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David Yang

David YangFullstack product engineer

Building tools I wish existed

Currently based in SF 🌉

Next.jsNext.jsReactReactTypeScriptTypeScriptPythonPython

Projects I've Worked On

OpeningSignal screenshot
Clerk
DigitalOcean
FastAPI
Playwright
Supabase
Pydantic

New restaurant sales intelligence platform

Platform that corroborates business registration data with health inspections and permits to identify new restaurant openings before they open. Developed with Next.js frontend hosted on Verceland FastAPI backend deployed on a DigitalOcean VPS.

Travel Tailor Agent screenshot
Tailwind
FastAPI
Firecrawl
Google Flights

Travel Tailor Agent

2025
repo link

Personalized Travel Planning

Personalized global trip itinerary generator powered by the Claude 3.5 Haiku model from Anthropic. Interactive chat interface allows users to learn about their destination and view notable activities, flights, restaurants, and weather. Implemented an MCP server to enable the LLM agent to call tools when needed.

PyTorch
Matplotlib
Pandas
Streamlit
Hugging Face

Image Captioning

Hybrid image captioning model combining a CNN image encoder (ResNet-50) with a Transformer text decoder to generate natural language descriptions of images. Trained on the MSFT COCO dataset, on a cloud Nvidia H100 GPU from RunPod. Model hosted on Hugging Face.

Coursepilot screenshot
Tailwind
Clerk
DigitalOcean
FastAPI
Pydantic
MongoDB

AI Powered Learning Tool

Tool that allows students to upload course materials and notes to get personalized study materials including spaced repetition flashcards and practice quizzes. Developed with Next.js frontend and FastAPI backend deployed on a DigitalOcean VPS.

Tradewise screenshot
Pandas
Numpy
Yahoo Finance
Matplotlib

Deep RL Trading Agent

Reinforcement Learning agent trained on over 20 years of historical market data for ETFs: SPY, QQQ, VOO, and Tech Stocks: AAPL, GOOG, MSFT. Explored the application of various machine learning models including classification and regression before trying model free reinforcement learning with Q-learning and Deep Q-learning. Defined a reward function that optimized for a balance between portfolio profit and risk management.

PlanGPT screenshot
Swift
Firebase

PlanGPT

2023
repo link

iOS Road Trip Planning App

Swift-based iOS app that leverages the GPT-3.5-turbo model from OpenAI to generate personalized road trip itineraries. Features Firebase auth and user data persistence.

About

I'm a full-stack engineer who loves shipping apps that people will actually use. Had my first taste of programming in 4th grade with MIT's Scratch. When I'm not coding, I love cooking, traveling, running and playing tennis.

My Story

I’ve never been interested in building things just for them to end up sitting on a shelf. As a kid, I didn't play with Lego sets just to make static decorations; I'd take them apart and use pieces from different sets to reimagine them into creations of my own. This instinct has followed me ever since: building a custom gaming PC, learning what makes a dish work so I could cook the things I actually wanted to eat, developing software that solves pain points I experience firsthand.

Growing up in Los Altos Hills with a tech entrepreneur father opened my eyes early to what the cutting edge of technology could enable. It's why I love building apps today - using code and the latest technologies to bridge the gap between what exists and what I wish existed. AI and LLMs have become my favorite tools in that pursuit, capable of unlocking flows and experiences that simply weren't possible before.

But the drive to ship only gets you so far without discipline. I treat my personal growth with the same rigor as the projects I work on: building habits like long distance running, eating whole foods, and absorbing wisdom from books and podcasts. I've run two marathons now, and the satisfaction of crossing that finish line feels almost identical to putting a finished product in front of users. Both require grit, iteration, and the resilience to endure the messy middle. My love for adventure, hiking, and travel keeps me curious, but my discipline ensures I deliver. Even when stopping feels reasonable, I've discovered that the things worth building are the things you push through to finish.

Quick Facts

Location

San Francisco, CA

Favorite Stack

Next.js + FastAPI

Next.jsFastAPI

Favorite thing to cook

Hainan Chicken Rice

Simple dish that expresses the essence of chicken flavor.

Currently building

OpeningSignal - New restaurant finder

Sharpening my skills in

LLM agents, backend system design