Who I am
About
UBC Computer Engineering student who spends way too much time on business student activities. Somewhere along the way that turned into a genuine interest in where hardware meets software.
Where it all started
Investing is the thread that ties everything together.
I spend a lot of time on fundamentals research: tracking key metrics, waiting on earnings, pulling apart business models, and building conviction one company at a time. Every position I hold is a thesis I can defend.
That passion is what pulled me toward Computer Engineering. The goal is simple: work for a company I believe in enough to own, and build the products from the inside.
Here's my Blossom if you have it and want to connect.
Hobbies
Quick Facts
3.5 languages: English, French, Chinese, and a little Spanish
NewJeans and The Kid LAROI are fire
Lanzhou hand-pulled noodles are my all-time favorite dish
Mavericks and Patriots fan (and the number one fantasy football manager out there)
Top 0.7% performing TFSA
Where I've been
Experience
June 2026 to August 2026Advanced UAV TechElectronics Engineering InternHardware EngineeringDesigned and integrated the electronics for a DHL warehouse-inspection drone, from power distribution to stable indoor position hold without GPS. I also coordinated the five-person build team from prototype through flight testing.
Prototype to rooftop flight testFollow the build 
May 2026 to June 2026Galaxy Instrumentation and Controls IncAutomation and Controls Engineering InternAutomation & ControlsSupported CHEP’s factory software rollout by validating PLC, HMI, and SCADA communication paths before migration. Completed pre-migration verification across roughly 25 plants per week and automated repeatable checks in Python.View experience 
March 2026 to June 2026TELUS DigitalBilingual Data AnalystData & AIEvaluated English and French mapping data for AI training, assessing search, routing, and place accuracy. Reviewed more than 80 queries each week while maintaining about 90% rubric accuracy.View experience 
April 2026 to June 2026HydroficientIoT Cyber Defense ExternCybersecurityBuilt and tested a five-layer security system for connected water sensors in a simulated 500-room hotel. Paired device authentication and attack testing with real-time anomaly monitoring.View experience What I've built
Projects
Austin Zhai · austinzhai.com · github.com/AustinZhai8
Main Projects
Hardware2026Smart AlarmAn ESP32 bedside alarm clock that tracks your sleep with an onboard accelerometer and wakes you during light sleep instead of at a fixed time. I designed the whole thing: firmware, sleep-staging model, schematic, and PCB.Read more 
Software2026Portfolio VisionA full-stack ETF portfolio decomposer that breaks any portfolio down into its true underlying holdings, with live prices, sector and geographic exposure, and saved user accounts.Read more Software2026Personal WebsiteDesigned, built, and deployed austinzhai.com end to end. A Vite + React SPA with a refined dark theme, scroll-triggered reveals, and a print-optimized projects page.Read more Minor Projects
Hardware / Firmware
Software
Smart Alarm
Everything runs on the ESP32 itself. No phone, no cloud, no app.
Portfolio Vision
Built first as a Python CLI, then rebuilt entirely as a production web application deployed at portfoliovision.online.
Personal Website
Full CI/CD via GitHub and Vercel, with the custom domain and DNS configured from scratch.
Servo Sonar Radar
A servo-mounted ultrasonic sensor sweeps 180° to detect objects across three modes: continuous sweep, detection-triggered pause, and manual joystick control. Detected objects are visualized on a real-time radar display rendered in Processing.
Smart Gate Access System
An ESP32-based access control system combining RFID card scanning and keypad password entry to control a servo-actuated gate, with an I2C LCD display for real-time status feedback and LED/buzzer alerts for granted and denied access events.
Stock Predictor
A Random Forest classifier that predicts next-day S&P 500 direction (up or down) from historical price and volume data pulled via yfinance. Trained and backtested in a Jupyter notebook, reaching a precision score of about 0.58 on held-out data.
Hangman
A command-line implementation of the classic word-guessing game. Players choose a difficulty, then guess letters or the full word with 6 lives. Draws from a curated word list per difficulty and tracks guessed letters to prevent duplicates.
Random Password Manager
A command-line Python password manager that stores, retrieves, and deletes credentials locally. A built-in generator guarantees variety across uppercase, lowercase, digits, and symbols on every run. Data persists via a local JSON file.