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Hi, I am ZY

Tee Zhi Yao

I’m a QA Engineer with a strong eye for detail, precision, and system reliability. Beyond testing, I enjoy building things—from self-hosted infrastructure to personal automation pipelines—and understanding how systems work end to end. Currently, I’m pursuing a Master’s degree in Computer Science at Georgia Institute of Technology while exploring side projects across software engineering, automation, and infrastructure. I believe in continuous learning, documenting my journey, and building systems that solve real problems. This year, I’ve been guided by the theme of doing things in moderation — pursuing growth with intention, moderation, and balance.

Duolingo streak: 1079 days
Quotes That Call to Me

"When you fail to plan, you plan to fail"

"Everything has a trade-off"

"Be in the arena (The Man in the Arena)"

"Vulnerability is not weakness"

Experience

1
AXS Pte Ltd

June 2025 - Present

Singapore

Payment services platform powering epayments, loyalty/rewards, and merchant portals in Singapore.

QA Engineer

June 2025 - Present

Responsibilities:
  • Improved QA processes across SaaS platforms, backend services, and payment systems, enhancing coverage and release reliability
  • Contributed to end-to-end testing across backend services, SaaS platforms, and mobile features, validating complex payment workflows and third-party integrations while ensuring cross-system consistency and reliable production releases
  • Worked across legacy systems and new product features, addressing integration challenges and ensuring consistent system behavior
  • Maintained and enhanced automation using Karate and Playwright to improve regression efficiency
ComfortDelGro Corporation

July 2023 - Aug 2024

Singapore

Senior Software Engineer in Test

July 2023 - Aug 2024

Responsibilities:
  • Designed and implemented an automated testing pipeline on AWS, improving deployment efficiency and test reliability
  • Collaborated with cross-functional teams to identify gaps in requirement designs and propose system improvements for corporate management system
  • Built and optimized UI automated regression testing frameworks using Pytest, Selenium and Appium, increasing UI test coverage by 30%
2
3
ByteDance

June 2022 - July 2023

Singapore

Software Engineer (Test), Trust and Safety Platform

June 2022 - July 2023

Responsibilities:
  • Co-managed a subteam of 4-5 engineers within a 12-member team, overseeing task assignments, resource management, and test quality across multiple Trust and Safety projects
  • Developed and maintained automation workflows for UI testing, integrating CI/CD pipelines to support deployments and quality assurance across Trust and Safety platforms
  • Defined test strategies and oversaw validation plans for 60+ features, including Digital Wellbeing and Family Pairing, ensuring robust coverage and reliable feature behavior
  • Enhanced team productivity by automating over 70 regression scenarios and implementing improved workflows using internal development frameworks
Shopee Singapore

Aug 2020 - May 2022

Singapore

Software Engineer, Web Automation QA

Aug 2020 - May 2022

Responsibilities:
  • Automated and maintained over 700 test cases using JUnit to support regression testing across multiple regions
  • Enhanced automation pipelines by customizing Jenkins configurations and creating modular reporting templates to improve traceability and developer productivity
  • Supported the transition from manual to automated testing, reducing manual testing effort by over 20% and improving overall test quality
4
5
Advanced Digital Sciences Center (ADSC)

May 2019 - Aug 2019

Singapore

Research center focused on advanced digital technologies and software systems.

Junior Research Assistant

May 2019 - Aug 2019

Responsibilities:
  • Designed and implemented a Java-based rich client application to support advanced analysis methodologies in research projects
  • Developed data processing tools and algorithms in Eclipse IDE, contributing to innovative approaches in digital sciences

Education

Georgia Institute of Technology
Jan 2024 – May 2027
Master of Science in Computer Science
Taken Courses:
  • CS 6601: Artificial Intelligence
  • CS 6200: Graduate Introduction to Operating Systems
  • CSE 6220: High Performance Computing
  • CS 6290: High Performance Computer Architecture
  • CS 7650: Natural Language
  • CS 7632: Game AI
  • CS 6340: Software Analysis and Test
  • CS 8001: Seminar
Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD)
May 2017 – Aug 2020
Bachelor of Engineering (Information Systems Technology and Design) with Honours with Merit
Taken Courses:
  • 50.021: Artificial Intelligence
  • 50.035: Computer Vision
  • 50.039: Theory and Practice of Deep Learning
  • 50.040: Natural Language Processing
  • 40.319: Statistical and Machine Learning
  • And more...
Minor:
Artificial Intelligence
Specialization:
Financial Technology
Exchange:
Hanyang University, Seoul, South Korea (Aug 2019 – Dec 2019). Transfer credits included Investment Science, Networks, Database Systems, and HASS mapping subjects.

Pursuits

Builder Ongoing

Running Hermes Agent, automation pipelines, and self-hosted services on a Raspberry Pi cluster. Includes CI/CD experimentation and local LLM hosting.

Linux Raspberry Pi Self-Hosting Automation Docker
Learner Ongoing

Building proficiency through apps, immersion, and conversation practice.

Language Learning Korea
Details
Student Ongoing

Learning UX research, wireframing, prototyping, and design thinking through Google’s professional certificate program.

UX Design Design Thinking
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Runner Ongoing

Running for fitness and enjoyment. Completed 2XU and INCO races this year while maintaining gym training—building sustainable wellness habits.

Fitness Health Running
Details

Certifications

AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Associate (SAA-C03)
AWS Training and Certification
May 2025
View details ->
AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner (CLF-C01)
AWS Training and Certification
Feb 2022
View details ->
ISTQB Certified Tester Foundation Level (CTFL)
American Software Testing Qualifications Board
Dec 2020
View details ->
AI for Industry (AI4I)
AI Singapore
Apr 2020
Data Scientist with Python Track
DataCamp
Oct 2019
View details ->

Past Projects

Completed side projects, coursework, competitions, and hackathons

Connect X Reinforcement Learning
2020

Deep Q-Learning agent with experience replay for Connect X.

KITTI Object Detection (Transfer Learning)
2020

Fine-tuned YOLOv8 on KITTI dataset for autonomous driving detection.

Red Dot Smart Trolley System
2020

Smart shopping trolley with IoT sensors and QR auto-checkout.

Chatbot for Named Entity Recognition
2024

Rule-based NER chatbot with transfer learning for automated FAQ.

Cybersecurity Defenders Discovery Camp 2019
2019

Bronze award in a nation-wide cybersecurity competition.

Predix Hackathon (Winner, Renewables Track)
2018

Won the Renewables track with an IoT energy optimization solution.

SIA App Challenge
2018

Built an inventory management prototype with Raspberry Pi and Firebase.