finlay@portfolio:~$ whoami
FINLAY COOPER
software engineer
finlay@portfolio:~$ cat summary.txt
Software engineer who ships production systems end to end. I build with AI agents: I set the architecture, schemas, and tests, and they build against them. Two platforms I built are running in production today.
finlay@portfolio:~$
finlay@portfolio:~$ cat about.md
About Me
Who's behind the prompt.
$ whoami --verbose
I'm a software engineering graduate from Western University (Dean's Honour List) who takes production systems end to end, from requirements through deployment. Two of the systems I've worked on are in production right now: a plant compliance platform I built as the only engineer at BroadGrain Commodities, and the TA-matching platform running in Western's ECE department, where I was technical lead.
That internship reinforced what I care most about in software development: understanding user needs and iterating based on real feedback. Working directly with plant operators taught me that the best tools fit naturally into existing workflows rather than forcing people to adapt to technology.
I build with AI agents by default. I own the architecture, the schemas, and the tests; agents do the implementation against them. That's how one engineer ships what normally takes a team, and the workflow section shows exactly how.
My Life
[01/04] With my capstone team on Design Day
Key Highlights
- Software Engineering graduate from Western University (Dean's Honour List)
- Sole engineer on a compliance platform running at all 3 of BroadGrain's Canadian plants
- Builds with AI agents by default: architecture, schemas, and tests first
- Bilingual — English (native), French (fluent)
- Passionate about hockey, football, chess, weightlifting, and game development
finlay@portfolio:~$ cat workflow.md
How I Build
AI agents do the typing. I own the design and what ships.
01
Context first
Architecture and rules live in project context files, so every agent session starts knowing how the codebase works.
02
Design, then generate
I define the schemas, types, and validation, and agents fill in the implementation. At BroadGrain that meant one schema-driven factory instead of 100+ hand-written files. On the capstone I rebuilt the whole backend in 3 days this way.
03
Tests decide
Agent output ships only when it passes. On the capstone, a three-role integration harness exercises all 100+ endpoints before anything merges.
04
Parallel agents and MCP
I run multiple agents on separate tasks at once, and use MCP tooling for jobs like migrating BroadGrain's legacy production data.
05
Build in the room
On Soi Ram I made design changes live on calls with the client, so we tried her ideas on the real site instead of trading mockups.
finlay@portfolio:~$ cat education.md
Education
Academic qualifications and achievements.
Western University
Bachelor of Engineering, Software Engineering
Dean's Honour List
Sept 2022 - June 2026
London, ON
Relevant Courses
Extracurricular Activities
- Western Engineering Auto Pilot (WEAP) — C++/ROS2 contributions to the autonomous vehicle path planning pipeline
finlay@portfolio:~$ cat experience.md
Work Experience
Software Developer Intern
BroadGrain Commodities
·Toronto, ON
TypeScript · React Native · Node.js · Express · MySQL · Azure
Summer 2025
●live- Sole engineer on a compliance platform now live at all 3 of BroadGrain's Canadian plants, cutting compliance reporting time 75% (plus 15% more from refactoring)
- Scoped directly with plant managers at each site and shipped iterative releases into daily production use
- Built with parallel AI agents working from project context files and schemas defined up front, with every change reviewed before release
- Designed a schema-driven backend factory that generates controllers, routes, and validation from one declaration, collapsing 100+ hand-written files into 3
- Merged a legacy .NET web app and a separate MAUI mobile app into one React Native app for iOS, Android, and web
- Migrated all production data to a normalized schema, using MCP tooling to derive the new schema and map the legacy data
- Replaced paper across 8 compliance categories with 10 PDF reports on a four-state approval workflow, auto-delivered to SharePoint via Microsoft Graph
Freelance Web Developer
Javier Navarrete
·javiernavarrete.com
Next.js · TypeScript · Tailwind
September 2026
●live- Designed, built, and launched javiernavarrete.com for the Oscar- and Grammy-nominated, Emmy-winning composer of Pan's Labyrinth
- Built a custom cue player for 13 scores and albums: starting one stops the rest, and nothing downloads until play is pressed
- Gave the site a cinematic feel: a once-per-visit title card, film grain, and a pinned painting the content frosts over as it scrolls, each switchable by a flag
- Worked through rounds of client feedback from a shared doc, with every page driven by one typed content file shaped for a future admin UI
- Moved the legacy Los Amantes opera site under the new one with redirects so old links keep working, and shipped a static export to the client's cPanel host
Freelance Web Developer
Soi Ram
·soiram.ca
Next.js · TypeScript · Tailwind · Toast POS
June 2026
●live- Designed, built, and launched soiram.ca, from brand identity to deployment
- Shipped design changes live on calls with the client using AI agents, building her vision in real time instead of trading mockups
- Integrated Toast POS direct ordering alongside UberEats and DoorDash, so the restaurant keeps the commission on direct orders
- Built a retro 80s brand, data-driven menu, dynamic theming, and a mobile-first, SEO-optimized layout
Technical Lead — GTA Management System
Western University
·London, ON
Next.js · TypeScript · Express · Prisma · MySQL
2025 - 2026
●live- Led a 4-person capstone team building the platform that replaced spreadsheet TA hiring in Western's ECE department, now used by 100+ TAs, professors, and committee members
- Designed and built the matching algorithm: it scores every student-course pair on skill, preference, reviews, and course history, then fills TA hours slot by slot in waves, with full-year course support
- Set the architecture and rebuilt the backend in 3 days with AI agents: 59 files covering auth, validation, error handling, and 14 API modules (now 107 endpoints)
- Locked down every module with JWT auth, role- and ownership-based access control, and Zod validation
- Wrote the three-role integration harness that exercises every endpoint as a student, professor, and committee member, and gates each change
- Built dry-run matching so the committee previews results and tunes weights without ever touching approved assignments
- Built the typed API client, reusable dashboard and CRUD components, and the drag-and-drop matching board with a searchable student sidebar
- Deployed the server to Railway and the client to Netlify, and wrote the API, authorization, and component docs the rest of the team built on
Floater Counsellor
YMCA of the GTA
·Toronto, ON
Summer 2024
- Collaborated with diverse teams to deliver engaging activities and ensure smooth operations
- Adapted quickly to new teams and resolved challenges effectively in dynamic environments
- Mentored groups of 8-12 children, fostering teamwork and creating a supportive environment
- Spoke French to ESL campers
Detailing and Maintenance Specialist
Three Lakes Concierge (Formerly Dockside Detailing)
·Muskoka, ON
Summer 2023
- Detailed boats, cars, and property interiors; pressure washed decks, furniture, and exteriors; polished windows and screens ensuring top-quality finishes and customer satisfaction
- Assisted with marketing efforts by creating and distributing promotional material to expand client reach
- Trained new employees on detailing techniques and operational procedures
finlay@portfolio:~$ ls -l ~/projects
Featured Projects
Fracture Protocol - Roguelike Arena Shooter
Unity · C#
April 2026
- Two-developer roguelike built with AI agents: we had a full playable version in the first 2 days. I wrote about two-thirds of the C#
- Built all 3 boss fights (the Welder, the Triad, and the Overseer) with coroutine-driven AI running concurrent attack patterns and HP-based phase transitions, plus the elite enemy roster
- Designed and built 32 modifiers across 5 rarity tiers, with weighted drop tables for elite and boss rewards, per-modifier stack caps, and diminishing returns
- Built room-based level progression with doors that lock behind you, hallway lore triggers, damage popups, and modifier icons with tooltips
- Hardened the web build: traced a combat bug that only appeared outside the editor to Unity stripping a shader used only from code, added a build-safe shader fallback, and audited every enemy for physics-safe movement to stop wall clipping
CloudCopier - Cross-Device Clipboard Sync
C# · Node.js · Swift · Docker
2024 - 2025
- Clipboard sync between Windows and iOS: a Windows client, a self-hosted sync server with API keys, and a native iOS app
- Supports all common file formats (text, images, docs, media, etc.), offline queuing, and secure self-hosting
- Format normalization, deduplication, and rate-limited polling with retries for reliable cross-platform sync
- Set up CI/CD for auto-builds and redeploys to a cloud platform on push
Quizzly - Networked Trivia Game
C++ · Qt
2025
- Multiplayer trivia game with a desktop GUI
- Client–server architecture over sockets for real-time multiplayer quiz sessions and synchronized game state
- Object-oriented design covering question rounds, player connections, and scoring
finlay@portfolio:~$ mail -s 'hello' finlay
Get in Touch
Open to new grad roles and freelance work.