Hello, I'm Rick. I'm a student at University of Waterloo. An aspiring software engineer with a focus on machine learning, full-stack development, and game development. I strive to create impactful digital experiences from idea to implementation.
I am seeking a co-op position for Winter 2026!
My projects
MindGo
Made with:
AI-powered personal finance companion serving 1,000+ users worldwide, offering real-time expense, income, and investment tracking. It features multi-currency support, automated reports, and an English/Mandarin UI. Integrated with Finnhub, Alpha Vantage, and Binance to provide live stock charts, crypto trends, and AI-driven purchasing suggestions, the app also delivers personalized financial plans, savings goals, and weekly email reports powered by GPT-4o via OpenAI API.
WatRent
Made with:
Enterprise-grade rental platform progressing toward full deployment, delivering a production-ready solution for apartment listings and rental workflows. It features a secure AWS-based cloud architecture with S3 for image storage, Cognito authentication, and Amplify for CI/CD, along with a RESTful API backend on EC2 with API Gateway and RDS. Integrated with Mapbox for interactive property visualization, the platform offers dedicated Renter and Manager interfaces—renters can browse, save, and apply for listings, while managers post, edit, and manage applications.
PriceValve
Made with:
Open-source platform built at SpurHacks 2025 to help Steam developers optimize revenue through real-time data ingestion, sentiment analysis, and competitor benchmarking. It integrates Steam Web API, SteamSpy, and ITAD to deliver interactive dashboards with live charts and a custom Revenue Optimization Engine that generates confidence-scored pricing and timing recommendations based on demand models, sentiment trends, and cluster-based competitor analysis.
Moros
Made with:
Single-player 2D story-driven puzzle adventure game developed in a team of 8 during GitHub & itch.io Game Jam 2024, ranking #246 out of 5,000+ participants. Built with Unity and C#, the game features responsive input systems, puzzle mechanics, and player abilities like hiding during boss fights, alongside dialogue systems for immersive storytelling. Performance was optimized for input responsiveness, frame rates, and complex sequences, ensuring smooth gameplay.
Kitchen Chaos
Made with:
Single-player 3D cooking game built with Unity and C#, featuring immersive kitchen environments, interactive elements, and responsive UI for smooth gameplay. Designed multiple game themes with seamless transitions, implemented customizable controls with controller support, and developed systems using Object-Oriented Programming (OOP) principles to ensure clean code structure and high performance.
ML for Algorithmic Trading
Made with:
Algorithmic trading strategies leveraging technical indicators like Bollinger Bands, RSI, and MACD to optimize portfolio performance. Implemented advanced machine learning models through time-series analysis and rolling regression for predictive analytics and trade optimization. Used Jupyter Notebooks for iterative strategy development and integrated real-time market data for dynamic parameter adjustments, improving decision-making and responsiveness.
SaaS Template Application
Made with:
Features essential SaaS components like checkouts, subscriptions, dashboards, customer profiles, and a landing page for streamlined service management. Full-stack solution with Django for backend, TailwindCSS for frontend, and Neon for database management, deployed on Railway. It includes payment integration via Stripe API for one-time and subscription billing, containerization with Docker, and CI/CD automation through GitHub Actions.
AI-Powered Auto-Updating Blog
Made with:
Built with Next.js and TypeScript, featuring OpenAI API integration for automated blog generation and seamless AI-assisted editing. It uses Prisma and Neon for scalable database management, TailwindCSS for a modern, responsive UI, and is deployed on Vercel for efficient performance.
Amazon Clone
Made with:
Implemented JavaScript logic for dynamic cart management, including real-time subtotal calculation and quantity adjustments through event listeners. Designed with CSS Grid for an organized product layout and Flexbox for a responsive search bar. Applied CSS positioning to replicate Amazon’s navigation structure and integrated Google Fonts for authentic styling.
My Skills
- TypeScript
- C#
- C++
- C
- Go
- Python
- Node.js
- Express.js
- FastAPI
- Django
- SQL
- PostgreSQL
- MongoDB
- JavaScript
- React.js
- Next.js
- Vue.js
- Redux
- HTML5
- CSS3
- Tailwind CSS
- AWS
- Azure
- Docker
- Kubernetes
- GitHub Actions
- Linux
- CI/CD
- Infrastructure as Code
- Pandas
- Numpy
- PyTorch
- Hugging Face
- Matplotlib
- Scikit-learn
- R
- Git
- Visual Studio Code
- Jupyter Notebook
- Unity
My experience
Founder, Full-Stack Developer
MindGo
Founded MindGo, an AI-powered personal finance app built with Next.js, Node.js, and PostgreSQL. The platform supports 1,000+ international users in tracking income, expenses, and investments with real-time charts, personalized financial reports, and AI-driven savings strategies.
June 2025 – Present
Machine Learning Engineer
WAT.ai
Built and benchmarked Transformer-based NLP models on large-scale Reddit and financial datasets, integrating sentiment signals into forecasting models to detect emerging stock market trends and price movements.
May 2025 – December 2025
AI Developer
University of Waterloo
Built AI-powered job ingestion & recommendation pipeline, designed KNN-based classifier with Cosmos DB Vector Search, and developed full-stack Portal services (resume search, profile-based recommendations, InStage integration) supporting 42,500+ users per term.
May 2025 - August 2025
AI Developer
Inspur Group Co., Ltd.
Developed RAG-based AI services with OCR pipelines and FastAPI/MinIO workflows, improving document processing accuracy and reducing error rates by 30%.
September 2024 - December 2024
Cross-Border Trade Assistant
Jiangsu Baiheng Energy Saving Technology Co., Ltd.
Built and launched a Shopify e-commerce site while supporting cross-border trade initiatives; earned AI training certification in Shenzhen and facilitated internal training sessions for colleagues.
June 2023 - September 2023My Education
Bachelor of Mathematics
University of Waterloo
2023 - 2028
- Major in Computational Mathematics
- Major in Statistics
- Minor in Combinatorics and Optimization
- Minor in Computing (Computer Science)
- Enroll in the co-op program
Contact me
Please contact me directly at m69liu@uwaterloo.ca or through this form.