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What I’m Doing Now

A snapshot of what I’m currently studying, building, and preparing for.

Academics @ USC

I am currently an undergraduate student at the University of Southern California, focusing on data systems, machine learning, and mathematically rigorous foundations that support large-scale computing.

  • DSCI 351 – Foundations of Data Management
    Data modeling, relational databases, indexing, NoSQL systems, distributed file systems, and parallel computation for large-scale analytics.
  • DSCI 352 – Applied Machine Learning and Data Mining
    Practical application and evaluation of machine learning models in data-intensive scenarios, with emphasis on real-world performance and trade-offs.
  • MATH 458 – Numerical Methods
    Numerical linear algebra, root finding, eigenvalue problems, approximation, and numerical solutions to differential equations, with attention to stability and error.
  • MATH 408 – Mathematical Statistics
    Hypothesis testing, confidence intervals, maximum likelihood estimation, likelihood ratio tests, and non-parametric methods.
  • MATH 430 – Theory of Numbers
    Prime factorization, congruences, primitive roots, number-theoretic functions, and Diophantine equations, strengthening mathematical reasoning and rigor.
  • CSCI 104 – Data Structures
    Core data structures including linked lists, balanced trees, heaps, hash tables, and probabilistic analysis of algorithms.

Preparing for TikTok SRE

I am actively preparing for my upcoming Site Reliability Engineering internship at TikTok. My focus is on strengthening system-level understanding and operational thinking, beyond coursework.

Currently Learning

  • Ansible — infrastructure automation, configuration management, and reproducible deployments.
  • Observability — metrics, logging, alerting, and understanding system behavior under failure conditions.
  • Distributed Systems Internals — reliability trade-offs, failure modes, and operational best practices.

Current Projects

I am working on small, focused projects related to infrastructure automation, data pipelines, and system reliability, with the goal of turning them into well-documented case studies.

© 2026 Fred Rongfei Shao