Stay curious.
Build something.

Hi, I’m Adam. You can call me AJ.

Engineer. Educator. Tinkerer.
I love to tinker and build stuff.

A few projects. A lot of curiosity.

I studied
engineering.

Electrical and Computer Engineering

University of Toronto

I love figuring out how things work.
One of my favorite projects put that curiosity on wheels.

Ask questionsTry thingsKeep building

Adam Chan smiling — Adam / AJ ChanEngineer & tinkerer

I built an
electric skateboard.

Each version taught me what to try next.

I started with a lead-acid battery. Building that first version gave me something to learn from, change, and build on.

The next experiment: Dell laptop batteries.

Early electric skateboard with a lead-acid battery strapped to the wooden board, exposed electronics, and a wired joystick. — The early build · Lead-acid battery

The next question:
what’s inside?

With Dell laptop batteries, I started looking beneath the enclosure. Removing more of the plastic helped me understand how the parts fit together.

A Dell laptop battery with part of its plastic enclosure removed, revealing red cylindrical cells. — Dell batteries · Starting to look inside

Opened laptop battery enclosure showing the red cells and the circuit board inside. — More of the enclosure removed

What I learned inside the enclosure became the starting point for my own packs.

From taking apart
to building packs.

I applied what I’d learned from the Dell batteries to building my own packs. Working with individual cells gave me new questions to explore with each attempt.

Five individual red battery cells laid out on a wooden work surface. — Individual cells · Beyond the original enclosure

Two experimental battery packs assembled from red cells and wrapped in gray tape. — Learning to make my own packs

Each attempt added knowledge I could bring back to the board.

One project.
Many iterations.

Applying what I’d learned.

The blue board brought those experiments together. Each version applied something I’d learned and gave me new questions for the next.

I carried that approach into software: build, learn, apply, repeat.

Later electric skateboard viewed from underneath: a blue deck, a silver base, green wheels, a motor, and electronics. — A later iteration · The blue board with the silver base

Then I built
for other people.

At university

Software Engineer · University of Toronto

Tools for engineering course scheduling and international student recruitment. Software that helped people get work done.

At a startup

Founder + CTO · Braincubator Canada

Web applications, client tools, and the infrastructure behind them. Turning ideas into something people could use.

Each project gave me knowledge I could apply to the next.

Building tools
for other builders.

Apple

Software Engineer

From an internship to a full-time role: developer technologies, internal tooling, infrastructure, and operations.

Google

Developer Relations Engineer

Building conversational applications on Business Messages and helping partners build with the platform.

The things you make can help someone else make their thing.

Learn to build.
Learn to explain.

Skyflow

Developer Advocate

Helping developers understand data privacy and build with it in mind.

Weaviate

Growth & Developer Relations
Then Director of Developer Relations

Helping an open-source community build AI applications with vector databases.

Try explaining your project to someone who hasn’t seen it before.

A question.
A project.

Meet Aurum.

“Where did I put that?”

I built an open-source home inventory app you can talk to. Find things with natural language, voice, or photos, with AI running locally through Ollama.

The habit stuck: a question, an experiment, then another version. You can explore the code and see how it works.

Explore the project

Aurum's project page, introducing Adam's open-source AI home inventory application — Something I built · Open source

Find your people.
Build together.

HackerSquad

The community and platform I’m building

Curious people.
Tools to experiment with.
Something to show at the end.

I founded HackerSquad to bring developers together through hackathons, hack nights, and hands-on events.

Meet a collaboratorAsk for helpShow what you made

Explore HackerSquad

Away from
the keyboard.

I like cycling.
I also have a toy poodle.

Building things is a hobby, too. I like tinkering with an idea and seeing where it goes.

Sometimes a bike ride has a little extra company.

Adam wearing a cycling helmet with his toy poodle in a carrier, with the Golden Gate Bridge behind them. — Cycling, with my toy poodle

Climb.
Stretch.
Try again.

I also like rock climbing and yoga.

Different ways to move, practice, and keep learning.

Adam rock climbing on an indoor bouldering wall. — Rock climbing

Adam holding a handstand in a shared event space. — Yoga

Let’s meet
the room.

A quick introduction from everyone.

We bring different backgrounds, interests, and goals. Let’s find out who we’ll be learning with.

Start introductions

Your name & major
Your program
Your programming journey
Your coding-agent experience
Your career goals
A little more about you

Tell us
about you.

Six starting points.
Make it your own.

New to coding agents?
You’re welcome here.

Your name & major
What should we call you, and what are you studying?
Your program
Graduate student, 4+1, or another program?
Your programming journey
What programming experience do you have? When did you discover programming?
Coding agents you’ve used
Which ones have you tried, and what did you use them for? “None yet” is welcome.
Your career goals
What kind of work would you like to do or explore?
Something interesting about you
A hobby, a side project, a fun fact—something beyond your studies.

Different starting points.
Let’s build together.

A shared interest. A tool you’d like to try.
Someone you could learn from.

Keep those connections in mind as we start building.

Show introduction prompts Back to AJ’s introduction

Learn it.
Build it.
Pass it on.

Sharing what I learn is part of why I love this work.

Santa Clara
University

Adjunct Lecturer

Helping people understand computers by building with coding agents.

Use the tools. Stay curious about how they work.

Your first version
can be small.

Mine started with a board and a lead-acid battery. Yours can start with one idea.

Pick one problem.
Something that annoys you, interests you, or would help someone you know.
Build the smallest useful thing.
Use docs, AI tools, and other people to help. Be able to explain what your project does and how it works.
Show it. Get feedback. Repeat.
Use what you learn from each demo to shape the next version.

What will
you build?

Bring your curiosity. Start with one idea.

Class introductions HackerSquad Explore my code Say hello

Adam / AJ Chan@itsajchan

Stay curious.Build something.

I studiedengineering.

Electrical and Computer Engineering

I built anelectric skateboard.

The next question:what’s inside?

From taking apartto building packs.

One project.Many iterations.

Then I builtfor other people.

At university

Software Engineer · University of Toronto

At a startup

Founder + CTO · Braincubator Canada

Building toolsfor other builders.

Apple

Software Engineer

Google

Developer Relations Engineer

Learn to build.Learn to explain.

Developer Advocate

Growth & Developer RelationsThen Director of Developer Relations

A question.A project.

Meet Aurum.

Find your people.Build together.

Away fromthe keyboard.

Climb.Stretch.Try again.

Let’s meetthe room.

Tell usabout you.

Your name & major

Your program

Your programming journey

Coding agents you’ve used

Your career goals

Something interesting about you

Different starting points.Let’s build together.

Learn it.Build it.Pass it on.