A new website coming soon!

For the meantime, check out my blog at blog.chait.me as well.

Introduction

Hey there, I’m Chaitanya Sharma, a sophomore computer engineering student at the University of Waterloo, I’m interested in learning all sorts of powerful languages and impactful frameworks.

Work Experience

Pipeline Developer Intern @ Rocket Science VFX

Co-op Evaluation: Outstanding(6/6)

• Developed and maintained multiple PyQt and PySide based show specific and general purpose tools for Maya, Nuke and Houdini interfacing with their own APIs and the Shotgun API.
• Developed Asset Detail Viewer, a convenience tool utilizing the Shotgun API to display all the information about an asset in a single window inside Maya. Maintained and fixed tools upon requests from Freshdesk.
• Redesigned all of RSVFX’s internal tools menu GUI in Nuke, added an automatic User Profile Menu for gizmo sharing and fixed deprecated plugins.
• Assembled Watchman - RSVFX’s one-stop internal license management tool as a wrapper for RLM, FlexLM and sesictrl binaries. Built a top down recursive descent parsing engine, LRU cached and deployed as a CRUD enabled RESTful API. Frontend implemented using ReactJS, MaterialUI and TailwindCSS, reverse proxied using Nginx. Watchman manages over 400 major licenses and an exceptional amount of minor licenses.

Workplace Solutions Software Developer Intern @ Softchoice

Co-op Evaluation: Outstanding(6/6)

• Developed a PowerApp to automate approvals for the Statement of Work (SOW) documents and provide all essential details about workshops for efficiency within Sales and Pre‑Sales teams, used by 180+ employees, saving approximately 8 hours per SOW.
• Saved 1200 USD per year by extending Power Automates functionality with a license eliminating script that deconstructs pipelined word to XML files and replaces content‑controlled keywords.
• Improved existing profit‑center PowerApp infrastructure, adding functionalities like a search input retrieval mechanism by creating PowerFX script. Automated Power BI reports from user data in less than 5 minutes.
• Implemented JavaScript in PowerApps through the PowerApp Component Framework(PCF) to develop customized plugins efficient for the aforementioned task.

Projects

COPY-CAST - Exo‑skeletal gesture correction and imitation guided training program. [Winner @ HackMIT 2022]

Python, C++, ESP-32, OpenCV, REST API, Sockets, Tensorflow, MediaPipe, Digital Ocean, Flask, 3D Printing, Solidworks, Control Systems

• Implemented a FastAPI for a reflection server on DigitalOcean to send operations and receive debug data from the ESP‑32. Also programmed a socket from ESP-32 to personal server to perform vector calculations received from webcam and processed using OpenCV and Mediapipe.
• Assisted team member to develop a 3D printed exoskeleton to be worn by the user to perform gestures and receive feedback from the system.
• Laid out a micro service architecture diagram in UML and Figma to visualize the system’s architecture pre‑implementation.
• Developed a Python script to train a Tensorflow model to recognize gestures and perform imitation learning to correct the user’s gestures and a C++ program to receive JSON data and convert it to PWM signals micro servos to move the exoskeleton.

  Read what Pittsburgh Regional Health Initiative had to say about our project

DeLoaner - A decentralized commission based loan payback mechanism

WebAssembly, Typescript, Smart Contracts & Blockchain [Winner @ Defi Conv. Hackathon, UOttawa 2022]

• Developed a decentralized commission based loan payback mechanism with a projected loan retrieval rate of >90%. Won 1000 CAD award
• Using Rust, utilized developed Smart Contracts where CW20 tokens were utilized to store loan payback parameters.
• Deployed heavy memory usage DApp efficiently managed using Docker. Used Typescript to implement TerraJS in under 12 hours.
• Accepted into the Velocity Incubator’s Cornerstone program as a startup.

TermnCo - Terms‑of‑Service agreements summarization API service deployed as a Chrome Extension MVP [HackHarvard 2022]

ReactJS, Gatsby, TailwindCSS, Bootstrap, Chrome Extensions API, Flask API, Python, PyTorch, NLP, Summarization, Transformer ML

• Implemented a Google Chrome extension in JavaScript with promises with a background service worker and content scripts, following best practices for user privacy and site security. Created a landing page/demo using React and Gatsby, styled with Tailwind
• Developed a python backend with a flask-based WebApp API, chrome extension, and Flutter-based mobile apps as part of a microservice architecture.
• Worked with a team to concurrently develop and integrate the various components of the system, using effective communication and planning.

Persona - An anime focused music and wallpaper discord bot

• Utilized NumPy/SciPy for clustering, OMDB for movies, jikan for MyAnimeList, WallHaven for 4k wallpapers and AsyncIO for async programming.
• Learned REST API conventions to communicate JSON data to a SQL database for more flexible and powerful database administration data storage.
• Beta‑tested the functionality by deploying to a server of over 2000 members to collect feedback for future revisions.

Dipsitegram - An isolated school-focused social media platform for Dipsites i.e. students of DPS

• Realized the need of fellow students for a social media platform where students could connect with other students during the COVID-19 pandemic.
• Designated an isolated platform using PHP with all the needed features from other platforms like photo and video sharing, comments, direct messaging and personal profiles. Over 230 students spent 90+ hours on this platform.
• Applied formally to school's administration for promotion and support of this platform within school on the basis that many of the social media-related problems in school can be eliminated by creating an isolated one monitored by the administration itself.

Budgeteer - A CLI tool that works as a personal budgeting system for bash enthusiasts.

• Inspired by ani-cli, this bash script lets users manage a budget, on their system locally encrypted using GnuPG's AES 256.
• Advises users on maintaining a good credit score by maintaining good credit habits. Allows users to save 3 account types, and provides 7 personal management features.

Useless Box Sequential Lock - A sequence lock under the skin of a useless box focused on Escape Rooms

• Applied strong programming competency in C to utilise STM32 NUCLEO64 board and integrated the pop-culture idea of a useless box with a toggle switch order lock.

Education

University of Waterloo

Candidate for Bachelors of Applied Science in Computer Engineering 2026 (Co-op)
Courses taken:

• Fundamentals of Programming in C++
• Discrete Math
• Calc 1 and 2
• Linear Algebra for Engineering
• Classical Mechanics
• Digital Circuits and Systems
• Linear Circuits
• Economics in Engineering
• Data Structures and Algorithms (Current)
• Numerical Methods (Current)
• Adv Calculus 1 (Current)
• Electronic Circuits 1 (Current)
• Materials Chemistry for Eng (Current)
• Electronic Circuits 1 (Current)
• Engineering Workplace Skills 1 (Co-op Course)
• Tactics for Workplace Success (Co-op Course)
• First-Year Topics in Arts (Research Paper Writing Course)
• Project Studio (Engineering Design Course)
• Eng. Profession & Practice (Engineering Training Course)