hello!

I'm Muthu.

Hi, I'm Muthu Palaniappan. Nice to meet you!
I'm currently a junior at UCLA studying Computer Science. I'm a developer and designer.

I use technology in every aspect of my life, from taking lecture notes on my tablet, to ordering iced coffee on the Philz app, and to checking my blood glucose levels on my phone.

Seeing how big a role technology has played in my life, my goal is to create products that stimulate productivity and simplify everyday life.

Here are technologies I work with:

Dev: C++, C, Python, Javascript, HTML5, React.js, Dart, Git, Mercurial, 11ty

Design: CSS, Figma, Photoshop, Indesign, Balsamiq

about me

experience

Snap SWE Intern

September 2022 - December 2022

In the fall of 2022, I was an intern at Snap, Inc on the Memories Team. I made updates to the Memories UI and monitered its effects on millions of Snap users. I also refactored the Memories Team codebase and expanded their test suite to include more unit tests and end to end tests. All of my work at Snap was done in Objective-C.

Google SWE Intern

June 2022 - September 2022

In 2022, I was an intern on the YouTube UI Framewworks DevExProd team. I built a VSCode extension tool with TypeScript that parses BUILD files and presents inline codelens buttons for 5 macros across 3 YouTube mobile testing infrastructures to simplify developing and debugging flow.

Google STEP Intern

June 2021 - September 2021

In 2021, I was an intern on the TQ Fuchscia team. I created testing infrastructure with Rust, Dart, and Flutter Driver for Fuchsia OS on the Nest Hub. I also developed a device driver to test camera ML features in an end to end testing environment, and I wrote an end to end test for Nest sound detection features.

ACM Design Vice President

Prev: Workshops Director, Developer

December 2019 - Present

UCLA ACM, or the Association for Computing Machinery, is the biggest Computer Science club at UCLA. ACM Design is in charge of mainting the branding for the club, and we also teach students principles of design. I have been VP of Design since March 2021. As the Workshops Director, I organize workshops such as "How to Design a Resume" and "Creating a Brand through Design". As a Developer, I help maintain the ACM Design styleguide website.

UCLA HSSEAS Learning Assistant

January 2021 - June 2021

Classes: Computer Science 31, Computer Science 32

As a part of UCLA's Learning Assistant Program, I was an LA for two introductory CS classes. I attended weekly content meetings with the class professor, prepared Learning Assistant content worksheets, hosted office hours to assist students with homework and projects, and worked with a TA to facilitate weekly discussions with up to 30 students. I also learned about effective teaching strategies through a weekly LA seminar.

Covalent Front-End Developer & Designer

October 2020 - June 2021

Covalent was a UCLA DevX project. We focused on creating a better way to bond! With games like 2 truths and a lie, teams can get to know each other in a virtual setting. As a front-end developer, I worked on various user facing pages using Next.js. As a designer, I was in charge of Covalent's graphics and marketing materials. Check us out on Twitter and on Instagram @covalentapp!

GWC Summer Immersion Student

June 2018 - August 2018

For a summer, I took part in the Girls Who Code Summer Immersion Program. My program was hosted at Lightspeed Ventures in Palo Alto, CA. I was able to learn about programming and Robotics, covering topics such as Python and Web Development every week. Along with my classmates, I also learned about WiSTEM through visiting companies in the Bay Area and listening to women speak about their experiences in tech.

nourish

October 2020 - December 2020

nourish is a group project I worked on in Computer Science 97. nourish is a full stack web app built with the MERN stack. The site serves as a "community craigslist" where users can create accounts and post about extra produce and supplies they are looking to donate to members of their community. In a pandemic, it is important to be there for others, and nourish acts as a middle ground between those in need and those looking to help. Check out the source code and learn more here!

Moodie

June 2020 - August 2020

Moodie is a song mood analyzer. Using React.js and the Spotify Developer API, I created a web application that analyzes a user's top songs according to a certain time period (30 days, 6 months, or all time) and sorts the songs based on their mood. The application inspects values provided by Spotify such as "danceability" or "tempo" and categorizes the song into its respective mood. View the source code here or try Moodie for yourself here!

Schedule Buddy

June 2020 - September 2020

As a part of Bruin Labs over the summer of 2020, I created Schedule Buddy in a team of four. Schedule Buddy is a prototype for UCLA students to upload their schedules, view other student's schedules, search class combinations, and access lists of "Interesting GEs" or "Easy GEs". With the schedules all in one place, students can see recommendations for which classes to take during specific quarters. We used React.js to build the app, Firebase to host, and Beautiful Soup to parse class data for the search functions. View the source code here!

Mini Rogue

May 2020 - June 2020

Mini Rogue is a game developed with C++. Users can battle monsters and try to find their way through a 2D dungeon maze while collecting powerups and maintaining their health scores. There are 4 randomly generated levels in each game, and monsters and powerups regenerate at every level. View the source code here!