My Story

Hi there, my name is Charles Zhang! I was born and raised in the LA area of California and recently graduated with a degree in computer science from UCLA. I was practically raised on video games and the countless hours I've poured into them are what sparked my interest in CS in the first place, and have played a massive role in shaping who I am today. I've been lucky enough to live a fairly drama-free life, so here are fun facts about me to fill enough space for this page layout to work: I played one year of JV tennis in high school, I am the self-proclaimed least competent Eagle Scout in the world, my greatest fear is heights, I don't know how to ride a bike, I think I'm a very funny person, my girlfriend does not.

My Work

A lot of my early experience has come from working on full-stack development for small organizations or personal projects. This time has allowed me to help raise awareness for social issues, improve the student experience at UCLA, and give back to online communities. In the summer of 2022, I interned with Capital One's Auto Refinance team, where I used web development and machine learning to develop and optimize a loan-processing platform. I've recently begun work as a SWE at Stripe on the Payments API Features team in Seattle. If for some reason you want more details on my work, check out the projects and experience pages!

My Interests

Outside of work and school I'm, shockingly, still a massive nerd. As I've mentioned, I have a strong passion for video games and have a special place in my heart for the Pokémon, Diablo, and Borderlands franchises, but I've spent plenty of hours across all sorts of games (most recently Slay the Spire). When it's basketball season, I also spend hours feeding my obsession for the NBA, and am a huge Warriors fan (not a bandwagon, I swear) and analytics nerd. When I do actually go out and touch grass, I mostly enjoy hanging out with friends and working out on the rare days when I'm not injured.