Aaron Shah

My name is Aaron Shah and I am currently a Computer Science major at the University of California Irvine. I have had a passion for technology ever since I turned on my first video game system at the tender age of 5. Back then, I was a distant child and had trouble getting along with other kids. However, games sparked excitement in my otherwise dull life, showing me that software could bring enjoyment to almost anyone. Entering the world of Computer Science has allowed me to carry on the torch and use technology to improve others' lives. In my pursuit of bring joy through the innovations in software, I have met several others who share my passions and interests in technology. Technology has changed my life, so I'm glad to use it to help others.

Over the years, I've developed an unorthodox, yet effective skillset and set of standards.

I have a strong statistical background. Currently I am pursing a minor in Statistics. I've used my statistical skills to create gradetier.com, a website that helps condense complex information about University into something that's more digestable to the average consumer. I specifically developed the "Graduating Salary Forecast" portion of the website. This portion of the website makes it easier for new students to understand what their College Debt will be out of University. To make the information simpler for users to understand, I displayed key salary information in two graphs: a scatter plot and a bar graph. The scatter plot the average salary and debt-to-salary ratios for multiple Universities. The bar graph shows the median, first quartile, and third quartile salaries of the colleges displayed on the scatterplot.

I also have a history of working with others in teams. When developing the game, Stranger Danger, for the 2020 SGDA Game Jam I managed a group of 4 people. This was a new experience for me, as I have never managed a team this large. However, once I understood everyone's particular skillset, assigning everyone to roles where they could achieve the most became much simpler. I gave creative input to every section of the team on details such as enemy behaviors, character design, and audio quality. By the end of the competition, we made a competently designed game. I was able to present to game to an audience of 20 with more than enough to say.

Recently, I've begun teaching students at Coding Minds Academy. - initially somewhat scary due to my inexperience teaching - however, teaching is similar to learning - more about teaching students way to learn - Straight up explaining concept comes off as boring and uninteresting - Showing pictures lets students visualize concepts better - Still in the process of learning and can improve in some areas - i.e. possibly too hand-holdy

Standards

- Focus on the moment

- Treat others the way you want to be treated

- Discipline is more important than motivation

- Greatness can be found anywhere

- There's no such thing as luck

• Finding Balance
• Statistical Analysis
• Critical Thinking
• Programming Languages (C++, Python, etc.)

I have a great deal of programming expirience.

Stranger Danger

- Built for 2020 SGDA Game Jam

- Wanted to use the game as an oppurtunity to learn Rust & Amethyst, so game's scale was kept small

- Led team of 5 (including myself), offered input on creative direction, game design, sound design, and more

- Project met many of our initial goals and taught me how to program in Rust and how to lead a team

- Game deployed for Windows and Linux on itch.io

GradeTier.com

- Worked with friend to build site

- Data obtained from official government sources & schools, hosted on SQL Database

- Developed portion of site that displays average salary cost of colleges

- Used SQL, HTML, CSS, JS, and Django to develope website

- Deployed latest version of website on September, 2020