Ray Tian
中文
University of Waterloo · Honours Mathematics (Co-op) · Started September 2026

Ray Tian

Curious about how things work. Careful about the result.

Honours Mathematics Co-op student at the University of Waterloo, interested in data-driven problem solving, product development, and technology-enabled business solutions.

Seeking Co-op Opportunities in Business Analysis, Data Analytics & Technology

Featured projects → See my open-source work github.com/Jelly-RayTian
Based in Waterloo, OntarioLanguages Mandarin · English
About me & education

Who I am, at a glance

About me

I'm Ray Tian, a first-year Honours Mathematics (Co-op) student at the University of Waterloo. I'm interested in data-driven problem solving, product development and technology-enabled business solutions. I like problems that start from something concrete: a bug I can reproduce, a tool classmates actually need, a group that needs organizing. Away from the keyboard I play table tennis and piano, follow open-source projects, and enjoy rhythm games and interactive digital experiences.

More about me →

Education

University of Waterloo
Honours Bachelor of Mathematics, Co-operative Program
Sep 2026 – Present

Shanghai Nanyang Model Private High School
British Columbia Curriculum
Graduated 2026 · Academic average: approximately 93.3%

Euclid 2025: 83/100 · Study Model Student · offers from 8 universities, with entrance scholarship offers.

Education details →

Featured projects

Projects that start from a real problem

Each one starts from a problem someone really had. I say what I built, how I checked it, and where it stands today.

WatDesk

Oct 2026 – Present · TypeScript · React · Vite · Edge extension

WatDesk

  • The problem Waterloo deadlines, exams and grades are spread across LEARN, Crowdmark and Odyssey.
  • What I made One side panel with a timeline, a two-week workload view, exam countdowns, grades and calendar export, in English and Simplified Chinese.
  • How I checked 284 automated tests passed at v1.9.0; 8 tagged releases so far.
  • Where it stands Edge Add-ons listing under review; install from GitHub releases. Your data stays in your browser.

Latest release ↗Source ↗Details →

Open source · TypeScript, C

Helping other people's projects work better

Each contribution starts with a problem I could reproduce. Three examples, before and after:

All contributions →

Technical research · 2026

Inside PvZ2: RSB, RTON and Rijndael

How the resource files of a mobile game are layered, a small RTON decoder written from scratch, and a check of the container layers of a real build.

  • Context Personal learning project, 2026
  • Tools Python; community format notes
  • Outcome Container layers of a real build analysed; RTON decoder with 14 passing tests on synthetic data

DEV Community ↗Read the write-up →

WatDesk and most of my open-source fixes were built with AI coding assistants. My part is deciding which problem to solve, reviewing every change, running the tests and talking with maintainers. I did not write all of the code by hand.

Other projects

WechatSignals

A local-first macOS client for analysing one-to-one chats: read-only access, anonymisation, SQLite and Keychain.

CodeCompass

A local-first desktop app for understanding unfamiliar codebases.

Chronicle

A privacy-first local desktop app for rediscovering file activity through time and context.

Madeira-Experimental

An experimental fork exploring Windows x64 Vulkan on iPad.

View all →

Experience & leadership

Organizing people and helping things last

Peer Listening Group

Founder & Organizer

Started a peer listening and discussion group; membership grew from 8 to 22 over one semester.

Academic Committee Member

Class academic representative, all three years of high school

Organized study groups and helped classmates with their studies.

Community Grocery Coordination

Community volunteer

Collected and organized grocery needs from neighbourhood families.

Peer Learning Support

Group organizer & volunteer tutor

Set up a peer homework-help group in 2021; it grew from 5 to 8 members.

All experience → · Volunteering → · Creative work →

Timeline

  1. Middle schoolStarted reading the data files of Plants vs. Zombies 2; History subject representative.
  2. High schoolAcademic committee member for three years; founded a peer listening group (8 to 22 members); Study Model Student.
  3. 2025Euclid Mathematics Contest 83/100; received university offers and entrance scholarship offers.
  4. Jun – Jul 2026Released CodeCompass and Chronicle.
  5. Sep 2026Started Honours Mathematics (Co-op) at the University of Waterloo.
  6. Oct 2026Released WatDesk and WechatSignals; first pull requests to PDFCraft, Madeira and job-ops.
  7. Nov 202648 pull requests so far; published an article on DEV Community.
Skills, honestly tiered

What I use, and how well

Grouped by how I actually use them. Anything marked learning or introductory is exactly that, not a claim of proficiency.

Data & Analytics
Coursework: MATH 135 Algebra, MATH 137 Calculus 1, ECON 101 Introductory Microeconomics. Learning: SQL and Python (introductory, not proficient). Practice: reproducible test cases, checking a fix against before-and-after results, time-zone and date handling (job-ops PR).
Product & Workflow
Turning a real student need into a scoped tool (WatDesk); bilingual English and Simplified Chinese interface and copy; GitHub issues, pull requests and maintainer communication; CI checks in GitHub Actions; organizing study groups and a peer listening group.
Development Tools
Git, GitHub, GitHub Actions, Vite, Vitest, browser-extension APIs (Manifest V3), ASan/UBSan (used in Madeira PRs); AI coding assistants, used with review and testing as described above.
Programming Exposure
Project use: TypeScript, JavaScript, React (WatDesk). Coursework: Racket (CS 135). Limited exposure: C, Swift, Rust, Python (open-source pull requests and personal projects, with AI coding assistance). Introductory: SQL.
Open source

Open-source contributions

Every pull request I have sent, with its real status, is on the open-source page.

job-ops

Self-hosted job-search tool (TypeScript)

9 PRs · 3 merged · 6 open

 PDFCraft

Browser-based PDF toolkit (TypeScript, pdf-lib)

25 PRs · 10 merged · 15 open

 Madeira

Windows-on-iOS compatibility layer (C, Swift)

14 PRs · 4 merged · 8 in main via maintainer · 2 open

Most of this work was developed with AI coding assistance, which the PR descriptions state; I scope each bug, review the diff and check the tests.

48 pull requests to other people's projects. One tile each.

Hover, focus or tap a tile for the PR.

17Merged
3Squashed onto main
5Consolidated
22Open
1Draft

Squashed and consolidated PRs are shown separately from merged ones.

View more →

Technical writing

Explaining what I worked out

Published articles and longer write-ups on game files, Android and iOS, from self-directed experiments.

Published article

DEV Community · Nov 2026

Inside Plants vs. Zombies 2: Understanding RSB, RTON, and Rijndael Encryption

Published article

Zhihu 知乎 · Nov 2026

Inside Plants vs. Zombies 2: Understanding RSB, RTON, and Rijndael Encryption (Chinese edition)

 Inside PvZ2: RSB, RTON and Rijndael

Plants vs. Zombies 2 (Chinese version, Android) · 2026 reproduction and a mini decoder

How the resource files of a mobile game are layered, a small RTON decoder written from scratch, and a check of the container layers of a real build.

Android & Embedded Device Customization

Phones, a children's phone watch and a learning device · high school

Rooting, TWRP, custom ROMs, a Windows flashing experiment on a Xiaomi Mi 8, a rooted Xiaotiancai Z6 and a modified Xiaoai Teacher.

iOS Jailbreaking & Mobile Systems Exploration

Signing, sideloading and jailbreaking · high school

Hands-on iOS experiments: how Apple code signing works, sideloading with AltStore and SideStore, the Dopamine jailbreak, TrollStore on an iPad mini 6, and tweaks.
Awards & certifications

Recognition

Euclid 2025Mathematics contest, 83/100
Study Model StudentAwarded by the school, high school
Scholarship offersUniversity of Alberta, McMaster (2025)
Piano Level 10Completed in primary school
IELTS Academic 7.0English proficiency (self-reported)

Education & honours →

Contact

Let's talk

Seeking Co-op Opportunities in Business Analysis, Data Analytics & Technology

LinkedIn → GitHub More ways