-year math students feel at home

    Will be hosting at least 4 major events per term

    Ensure first-years get their voice heard at Math Council


Microsoft Student Partner

Microsoft

Waterloo | Fall & Winter 2016/17

    Microsoft Student Program (MSP) is a student program that is in more than 110 countries around the world. MSP’s share their knowledge for technology towards other students, and inform them about what latest technologies Microsoft has to offer.


    Tasks:

    Co-organized events, such as Azure Day/Imagine Cup, by giving information at booths and planning ideas

    Learnt about Visual Studio, Virtual Reality, and chat bots through technical workshops organized by Microsoft

    Represent Microsoft at hackathons by assisting with demos and helping to answer any questions

                                                              Microsoft Student Partner


First-Year Rep

Math Society (i.e. MathSoc)

Waterloo | Fall & Winter 2016/17

    MathSoc (i.e. Math Society) represents students in the Math Faculty and their interests which include the Math C&D cafe, mathNews, and student services (e.g. lounge space and exam bank)


    Tasks:

    Largest turnout to our Math events (137 people), by organizing and advertising the events with 5 First-Year Reps

    Communicate between First-Years and the MathSoc Council so that they can get their voice heard

    Influenced decision on which clubs get money, and changes to the Math Faculty, by attending budget and general meetings

    Decide what the application for honorary lifetime membership is, and help with nominations

                                                              Math Soc

Director of Publicity

Women in Computer Science Committee (WiCS)

Waterloo | Winter 2017

    WiCS is a student-run committee that supports the success of women in computer science at the University of Waterloo, through events, mentorships, outreach programs, and support for cis, trans women, and non-binary individuals.


    Tasks:

    Advertised and informed Waterloo students about upcoming WiCS events to achieve large turn-outs, using Social Media sites, emails, posters, and word-of-mouth

    Collaborated with other WiCS members to shares roles, delegate tasks, and to plan future events

    Influenced decision on which clubs get money, and changes to the Math Faculty, by attending budget and general meetings

    Learnt github and putty terminal to use Internet Relay Chat (IRC

                                                              Women In Computer Science

Projects

Cozy Roads (September 2018)

    Using crowd-sourcing, users with authorized accounts can click on the map to mark dangerous points/routes through their knowledge or past experience. They then leave a small description on what misfortune(s) they may have encountered. Then when someone else wants to find a route from point A to B, Cozy Roads will take the dangers into consideration, and avoid them. Furthermore, through our use of a heat map, it is easy to see which areas are more dangerous than others.


    Tasks:

    This is a crowd-source application using in-depth Google Map APIs and Firebase.

    Android App encouraging positive outlook on life (mental health)

    Used Firebase, JavaScript, Java, HTML, CSS


Hello Good Day (February 2018)

    We created a mobile application that encourages students to once again, have a positive outlook on life and improve their mental health. Through the use of image recognition, students can take pictures of their surroundings, and receive a positive message or pun related to something in the picture.


    Tasks:

    Won best mobile hack (Intuit), and best use of Google Cloud Platform

    Android App encouraging positive outlook on life (mental health)

    Used Android Studio, Google Cloud Vision, FireBase, and Google Maps API


ToastFull (July-August 2017)

    Web App extension off of Toast, to connect Toast Restaurants to homeless shelters in the area to reduce food waste while helping those in need


    Tasks:

    Pitched successfully to Toast, and scheduled meetings with Toast executives to discuss incorporating ToastFull into the company

    Added feature to Toast website connecting restaurants to local homeless shelters, resulting in reduced food waste

    Used Java, XML, and JavaScript


MakeApp Your Mind

    Made for indesicive people, as this app asks the user a series of questions to help the user make a decision. There are various topics, ranging from deciding on where they want to go for vacation, to choosing the food that matches your mood.


    Tasks:

    Google Maps API used to show places nearby that match what the user answered in the quiz

    Learnt Android Studio and XML in less than 24hrs

    Teamwork and self-learning skills


Detrite

    Used Yahoo! Weather API so that the bot can determine the weather in any city


    Tasks:

    Used Yahoo! Weather API so that the bot can determine the weather in any city

    Also used Detroit Bus API so the bot can also determine when the bus will arrive depending on which bus stop you type in

    Used JSONS and Python

    Teamwork and self-learning skills (e.g. didn’t know Python before hand

                                                              Demo Video

Arcade Game

    An interactive, Java arcade game


    Tasks:

    Used Java and included computer-controlled players - super user-friendly

    Games include: Connect-4, One-Player Tic-Tac-Toe, Matching Cards, Maze with multiple levels

    Used JSONS and Python

                                                              Presentation Prezi of Arcade Game

Wordie the Word Cloud Generator

    Generates a word cloud given the words the user enters in

    Tasks:

    The user can decide background colour, and the text sizes, colours, and fonts are all random

    Ensured that all words weren't off screen and spread out

    Used Java graphics, and the random function

    User-friendly, and can personalize background colour too


                                                                 

Awards


Grace Hopper Conference Scholarship 2017

Received sponsorship from Waterloo, and attended, Grace Hopper Conference (October 2017). The conference is the largest gathering of women in computing. The venue for this year was in Orlando Florida, with around 18 000 attendees.

                                                             

Aubrey Rhamey Award 2016

Awarded to a graduating student who showed the most leadership and involvement for Lawrence Park highschool, throughout his/her entire highschool career


Silver Award for Duke of Edinburgh 2015

International Award - World's leading Youth Achievement Award

This award is given once a participant has done at least 6 months of service, skills, and physical recreation. In addition, the participant must go on at least a 5 day long adventurous journey

                                                             

Highest Grade in Computer Science 2013 - 2016

Lawrence Park CI

This award is given to a student after every yearly term of school, who has the highest mark in Computer Science in his/her grade. I peaked at 100%.


President's Scholarship 2015

University of Waterloo

Awarded to students with an average of 90% or higher


MVP Award for Girl's Badminton 2016

Lawrence Park CI Athletic Committee

Awarded to a female student who showed the most passion and improvement in badminton


Other Achievements 2013 - 2015

Canadian Computing Competition Certificate of Distinction (Top 25%)

Semi-Finalists for ECOO York Computing Competition (team event)

2nd overall at DECA Regionals

Euclid Math Contest Certificate of Distinction (Top 25%) and 2nd place at Lawrence Park CI


Other Volunteer Experience


Computer and Math Club President

Lawrence Park CI

Toronto | Winter 2013 - Summer 2016

    Advanced Java coding skills, and worked on computer contest questions (Waterloo CCC)

    Teach coding skills to members

    Took up contest-level math questions for math club members

    Encouraged more girls to go into coding and STEM fields

    Created math games, such as math relay races to make the club more dynamic and interesting


                                                                 

DECA Vice-President

Lawrence Park CI

Toronto | Winter 2015 - June 2016

    Primarily helped organize training of members and meetings

    Created material for members to study from

    Led training workshops to ensure all members are ready for the competitions

    As a result, this was our highschool's most successful year at DECA


                                                                 

Yearbook Head-Editor

Lawrence Park CI

Toronto | Winter 2015 - June 2016

    Assigned work to the committee to get the yearbook done

    Coordinated and led meetings

    Gave contructive criticism to improve our yearbook pages

    Communicated with teachers and staff to get all the photos in on time, and to make sure all the pages got approved by the school


                                                                 

Youth Leader

Victim Services Toronto

Toronto | Summer 2014 - Summer 2016

    Victim Services Toronto recruit youth leaders from across the city to spread awareness on domestic violence, and encourage youth to end domestic violence through community based initiatives.

    Tasks:


    Represent T.E.A.R (Teens Ending Abusive Relationships)


Administrative Assistant

Boys and Girls Clubs of Canada

Toronto | Summer 2014

    Boys and Girls Clubs of Canada was established in the late 1860s, and is dedicated to helping young people grow into confident, healthy, and contributing adults. There are over 210,000 children and youth in BGCC, with ages ranging from pre-school to young adulthood.

    Tasks:

    Learnt to quickly transfer names and budgets from Microsoft GP to an excel spreadsheet

    Quickly transferred names and budgets from Microsoft GP to an excel spreadsheet

    Used Microsoft CRM to check duplicate entries, and deleted all the duplicates