About

I'm a bottom-up engineer who works across the full range from low-level system software to virtualization infrastructure to complete web stacks. As the only undergraduate ever entrusted with the team lead role at the Software and Systems Laboratory (SNSLAB) of Daegu Catholic University, I led development and operations of an online judge system serving 4,000+ users, and at 42 Gyeongsan I built OS resource management skills through C/C++ low-level projects.

From DCU Code (Vue.js + Django), EveryCoding (Vue.js), and ft_transcendence (React + NestJS) to the ZConverterCloud portal modernization — every project has had me moving directly between frontend and backend, and that full-stack skill set includes infrastructure work built on Docker and Kubernetes. I prefer learning and applying whatever technology best fits a project's goal rather than sticking to one stack.

I look for evidence that holds up in practice before trusting theory. When I noticed my laptop's touchscreen was reporting bad calibration values, I traced the root cause down to the hardware communication layer and submitted a fix, merged into the official systemd repository — rather than papering over a problem, I'd rather track it to the root and fix it upstream. In teams, I look for what needs doing and take it on, split work fairly among teammates, and make a point of explaining difficult concepts to each other so everyone's understanding grows together.

Skills

Backend & Systems

  • C, C++ (infrastructure and low-level system control, I/O stream optimization)
  • Python, Django (RESTful API design and backend service architecture)
  • SQL
  • Linux (shell scripting, custom hardware mapping via udev/hwdb, kernel-level troubleshooting)

Virtualization & DevOps

  • Docker, Docker Hub, Docker Compose
  • Kubernetes (containerized sandbox isolation and orchestration)
  • OpenStack (server provisioning and resource management)
  • Nginx (reverse proxy and load balancing)
  • GitHub Actions, Terraform (automated VM provisioning)

Frontend & Hardware

  • JavaScript, React, React Native, Vue.js, HTML5/CSS3
  • Arduino, Raspberry Pi (embedded systems and IoT control)

Collaboration

  • Team collaboration with Git and Jira

Education

42 Gyeongsan Software Program

Gyeongsan Innovation Academy · 2024.02 – 2026.09 (completed Common Core) · 2026.09 – present (Outer Core)

A common curriculum run identically across every 42 Network campus worldwide, building the minimum competencies expected on both the technical and personal sides. Covers C programming, building small software with classic algorithms, and working with the file system and UNIX processes. Also a first introduction to network architecture and systems administration, plus object-oriented programming and server-client architecture projects.

Daegu Catholic University — B.S. in Computer Engineering

2018.03 – 2024.08 (Graduated, GPA 3.38/4.5)

Daegu High School (Autonomous Public High School)

2015.03 – 2018.02 (Graduated, Science & Engineering track)

Kyungpook National University — Gifted Education Center

2012.03 – 2013.02 (completed Basic Course) · 2013.03 – 2014.02 (completed Advanced Course)

Certifications & Programs

Certifications

  • 3D Printer Operation Craftsman — Human Resources Development Service of Korea, 2026.04
  • Secondary School Teacher's Certificate (Grade 2, Information/Computer) — Ministry of Education, 2024.08
  • Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Type 4 (Drone) — Korea Transportation Safety Authority, 2022.02
  • Information Processing Craftsman — Human Resources Development Service of Korea, 2020.08
  • Engineer Information Processing — written exam passed (2026.05)
  • Network Administrator Level 2 — written exam passed (2026.08)

Completed Training Programs

  • NEXUS Basic Course, Gyeongbuk Data Center Specialist Program — Korea Information and Communication Technology Association, 2025.11–12 (BGP, Cisco IOS routing, NAT, VPN)
  • Python Problem Solving for AI — Seoul National University AI Corporate Education Center, 2025.11
  • 2025 Venture Company CEO IP Academy (1st) — Korean Intellectual Property Office · Korea Invention Promotion Association, 2025.09
  • WeGo WeCAR ROS-Based Autonomous Driving Training — WeGo Inc., 2021.03

Global Training & Leadership Programs

  • Global Innovation Future Talent Program (WTIA Entrepreneurship & Technology Immersion Course) — Ministry of Science and ICT, 2026.01–02 (8 weeks). Toured Las Vegas (CES 2026), San Francisco, and Seattle with 30 students from 42 Gyeongsan and 42 Seoul. Visited Google, Meta, NVIDIA, Zoox, Apple, Amazon AWS, Boeing, Starbucks, Expedia, and the MS Digital Crimes Unit. Completed the WTIA Entrepreneurship & Technology Immersion Course in Seattle.
  • Leadership for Global Innovators Program — UC Berkeley SCET, 2024.12 (Gyeongju). Asia's first UC Berkeley SCET global leadership program, for 42 Gyeongsan students
  • The UNLV Experiential and Cultural Program — University of Nevada, Las Vegas, 2021.12–2022.01. Attended CES 2022, toured Silicon Valley and Stanford, completed a 4-week UNLV program (English and IoT programming)

Awards

  • Encouragement Award, Daegu Catholic University Capstone Design EXPO, 2nd semester 2023 (2023.12, team "Elemental")
  • Excellence Award, 4th DCU Software Fair Coding Competition (2022.10, major students, sophomore–senior track)
  • Honorable Mention, 3rd DCU Software Fair Coding Competition (2021.11, major students, sophomore–senior track)
  • Grand Prize (1st place), Daegu High School In-School Problem Solving Programming Competition (2015.12)
  • Bronze Award, 25th Daegu Metropolitan Informatics Olympiad, Elementary Division (2011.06)

Publications

Google Scholar · DBpia author page

First author

  • Implementing a Telegram Notice Chatbot Using Web Crawling
    Hijae Song, Mihye Kim, Subin Jeon, Dongman Seo · Proceedings of KIISE Korea Computer Congress, 2022

Co-author

  • Design and Implementation of Anti-Cheating Features for an Online Judge System
    Sujeong Kim, Hijae Song, Junhong Park, Mihye Kim, Subin Jeon, Dongman Seo · Proceedings of KIISE Korea Computer Congress, pp. 2132–2134, 2022
  • A ChatGPT-Based AI Coding Assistant System
    Sujeong Kim, Hijae Song, Dongwon Noh, Mihye Kim, Subin Jeon, Dongman Seo · Proceedings of KIISE Korea Computer Congress, pp. 1901–1903, 2023
  • A Kubernetes-Based Per-Student Sandbox Practice System
    Dongwon Noh, Hijae Song, Mihye Kim, Dongman Seo, Subin Jeon · Proceedings of Korea Computer Congress, pp. 1898–1900, 2023

Career

ZConverterCloud — Project-Based Intern

2026.05 – 2026.07 (government work-experience program)

AI-driven cloud migration modernization project. Focused on modernizing the legacy jQuery/WebSocket-based portal into an API-based one, and also implemented automated OpenStack VM provisioning with Terraform.

Software and Systems Laboratory (SNSLAB), Daegu Catholic University — Research Student & SWLAB Team Lead

2022.02 – 2023.08

Became the only undergraduate team lead purely through initiative — caring more about the lab than anyone else and always finding what needed doing. Led development and operations of the open-source online judge system DCU Code, standardized the deployment process with Docker and Docker Compose. Migrated existing Docker-based containers to on-premise Kubernetes, developing SWLAB, a personalized practice container system.

D-World Inc. — Field Trainee

2021.08 (summer industry field-training program)

Developed a deep-learning-based object detection solution (machine-learning vision algorithms using PyTorch, OpenCV, etc.).

Turing — AI Generalist Rater (Freelance)

2026.09 – 2026.12 (expected)

Reviewing and validating LLM-generated content.

Projects

ft_transcendence — "Acid Rain"

acidrain.hijae.dev

A real-time multiplayer web game service built with NestJS (backend), React (frontend), and Docker — the final common-core project at 42 Gyeongsan. Served as tech lead on a 5-person team, running it with an agile approach. Beyond owning the infrastructure end to end (Docker Compose deployment, Kubernetes manifests, an nginx WebSocket proxy, Prometheus + Grafana monitoring, CI built on repository_dispatch), also directly implemented the backend game/lobby/auth modules — the real-time game engine, WebSocket/Socket.IO protocol, JWT + 42 OAuth integration, TypeORM data access — accounting for about 48% of commits to the repo's auth/lobby/game directories. Also contributed to the frontend's page/type/hook structure. Implemented the real-time typing game "Acid Rain" complete with lobbies, matchmaking, spectator mode, and in-game chat.

222transcendence's GitHub

ZConverterCloud — AI Cloud Migration Modernization

An AI-driven cloud migration modernization project. Focused on modernizing the legacy jQuery/WebSocket-based portal into an API-based one, and also implemented automated OpenStack VM provisioning with Terraform. Designed a C++ agent for pub/sub.

DCU Code

code.cu.ac.kr

An open-source online judge system with 4,000+ registered users. Led development and operations as the only undergraduate team lead at the Software and Systems Laboratory (SNSLAB) of Daegu Catholic University. Backend on Django, frontend on Vue.js, deployed with Docker/Docker Compose. Used by computer engineering students for automatic grading on lab and assignment problems, and for checking rankings and course-specific problem sets. Also led development of a ChatGPT-based coding assistant feature using the OpenAI API.

EveryCoding

A capstone design project forked from DCU Code. Auto-grades textbook exercises and public problems through a judge server, and extends the platform with a community board, user rankings, group study, and real-time video calls. Frontend built with Vue.js.

Deploy repo Backend repo Frontend repo

Other Projects

42 Gyeongsan Industry Partnership Projects (Valeo Mobility Korea)

  • Vehicle Control Systems & Embedded AI/SW Learning (2026.09 – ongoing) — building an integrated vehicle control system for in-cabin/exterior devices (audio, power windows, door locks, climate, lighting, HMI, sensing, vision recognition). Embedded C, NXP S32K144/S32K344, CAN/LIN/SPI/I2C, RTOS & AUTOSAR
  • Radar-Based Object Detection & Classification Algorithm Enhancement (2025.04 – 2025.08) — analyzed and visualized a provided dataset in Python (pandas, etc.) to identify noise factors and compiled the findings into a report

42 Common Core Projects (newest first)

  • 42 Collaborative Resume (2026.08) — a communication exercise pairing peers to interview each other and learn to articulate their own strengths
  • ft_transcendence (2026.08)
  • CPP Module 09 (2026.05) — understanding C++ STL containers
  • CPP Module 08 (2026.05) — understanding C++ template containers, iterators, and algorithms
  • CPP Module 07 (2026.05) — understanding C++ templates
  • CPP Module 06 (2026.05) — understanding C++ casting methods
  • CPP Module 05 (2026.05) — understanding try/catch exception handling
  • Inception (2025.12) — built a multi-container infrastructure (NGINX, WordPress, MariaDB) with Docker Compose
  • ft_irc (2025.12) — implemented a standard-compatible IRC server in C++98
  • NetPractice (2025.06) — hands-on TCP/IP, subnetting, routing, and OSI-layer networking exercises
  • CPP Module 04 (2025.06) — understanding subtype polymorphism, abstract classes, and interfaces
  • CPP Module 03 (2025.06) — understanding C++ inheritance
  • CPP Module 02 (2025.06) — understanding ad-hoc polymorphism, function overloading, and the Orthodox Canonical Class
  • CPP Module 01 (2025.06) — understanding memory allocation, references, member pointers, and switch statements
  • CPP Module 00 (2025.05) — intro to C++ vs. C and object-oriented programming
  • cub3d (2025.02) — a raycasting-based maze exploration view
  • Philosophers (2025.01) — multithreading/multiprocessing concurrency programming
  • Minishell (2024.11) — built a shell from scratch using fork/execve/pipe/dup2
  • push_swap (2024.08) — sorting algorithm implementation with a restricted instruction set
  • so_long (2024.07) — a small 2D game built with minilibx
  • minitalk (2024.06) — a data exchange program using UNIX signals
  • get_next_line (2024.05) — a function to read a file/stdin line by line
  • Born2beroot (2024.05) — virtualization and systems/network administration basics
  • ft_printf (2024.04) — reimplementing printf to learn variadic functions
  • Libft (2024.03) — reimplementing C standard library functions and shared utilities

Open-source personal projects

  • open-fuji-recipes-profiles — an automatic filter-profile generator for Fujifilm camera shots, modifying XML profiles in Python (lxml.etree) with automated deployment via GitHub Actions and Dependabot
  • dcubus — a Google Assistant app for campus shuttle bus timetables
  • DCU_Notice_telegrambot — a Telegram bot that crawls Daegu Catholic University notices and sends alerts (Python, BeautifulSoup, python-telegram-bot)

Open Source Contributions

  • OpenGamingCollective/linux (PR #102, merged 2026.09) — Upstreamed a Linux kernel driver for the speaker amplifier (Awinic AW87XXX) used on AYANEO/Ayn/Orange Pi handhelds. Reorganized driver commits scattered across several sources, added a build-compatibility shim for recent kernels, and fixed a missing reset-GPIO request bug, verified on real AYANEO Flip KB hardware (a follow-up to the systemd and bazzite contributions below, part of an ongoing AYANEO handheld contribution chain)
  • OpenGamingCollective/kernel-packages (PR #36, merged 2026.08) — Enabled the kernel config flag so the speaker driver above actually gets built
  • systemd/systemd (PR #43501, merged 2026.08) — Found that AYANEO handheld touchscreens reported bad calibration due to unstable I2C communication during early boot, and added an hwdb calibration entry enforcing the correct axis range for the panel's actual resolution, verified on real hardware
  • maziggy/bambuddy (merged 2026.06) — Korean translation for a Bambu Lab 3D printer companion app
  • itislu/42free (merged 2025.07) — added 42 Gyeongsan campus support to a 42-community utility installer script
  • Valkirie/HandheldCompanion — fixed a max cTDP value bug for the AYANEO SLIDE (2024.04), and contributed Korean translation (2025.05)
  • codam-coding-college/find-peers (merged 2024.11) — added the '42 Gyeongsan' campus code to the global 42-network campus status system
  • gkoh/furble (merged 2024.08) — implemented backlight brightness optimization and infinite GPS reconnection for a Fujifilm camera remote project
  • ublue-os/bazzite (merged 2024.04) — a gaming Linux distribution; fixed touchscreen configuration and a 90°-rotation display bug on AYANEO Flip KB/SLIDE via udev/hwdb-based control scripts
  • Whisky-App/Whisky (merged 2023.06) — Korean translation
  • lukask8/fujifilm-filmmode (merged 2023.02) — added a Fujifilm film-simulation profile
  • apache/echarts (merged 2022.02) — added Korean translation to the echarts visualization library

Mentoring & Volunteering

  • Gyeongsan Innovation Academy student volunteer club — "AI Experience Program" (2025.08) — mentored 18 elementary school students at the Gyeongsan Rural Childcare Information Center, supporting AI-concept learning through coding-block self-driving car builds and robot demos
  • DCU Software Club Support Program — Arduino Education (2021.06) — mentored the Daegu High School SW club "Sangsang Deohagi" on Arduino-based algorithms and implementation
  • Daegu Creative Convergence Education Center — Daegu Student Science Museum Guide Volunteer (2021.04 – 2021.10) — safety guidance and educational support at the exhibition hall, 16 sessions totaling 62 hours
  • Korean Red Cross Blood Services blood donation (2021 – 2026, 18 times) — an ongoing, regular commitment

Languages

LanguageLevel
KoreanNative
EnglishIntermediate (OPIc IM2)