Digital Architect (Developer/Musician/Health Enthusiast)
I am a senior at Texas A&M University pursuing an job in Software Engineering as a Computer Science Major with a minor in Cybersecurity. I have interned at Momentum Technologies Inc. as an R&D Intern and a Machine Learning Engineer, I also worked for INTERA Incorporated and Pivotal Research where I was a data science and data engineering interns (respectfully) that developed data-driven solutions for the water department of INTERA Incorporated, developed a carbon footprint tracker for INTERA Incorporated, and developed data/ML pipelines for clients under Pivotal Research. I have a Google Cybersecurity Professional Certificate where I learned the ins and outs of Cybersecurity and how I can apply many cybersecurity principles to the software that I build. I am currently working on full stack and AI/ML coding projects and developing my startup: TutorLM.
I began my coding journey in high school, a period marked by curiosity and exploration. It was here, in the bustling corridors of learning, that I first encountered the world of programming. Java and Python were my initial guides, opening my eyes to the limitless possibilities that coding brings to the world. I applied my learning to my high school robotics team where I was a software lead leading our team to receiving 2nd place in the 6A UIL State competition. This foundational experience in high school laid the groundwork for my passion, shaping my understanding of the power and potential of technology.
Carrying this enthusiasm with me, I embarked on my collegiate journey at Texas A&M University as a Computer Science student, eager to dive deeper into the complexities of this field. My focus soon shifted to Data Analytics, where I was captivated by the ability to translate vast datasets into meaningful insights. Currently I am apart of the Aggie Coding Club where I sharpen my coding skills, and the Aggie Data Science Club where I'm apart of a project called mrkts.expert, projecting market trends and learning how to understand chart patterns. These experiences have allowed me to blend theoretical knowledge with practical application.
When I was navigating through my sophomore year, I'm reminded of the importance of stepping out of my comfort zone. The initial spark of fascination that was ignited in high school has now matured into a commitment to not only excel in data analytics but to also create impactful solutions. As I balance my academic responsibilities with personal development, I am setting in place strategies to channel more of my time and energy into bringing innovative ideas to fruition.
Late during my sophomore year, I joined the TAMU Robomasters organization as a software team member to learn how to create autonomous robots and compete against teams from across the world. I then left after a couple of months as I got to be a Projects Officer for Aggie Data Science Club (ADSC) where I led projects and led many initiatives to improve ADSC as a whole internally and externally. I also had the chance to publicly speak at UIUC (University of Urbana-Champaign) about creating initial AI tools using prompt engineering and showcasing my educational tool that helped students study better within university. Lastly, I landed 2 internships during the summer that gave me lots of experience in the data science world and making a large impact in a enterprise company and startup settings. This marked as the start of my momentum going into software engineering.
Junior year was the most stressful year for me as I had a lot going on all at once with being a Projects Officer, leading my own project within the organization (AVS and IntelliGraph), a large school workload, applying for internships, being a TA for DSA and trying to become a better software engineer with the adoption of this new AI wave of projects and tools. It was a period in time where I started to learn how to balance lots of activities all at once while also prioritizing the activities that I am apart of. After finishing in the fall as a TA, I used my money from that job to pay for learning about ML and LLM research through Algoverse. This program taught me about how to read research papers, how to be up to date with AI, and how to write my own research papers. Following this program I managed to help write my first research paper covering the analysis of ChatGPT in Mechanical Engineering education through the mechanical engineering department at TAMU. Separate from that, I had two jobs, one was being a Conversational AI Developer for the Soft Interaction Lab for the department of visualization at TAMU while also working for free at a startup through a Meloy Engineering Seminar class. Both of those experiences exposed me more to making an impact in different industries to get a feel for what type of company that I wanted to work for in the future.
By the end of my junior year I luckily landed an internship with a startup through the Meloy Program at TAMU after unsuccessfully getting an internship (and only making final round once and applying to over 250 companies throughout the year). I did lots of projects and was really up to date with AI since I wanted to get better as a software engineer in many avenues. Because of my IntelliGraph project at ADSC during the spring semester, I started working on a big project that is slowly turning into a startup led by myself and my cofounder. 4 internships after finishing my junior year was a big accomplishment in terms of my career, but to also prepare for actually getting a job in today's market.
Following my successful internship during the summer, I managed to create my website (samimelhem.com) and my Notion RAG CLI tool that was liked by many recruiters when I applied during my senior year. On top of that I got a return offer to work for the startup during the fall semester! This made me confident in my ability to show up and perform well as a software engineer. It also made me realize that I want to specialize in building internal tools, create Small Language Model (SLM) applications, and build infrastructure within a company.
During my fall semester of my senior year I managed to create and start open-source projects as I want to continue to learn about these software concepts, but to also contribute to open-source and leave an impact to CS students who want to get into CS nowadays in such a competitive market.
I was awarded a $10k scholarship to become a MELOY Fellow representing Engineering Entrepreneurship at Texas A&M where I'll be getting mentoring and funding towards my startup.
I am currently focusing on learning Bun, building LLMs from scratch (LLM Engineer Handbook), PySpark, Cost Optimization when adopting new tools, and more!
Check out my repos ⬇️