Shihao Zhao

Software Developer, Computer Engineering 📞 905-923-3706 | ✉️ mikezhaowork21@gmail.com | LinkedIn | Portfolio

🧩 Professional Summary

Full Stack Developer with hands-on experience in building and deploying large-scale web applications using React, Next.js, Spring Boot, and TypeScript. Skilled in microservice architecture, cloud deployment (Azure, AWS), and CI/CD automation. Proven track record of improving application performance, system scalability, and user experience through clean code and modern engineering practices.

🎓 Education

McMaster University

Hamilton, Ontario, Canada Bachelor of Engineering, Computer Engineering (CO-OP) Sept 2015 – May 2020

💼 Work Experience

Alliance Income Service Corp

Vaughan, Ontario, Canada Full Stack Developer Oct 2024 – Present

• Architected and engineered TripEnroll, a multilingual online travel-insurance platform built from scratch with Next.js and TypeScript, integrating GreenShield APIs, responsive UI, and full purchase funnel (quote → payment → confirmation).
• Developed GroupEnroll, a B2B insurance management portal using Spring Boot, MySQL, and React, designed to manage and analyze large-scale insurance application data.
• Collaborated closely with the UI/UX team to craft modular, responsive React components, reducing page load time from 3s to 200ms while maintaining design consistency across the site.
• Set up and optimized a CI/CD pipeline using GitHub Actions to automate deployments of Next.js apps to Azure App Service, improving deployment reliability and speed.
• Integrated multi-locale support (US, CA-EN, CA-FR) using next-intl for region-specific routing, content, and currency formats, improving user engagement and reducing bounce rate by 30%.

Uspeed Network Technology Inc.

Nanjing, Jiangsu, China Software Developer Dec 2022 – Oct 2024

• Designed and implemented key distributed system components using Java and Go microservice architecture, including authentication (JWT), gateway, logging, and data analysis modules, enhancing scalability and modularity.
• Applied a multi-level caching strategy with Redis and MySQL, caching hot data in Redis and cold data in MySQL, reducing data access latency to 10ms.
• Optimized resource limits and auto-scaling with Kubernetes, preventing OOM issues and ensuring stability while handling 50K+ requests/day in high-concurrency scenarios.
• Led the completion of unit and regression testing for 100+ API endpoints using JUnit and Postman, achieving 90% coverage and zero critical failures post-release.
• Participated in code reviews to ensure adherence to design principles and company standards, improving code quality and maintainability across teams.

Varicent Software Inc.

North York, Ontario, Canada Software Quality Assurance Analyst Oct 2021 – Aug 2022

• Automated regression testing with Cypress, improving test coverage from 60% to 95% and reducing manual testing effort by 20%.
• Analyzed functional and non-functional requirements to create comprehensive test plans and cases, improving testing efficiency and accuracy.
• Collaborated across teams to identify and fix major bugs in web applications, delivering features 2 days ahead of schedule.
• Managed daily testing tasks using Jira, ensuring timely delivery of project milestones.

🧠 Skills

Languages & Frameworks: Java JavaScript TypeScript React Next.js Spring Boot Spring Cloud Hibernate Tools: RabbitMQ Docker Kubernetes Jira JUnit CI/CD Git Postman MySQL Redis AWS