Software Engineer · Dublin, Ireland

Shane
Whelan.

Computer Science (Data Science & AI) student at UCD. Software engineer intern at Twilio. Powertrain Captain at UCD Formula Student. I build things that have to work.

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Shane Whelan
4.04 GPA / 4.20
625 LC Points
... Public Repos
... Pull Requests
... Contributions
... PR Reviews
01 / About

Building things
with purpose.

I'm a third-year Computer Science (Data Science & AI) student at UCD, holding a 4.04 / 4.20 GPA, First Class Honours. I spent the summer of 2025 as a Software Engineer Intern at Twilio in Dublin, working on high-throughput APNs messaging infrastructure in Java.

Outside of industry, I lead the powertrain division of UCD Formula Student as Powertrain Captain, designing and debugging embedded C++ firmware for our electric race car. The intersection of software and physical systems is where I'm most at home.

I'm also co-founder of SmartCert, an AI-powered study platform for Irish Leaving Certificate students, taking a product from idea to live users.

02 / Experience

Where I've
worked.

Twilio June – Aug 2025

Software Engineer Intern

Dublin / Remote

  • Deprecated a legacy microservice by migrating its core logic into a high-throughput, real-time APNs messaging platform.
  • Engineered a new APNs binding adaptor in Java using the modern apns-http2 library, reducing network errors and operational overhead.
  • Built a thread-safe, in-memory APNs client cache with Google Guava to boost performance and enable accurate load testing.
  • Validated superior latency and throughput under load using the Artillery framework.
JavaGoogle GuavaArtilleryAPNsMicroservices
UCD Formula Student Oct 2024 – Present

Powertrain Captain & VCU Developer

Dublin, Ireland

  • Promoted to Captain in recognition of technical contributions and leadership within the powertrain division.
  • Writing and debugging embedded C++ firmware for the team's custom VCU, managing real-time data acquisition and vehicle dynamics.
  • Architecting CAN bus communication between VCU, Bamocar D3 motor controller, and Orion BMS 2.
  • Integrating software with physical hardware and validating performance on track under FSUK safety rules.
C++Teensy 4.1Arduino DueCAN BusEmbedded SystemsFSUK
2023 – Present SmartCert (StudyMate)

Co-founder

Building a full-stack AI study platform for Irish Leaving Cert students, using Firebase and LLM APIs to generate curriculum-specific practice questions and flashcards.

2022 – Present Boland's Pub & previous retail

Hospitality & Retail

Bar and floor operations balanced alongside a demanding academic schedule, maintaining First Class Honours throughout via disciplined time management.

03 / Projects

Things I've
built.

S&P 500 Big Data Analysis chart preview
01
PythonMapReduceMySQLHadoop

S&P 500 Big Data Analysis

Processed 56.7 million rows across 2,000 CSV files (2.7 GB) to benchmark distributed MapReduce processing against traditional SQL on historical stock data.

View on GitHub
Lichess Insights dashboard
02
PythonStreamlitPlotly

Lichess Insights

Interactive analytics dashboard exploring ~20,000 chess games. Seven visualisations surfacing patterns in opening strategy, skill tiers, and time controls.

View on GitHub
F1 Fantasy Predictor weekly report
03
PythonLightGBMPuLPFastF1GH Actions

F1 Fantasy Predictor

Automated ML pipeline predicting optimal F1 Fantasy teams each race week. LightGBM model, PuLP knapsack optimiser, and GitHub Actions publishing weekly reports.

View on GitHub
SmartCert AI study platform
04
FirebaseJavaScriptLLM APIs

SmartCert

Full-stack AI study platform for Irish Leaving Certificate students. Generates curriculum-specific practice questions and flashcards via LLM integration.

View Live
UCD Formula Student electric race car
05
C++Arduino DueCAN BusEmbedded

Formula Student VCU

Embedded C++ firmware for the UCDFS electric race car's VCU. CAN bus comms, Bamocar D3 motor control, Orion BMS integration, and FSUK safety compliance.

View on GitHub
apns-http2 open-source contribution
06
JavaOpen SourceAPNs

apns-http2 (CleverTap)

Open-source contribution to CleverTap's production push notification library, extending builder support for the full APNS payload spec with comprehensive unit tests.

View Pull Request
04 / Education

Where I've
studied.

University College Dublin 2023 – 2027

BSc Computer Science
with Data Science & AI

  • GPA: 4.04 / 4.20, First Class Honours (1.1)
  • UCD Entrance Scholar: awarded to incoming students with the highest academic results from secondary school.
  • Colm Church Scholarship: 1 of 3 finalists, selected for academic excellence and community contribution. Award: MacBook Air and annual educational bursary.
Coláiste Phádraig CBS, Lucan 2017 – 2023

Leaving Certificate

  • 625 points, the maximum achievable score.
  • 100% in Mathematics, Physics, and Computer Science.
05 / Skills

Tools of
the trade.

Languages
JavaPythonC++CSQLJavaScriptHTML / CSS
Technologies
GitDockerFirebaseGoogle CloudGoogle GuavaArtilleryArduinoJavaFXHadoopStreamlitPlotlyGephi
Concepts
OOPFunctional ProgrammingData Structures & AlgorithmsAgileMVC ArchitectureComputer NetworkingMapReduceData Visualisation
06 / Awards

Recognition &
honours.

2026

Colm Church Scholarship

St. Raphael's Garda Credit Union

One of 3 finalists selected for academic excellence and community contribution. Award: MacBook Air and annual educational bursary.

2023

UCD Entrance Scholar Award

University College Dublin

Awarded to incoming students with the highest academic results from their secondary school.

07 / Contact

Get in
touch.

Open to opportunities, collaborations, and good conversations. Just send me an email.

shane.whelan2@ucdconnect.ie
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