Graduating 2027 | Open to full-time roles and 2027 internships

AI/ML EngineerSoftware EngineerData Scientist

Ariana Daka

Software engineer turned AI/ML engineer, building products where machine learning makes everyday things easier.

I'm Ariana, a software engineer turned AI/ML engineer. I spent four and a half years building web platforms and APIs in Kosovo, where I grew up as the youngest of six in a big family, and I'm now finishing an M.S. in Artificial Intelligence at NJIT. I like building products where machine learning makes something feel simpler, like Flyeasy, the app I'm building to help travelers meet the people on their flight. Outside of work you'll find me at tech events, a book club, or on a walk.

Resume (PDF)Contact

New Jersey, USAEligible to work in the US on OPT and STEM OPT

right now

Building Flyeasy (opens in a new tab)
Studying Deep Learning
Studying AI for Robotics

Skills and keywords

AI / ML

Python
TensorFlow
PyTorch
NLP
Data Mining
Information Retrieval
Text Ranking
LLM Integration (Claude, Gemini)
Agentic Workflows & Harness Design
ML Models
Reinforcement Learning
Deep Learning

Software Engineering

Angular
TypeScript
JavaScript
React Native
PHP
PHPUnit
Full-Stack Development
API Integration
Cross-Platform Apps
Cloud Build & Deployment
Containerization (Docker)
AWS EC2
Git Versioning

Data

Data Pipelines & Data Cleaning
SQL
PostgreSQL / Supabase
Database Design
Feature Engineering
Spark
Hadoop

Professional

Cross-Functional Collaboration
Teamwork & Communication
Problem Solving
Agile Methodology
Technical Writing / Documentation
Research Support

Education

Sep 2025 – 2027

New Jersey Institute of Technology

M.S. Artificial Intelligence · Department of Data Science

GPA 3.917 · May or December 2027, depending on thesis timing

Intro to Big Data
Data Mining
Python & Mathematics
Machine Learning
Reinforcement Learning

Expected graduationExpected 2027

United States

2018 – 2020

Rochester Institute of Technology

M.S. Information Sciences & Technologies

GPA 3.92 · KAEF Fellow

United States

2012 – 2016

University of Prishtina "Hasan Prishtina"

B.S. Computer Engineering

Faculty of Electrical and Computer Engineering

Kosovo

Top 3 projects

OngoingStarted at the NJIT Claude Builder Club Hackathon 2026SoloApr 2026 – Ongoing

Flyeasy

Mobile app that connects travelers with verified passengers on their exact flight.

Cross-platform (iOS, Android, web) app: save a verified flight, see who else is on it, connect and chat
LLM feature (Claude API) that suggests places to eat, rest or spend time at your terminal, based on layover length
Consent-first social model: connections are reciprocal and flights are verified against real airline schedules
Privacy by design: connections are mutual (nobody messages you uninvited), a single switch hides you from all lists without deleting anything, and either side can pause a conversation without losing history
Strict-TypeScript codebase on Supabase with a runtime-swappable theme system

React Native
Expo
TypeScript
Supabase (Postgres)
AeroDataBox API
Claude API

Read the case study →Visit the website (Flyeasy, opens in a new tab)code (Flyeasy, opens in a new tab)devpost (Flyeasy, opens in a new tab)

OngoingSolo

HayHire

A Claude Code agent harness that finds jobs matched to your profile, fills applications for your review, and tracks every response from Gmail.

Designed and built solo

Claude Code plugin (skills)
Claude Artifacts
Claude in Chrome
Python
Gmail API

Case study (HayHire)code (HayHire, opens in a new tab)

ShippedCourse

RL for Skin Cancer Decision Support

Replicated and extended a Nature Medicine RL model for skin-lesion triage, where a missed melanoma costs far more than over-treating.

~0.96melanoma recall with the team's Dueling DQN (best epoch)

NJIT Reinforcement Learning course · Team of 3 · Replication, environment simulation, baselines, reward-matrix experiments, visualizations and presentation

Python
TensorFlow
PyTorch
Gym
scikit-learn

Case study (RL for Skin Cancer Decision Support)write-up (RL for Skin Cancer Decision Support, opens in a new tab)code (RL for Skin Cancer Decision Support, opens in a new tab)

More projects

Job Search Helper

Python + Gmail API tools that track job applications and their replies, and find recruiter emails and draft responses to them.

automation
text classification
tooling
Jan 2026

code (Job Search Helper, opens in a new tab)

Canopy

AI meeting-to-action engine that turns conversations into traceable commitments, project trees and audio briefings.

ai
llm
backend
hackathon
Oct 2026

website (Canopy, opens in a new tab)demo (Canopy, opens in a new tab)code (Canopy, opens in a new tab)devpost (Canopy, opens in a new tab)

House Price Prediction

Solo machine-learning course project predicting house prices.

ml
regression
Jan 2026

code (House Price Prediction, opens in a new tab)write-up (House Price Prediction, opens in a new tab)

!readdit

News search that ranks articles with POS-tag cosine similarity and shows the storyline as a graph.

nlp
information-retrieval
Feb 2019

code (!readdit, opens in a new tab)

US Gun Violence Incidents Analysis

Data analysis of gun violence incidents in the United States.

Apr 2019

code (US Gun Violence Incidents Analysis, opens in a new tab)

Work experience

Feb 2023 – Jul 2025
Pristina, Kosovo
Litera
Software Engineer
Shipment-tracking platform for law offices
- Maintained a shipment-tracking web platform for law offices, integrating major US shipping vendors
- Built, deployed and tested 5 third-party APIs within a one-month deadline to keep the platform in service
- Fixed a critical data-integration bug that mixed up data for up to 10% of shipments
- Shipped fixes for security issues, preventing unauthorized access
- PHP 8
- PHPUnit
- SQL
Jan 2021 – Dec 2022
Pristina, Kosovo
KODE Labs
Software Engineer / Frontend Developer
- Upgraded Angular from v9 to v13 and optimized code, cutting Google Cloud build times from 25 to 9 minutes
- Developed a centralized invoice tracking system, preventing up to 30% of invoices from being missed in email or paper records, thus improving customer cash flow
- Built a project progress tracking feature that consolidated project updates into a unified view
- Collaborated with designers and managers to implement UI enhancements, improving overall UX
- Angular
- TypeScript
- Google Cloud

Awards and scholarships

Selected Dec 2017

Kosovo-American Education Fund (KAEF) Graduate Fellowship

Funded graduate study at RIT starting Aug 2018

2018

RIT Graduate Assistant Scholarship

2025

NJIT Merit-based Scholarship

Interests and hobbies

tv
Seinfeld is the all-time favorite
video games
Sims, Final Fantasy, Witcher, Resident Evil
anime fan
Dragon Ball, Naruto, Bleach, Fairy Tail
music
Every genre, depending on the mood
outdoors
Walks in nice weather
people
Tech events and meeting people
books
Hoboken Silent Book Club

volunteering

Organizational and PR volunteer, National Youth Congress Kosovo (2018)
Helping clean up after church social gatherings.

fun fact

Picked up basic German as a kid by watching TV in German (Dragon Ball and Fox shows)

languages

EnglishGerman (basic)Albanian (native)