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David (Jiachen) Weng

David (Jiachen) Weng

Product Engineer & Creative Technologist

Vancouver, British Columbia, CA
English, Mandarin Chinese

Background


About

About

Product engineer and creative technologist in Vancouver. I build things that look good and work well, from brand identities to open-source apps, and I create content end to end, from video production and graphic design to social media marketing, with a proven ability to manage intricate projects from concept to completion. I design developer tools for the AI era: command-line tools that AI agents can call reliably, with explicit safety gates before any destructive action, built on a local-first philosophy. My work spans product strategy, full-stack development, AI-integrated workflows, and visual design. Co-Founder of OwO Network, LLC.

Work Experience

Work Experience

  • ContentOps & Graphic Designer, BC + AI Ecosystem

    Nov, 2025 - Present

    Lead visual content operations for a growing AI community in British Columbia.

    • Designed 50+ branded assets for social media, events, and presentations reaching 3,000+ cumulative viewers

    • Managed multi-platform content publishing workflow across LinkedIn, Instagram, and YouTube, maintaining brand consistency across 3 channels

    • Collaborated with stakeholders to translate AI ecosystem initiatives into compelling visual narratives for diverse audiences

  • Co-Founder, OwO Network, LLC

    Apr, 2025 - Present

    Wyoming-based technology company delivering network acceleration services and AI-powered developer tooling to a global user base.

    • Co-founded and operate a technology company delivering network acceleration services, API infrastructure, and open-source developer tools to a global user base

    • Build and ship alongside co-founders: contribute to the company's open-source network, translation, and developer tooling

  • Educational Technology Assistant, UBC Department of Physical Therapy

    Sep, 2023 - Apr, 20247 months

    Designed and developed inclusive e-learning content for the Physical Therapy program, applying Universal Design for Learning principles.

    • Designed and developed 5+ inclusive e-learning modules using Articulate 360 (Rise, Storyline), applying UDL principles for diverse learner needs

    • Collaborated with faculty to translate curriculum content into interactive digital formats serving 200+ students

  • Resident Advisor, UBC Student Housing and Hospitality Services

    Aug, 2023 - Aug, 20252 years

    Planned and delivered community programs for a residence community of 1,500+ students.

    • Designed and executed 12+ residential programs per academic year, engaging 25-60+ attendees per event

    • Facilitated cross-cultural co-curricular programming (Mahjong Night, Around the World in Games, Wear Your Pride) promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion among diverse resident populations

    • Designed and distributed monthly community newsletters, improving resident awareness of available resources and upcoming events

    • Coordinated with Resident Life team, campus services, and external partners to deliver educational resource events connecting students with financial literacy and support services

    • Administered weekly duty shifts including late-night safety rounds, enforcing campus policy and emergency response protocols for a community of 1,500+ residents

  • Video Production Assistant, Beaty Biodiversity Museum

    May, 2023 - Sep, 20234 months

    Produced video and visual materials communicating the museum's research and brand identity.

    • Filmed and edited research and promotional videos communicating key messages and reinforcing the museum's brand identity

    • Designed signage, posters, and plaques enhancing the museum's aesthetic and public image

    • Led creation of a data visualization video submitted to the Government of Canada and featured in the museum's 2022-2023 annual report

  • Social Media Coordinator, Vancouver Arts Colloquium Society (VACS)

    Jan, 2023 - May, 20234 months

    Ran social media marketing and audience communications for an arts society.

    • Managed social media marketing strategy and execution, growing followers and brand awareness for the society

    • Co-authored and distributed monthly newsletters, improving audience engagement

  • Writer & Editor, Citang

    Dec, 2022 - Present

    Create, contextualize, and curate internet culture content with cultural commentary for a bilingual audience.

    • Created and contextualized internet culture content, driving 150,090 views on a single post and contributing to 5,000+ follower growth over 6 months

    • Curated and annotated meme content with cross-cultural commentary, serving bilingual (CN/EN) audience needs

Projects Experience

Projects Experience

  • Desktop Apps

    - Present

    Native desktop apps with their own sites, downloads, and tours. All open source.

    • OpenKara (Rust + Tauri): turn your music library into a karaoke stage. On-device AI stem separation, synced lyrics with romanization, and live mixing; ships as signed binaries for macOS, Windows, and Linux

    • Sukiru (native macOS): checks and repairs coding agents' skill libraries through npx skills and gh skill; Apple Say (native macOS): speech synthesis and timed text, exporting Plain Text, LRC, and Enhanced LRC with system voices

    • SDF Flash GUI: cross-platform front end for MakeMKV's sdftool. Dumps, flashes, and recovers MT1959 Blu-ray drive firmware behind safety gates that refuse the mistakes that brick drives

  • DeckPad & ADP Shifts

    - Present

    A Steam Deck plugin and a browser extension, each with its own site.

    • DeckPad: Decky Loader plugin that turns a Steam Deck into a Bluetooth game controller (Xbox Wireless Controller layout) for a PC, phone, or tablet

    • ADP Shifts: browser extension on the Chrome Web Store that copies an ADP Workforce Now schedule into a Google Calendar it owns and keeps it current. No servers, no analytics; never sees the ADP password

  • jobs-cli

    Sep, 2026 - Present

    Agent-native job search and application CLI (Go).

    • Searches Indeed and LinkedIn from the terminal, detects the ATS provider behind each posting (Greenhouse, Lever, Workday and others), and submits applications where the provider supports it

    • Safety-first by design: nothing is ever sent without an explicit --confirm flag; stable JSON output, separated stdout/stderr, and predictable exit codes for reliable machine consumption

    • Ships as single static binaries for macOS, Linux, and Windows via Homebrew tap, install script, and go install

  • Agent-Friendly CLI Tools

    - Present

    A suite of 8 original Go CLIs built on one consistent, machine-consumable design contract.

    • monarchmoney-cli: query and automate Monarch Money from the terminal, with JSONL audit logs, hledger backups, and offline SQLite cache; flickr-cli: full photo-library management from the terminal; canvas-cli: terminal interface for Canvas LMS; zenodo-cli: uploaded and published an 8.1 GB public dataset (875,140 records, 58 provincial datasets) to Zenodo; plus qualtrics-cli, tg-drive-cli, and money

    • Every tool ships the same contract: JSON-first output, predictable exit codes, distinct stdout/stderr, and --read-only / --dry-run / --confirm safety gates on mutations; single static binaries with SBOM and checksums, distributed through a personal Homebrew tap

  • lyric-romanizer

    - Present

    Local lyrics romanization engine, published on npm.

    • Script detection and romanization across 12 scripts (Japanese, Mandarin/Cantonese, Korean, Cyrillic, Indic, Tamil, Thai), running fully locally with zero API calls

    • Powers OpenKara's synced-lyrics romanization; documented in 9 languages

  • opencard-db

    - Present

    Open database of credit card products across the US, Canada, and China.

    • 257 card products, each a schema-validated JSON file; published as versioned static exports (JSON, CSV, YAML) on a global CDN, plus a read-only API

    • Automated releases with changelog and checksums, contribution guidelines, and self-hosting docs

Skills

Skills

  • Engineering

    Rust

    Go

    TypeScript

    React

    Tauri

    egui

    SQLite

    Cobra

    Next.js

    TanStack

  • AI & Local Inference

    ONNX Runtime

    On-Device Inference

    Agent-Friendly Tooling Design

    REST API Design

    Local-First Systems

  • Content & Design

    Graphic Design

    Video Production

    Content Strategy

    Brand Identity

    Photography

    Visual Storytelling

  • Tools & Platforms

    Adobe Creative Suite

    Figma

    Remotion

    DaVinci Resolve

    Vite

  • Operations & Management

    Event Planning

    Project Management

    Budget Management

    Team Leadership

    Social Media Management

Education

Education

  • Management, Master's, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

    Jan, 2026 - Present

  • Media Studies (Minor: Asian Area Studies), Bachelor, University of British Columbia

    Sep, 2021 - May, 2025

Awards

Awards

  • UBC Faculty of Arts Student Research Grant , University of British Columbia

    Awarded on: Apr 01, 2024

Volunteer Work

Volunteer Work

  • Treasurer, UBC Media Studies Student Association (MSSA)

    May, 2023 - Apr, 2025

    Managed all financial activities for the student association.

    • Secured $10,000+ in grant funding for events through grant applications

    • Administered budget, processed member reimbursements, tracked expenses, and reported financials to executive team

  • Vice President Media, UBC Chinese Students and Scholars Association (CSSA)

    Apr, 2023 - Apr, 2024

    Led media strategy and visual communications for one of UBC's largest cultural student organizations.

    • Directed social media strategy and visual content production for events serving 1,000+ UBC students

    • Coordinated with executive team to promote cultural programming, driving event attendance and community engagement

Publications

Publications

  • "Transcending Barriers: Viewing Practices of 'Games of Thrones' in China, India, and Russia", Beacon: UBC Journal of Media Studies

    Published on: Jun 01, 2024