Yosef Mekonnen

I build backend systems that power practical AI products.

Computer Science major at UPEI,
with a minor in Mathematics.

Resume View Projects

The blog is where I write about what I build, what goes wrong, and what I learn. Read the blog

Currently

AI-First Developer

PEI IT Alliance

Charlottetown, PEI

About

I like solving problems that teach me something.

Most of what I've learned came from building projects, getting stuck, and figuring out why something wasn't working.

Every mistake has helped me become a better developer, and that's still how I learn today.

What matters to me

Building projects instead of just following tutorials
Writing code I can understand six months later
Improving a little with every project

Outside programming

Residence Life. I'm a Residence Life Advisor at UPEI.
Soccer. I've been playing in the PEI soccer league since fall 2025.
Taekwondo. I've practiced Taekwondo for years, and it's taught me discipline, patience, and the importance of showing up consistently.
Fitness. I train at the gym regularly.

Tools I Use

The tools behind my projects.

I choose tools based on the problem I'm trying to solve.

Languages

TypeScript

Python

JavaScript

Java

SQL

Swift

Frameworks

React · Next.js · React Native · Expo · FastAPI · Express · Tailwind CSS · Vite

AI & Data

OpenAI API · Vercel AI SDK · RAG · ChromaDB · PostgreSQL · Prisma · Supabase

Tools

Git · GitHub · GitHub Actions · Docker · Vercel · VS Code · Cursor · Claude Code · Codex

Testing

Vitest · Jest · Playwright · Testing Library

Learning

Machine Learning

Cloud Computing

Linux

System Design

Projects

Projects I've built.

These are projects I've designed, built, and deployed while learning software engineering. Each one helped me solve a different problem and taught me something new.

2026

Quantum Quest

Quantum concepts are easier to understand when you can predict a circuit, run it, and compare the result with what you expected. Our four-person team built Quantum Quest during the 48-hour Qollab x IonQ Global Quantum Hackathon.

Tech highlights

21 runnable Qiskit lessons
Visual circuit builder and noise comparison
Break the Code error-correction challenge
AI tutor with an offline fallback

Next.jsTypeScriptPythonFastAPIQiskitThree.js

Run on Qollab Source Code Hackathon

2026

GatherBite

Group food orders look simple until dietary needs, budget, serving size, and live menu data collide. GatherBite separates planning from approval and uses deterministic checks as the final gate.

Tech highlights

Separate planner and verifier agents
Deterministic constraint checks
Fail-closed handling for missing evidence
Cart verification before and after execution

Next.jsTypeScriptVercel AI SDKZodReact

Source Code

2026

FastAPI Docs Q&A — Hybrid RAG

Technical docs mix exact terms with conceptual explanations, so search alone tends to miss one or the other. AI answers can also cite sources that don't really back up their claims. This system combines dense and keyword search with an independent fact-check on every citation, verified against a hand-written eval.

Tech highlights

Hybrid dense + BM25 search
Reciprocal Rank Fusion
Citation fact-checking
Evaluated on 18-question eval set
Streamlit interface

PythonOpenAI APIChromaDBBM25Streamlit

Live Demo Source Code

Free-tier app — may show a "waking up" screen for about a minute if idle.

View all projects

Open source

Contributions.

Open-source work I have built or contributed to, each linked straight to the code, pull request, or issue.

OpenOct 2026

Pull request to an open-source React library

react-sketch-canvas / Two-finger scrolling on touch screens.

A drawing canvas that set touch-action: none trapped phone and tablet users inside tall canvases. I fixed the maintainer's open issue so one finger still draws while two fingers scroll or pinch-zoom the page.

Tested each touch-action value in real Chromium before writing code, then changed the default to pinch-zoom
Added an allowMultiTouchScroll prop so apps can keep the old behavior
Playwright touch tests, unit tests, docs and a changeset; checked on a real iPhone

ReactTypeScriptPlaywrightVitest

View pull request

In progressOct 2026

Open-source mobile client for Baserow

Fieldrow / Scan a barcode, update the Baserow record.

A React Native app for people who manage equipment and stock away from a desk. It connects to a Baserow database, scans a barcode or QR code, finds the exact record, updates configured fields, and attaches a photo.

Exact-match lookup with explicit no-match and duplicate-match outcomes
Database token kept in platform secure storage and never logged
Independent review of every pull request, with real race conditions and a crash on malformed deep links found and fixed

React NativeExpo RouterTypeScriptBaserow APIJest

View repository

Beyond Software

Beyond software.

The experiences outside programming that have shaped how I learn, solve problems, and approach challenges.

Innovation

2026

Rural Reach

UPEI Animal Welfare Hackathon

Co-developed a rural veterinary care co-op with a multidisciplinary team and won the Most Animal Welfare Impact award.

Read the story

Martial Arts

2020

2nd Dan Black Belt

World Taekwondo

Years of training taught me discipline, consistency, and the importance of showing up every day, even when progress is slow.

View Certificate

Engineering

2022

Engineering Fair

STEMpower

Built and presented an engineering project while collaborating with other students and sharing ideas with other teams.

View Certificate

Contact

Let's build something together.

Whether it's a Summer 2027 co-op opportunity, a project idea, or just a conversation, I'd love to hear from you.

Email LinkedIn GitHub