AR.
Available for opportunities

Ashwin Rao

|

Engineer turned engineering leader. Built products from broken MVPs to 1,000+ DAU platforms, shipped 0-to-1 mobile apps to both app stores. M.S. in Robotics & AI from ASU.

01 / About

A bit about me

I'm a software engineer who gets obsessed with building things that actually ship and actually matter. I started in robotics and autonomous systems, realized the biggest impact I could make was in software products, and haven't looked back.

My sweet spot is taking a product from zero to one — or from a struggling MVP to a polished, scalable platform. I've led engineering teams, shipped apps to both stores, built ML pipelines, and optimized everything from MongoDB queries to Lighthouse scores.

When I'm not coding, you'll find me exploring AI side projects, tinkering with home automation, or diving into whatever tech rabbit hole caught my attention that week.

Focus

Full Stack + AI

React Native, Node.js, AWS, ML Pipelines

🎓

Education

M.S. Robotics & AI

Arizona State University

📍

Location

Tempe, AZ

Open to remote & relocation

🤖

Fun Fact

Robotics → Software

Built autonomous systems before APIs

02 / Experience

Where I've worked

Jul 2024 — Present

Senior Full Stack Developer · Boomer Roomers

  • Architected core platform from MVP to 1,000+ DAU using React Native, AWS, Node.js, and MongoDB
  • Own engineering roadmap, sprint planning, code reviews, and technical mentorship
  • Shipped 10+ features: real-time messaging, content moderation, ID verification
  • Optimized MongoDB pipelines, cutting query latency by 60%
React NativeAWSNode.jsMongoDB
Aug 2024 — Dec 2025

Senior AI/Full Stack Engineer · RoomieHub

  • Shipped React Native app 0-to-1 on iOS and Android
  • ML-powered matching algorithm: 15+ compatibility dimensions, 35% improvement
  • Defined and tracked product KPIs across the entire funnel
React NativeMachine LearningPythonNode.js
Jan 2024 — May 2024

Full Stack Data Engineer · MY DR NOW

  • 35% improvement in marketing velocity via Payload CMS
  • 99.9% uptime, 25% cost reduction with serverless architecture
  • Lighthouse score 65 → 92
Next.jsPayload CMSAWS LambdaServerless
Oct 2023 — Dec 2023

Web Developer · MY DR NOW

  • Ground-up rebuild from legacy 2000s system to Next.js/Tailwind
  • Page load 2.8s → 1.0s FCP, measurable booking increases
Next.jsTailwind CSSTypeScript
Feb 2021 — Apr 2022

Frontend Developer · India Urban Data Exchange

  • Real-time data viz dashboard: 50K+ daily data points
  • Built with React, Redux, D3.js, and WebSockets
ReactReduxD3.jsWebSockets
Mar 2020 — Jan 2021

Mobile App Developer Intern · Acumensa Technologies

  • 60% deployment time reduction via Docker + microservices
  • 35% performance boost through architecture optimization
DockerMicroservicesReact Native
May 2019 — Dec 2019

Website Developer Intern · Greyboard Consulting

  • Reduced workplace incidents 80% with safety monitoring system
JavaScriptNode.jsMongoDB
03 / Projects

Things I've built

What The Food

Sep 2024 — Nov 2025

AI-powered recipe generation app achieving sub-2s latency through eval-driven prompt optimization. Designed dietary safety guardrails, a semantic caching layer that reduced API costs by 40%, and a full React Native mobile experience with grocery list management and saved recipes.

React NativeOpenAI APIPythonPrompt EngineeringExpo

AI Trading Alerts Aggregator

Dec 2024 — Feb 2025

Unified signal aggregation system with NLP-based classification and real-time trend prediction. Consolidates alerts from news feeds, Reddit sentiment analysis, and volume tracking into actionable Telegram notifications with confidence scores and buy/sell recommendations.

PythonNLPReddit APIRSSTelegram BotTextBlob
04 / Skills

My toolkit

Languages & Frameworks

PythonTypeScriptReactReact NativeNode.jsNext.jsJavaScriptSQL
☁️

Infrastructure

AWS LambdaEC2S3RDSDynamoDBDockerKubernetesTerraformCI/CD
🧠

AI / ML

LLMsOpenAI APIPrompt EngineeringTensorFlowPyTorchEval Design
🎯

Product & Leadership

Team LeadershipRoadmap PlanningCross-functional CollaborationSprint PlanningCode Reviews
🎓

M.S. Robotics and Autonomous Systems (AI)

Arizona State University

Aug 2022 — May 2024·Tempe, AZ
🎓

B.E. Computer Science

Ramaiah Institute of Technology

Aug 2018 — May 2022·Bangalore, India
05 / Contact

Let's build something together

I'm always interested in hearing about new opportunities, ambitious projects, or just having a conversation about technology. My inbox is always open.