Shirley Xiao

Software Engineer

About Me

I’m a software engineer and life-long learner, passionate about building impactful solutions.

I began my journey developing software at a New Zealand-based global medical device company, helping deliver features that improved user training and patient care. Now at CSIRO, Australia’s national science agency, I contribute to climate and agricultural data visualization tools for national and state-level initiatives, helping make data more accessible to both policymakers and the public.

I’m driven to apply my engineering skills for good, working to meaningfully improve people’s lives. In my spare time, I enjoy exploring new technologies, reading, and making voxel art.

Experience

Software Engineer

CSIRO | Jul. 2024 - Present

Contributed to full-stack web applications for national and state-level government climate data initiatives. Worked in a team with designers, scientists, and project managers to deliver responsive, user-friendly interfaces and backend features that improve data accessibility for public users and policymakers.

Product Development Engineer - Software

Fisher & Paykel Healthcare | Feb. 2020 - Jun. 2024

Implemented user interfaces for a medical device and user training apps, collaborating with designers, marketing, quality, regulatory, and process teams throughout the full software development lifecycle, to deliver high-quality, compliant solutions.

Creative Technologist - Unleash Space

The University of Auckland | Sep. 2017 - Oct. 2019

Supported and taught visitors in using technologies including 3D printing, laser cutting, vinyl cutting, and CNC routing. Conducted workshops, inductions, and tours on VR/AR, Arduino, and Illustrator. Assisted in enabling creative projects through hands-on technology mentoring.

Software Engineering Intern

FlexWare Limited | Nov. 2018 - Feb. 2019

Researched and evaluated machine learning algorithms for processing accelerometer data, while improving and refactoring an existing web app for trend visualization. Worked with Python and Arduino for data collection and processing, contributing to both hardware and software workflows.

Software Developer Intern

Redfox Game Studio | Dec. 2017 - Jul. 2018

Collaborated in a team of five to develop a prototype Android game, contributing to game conceptualization, user interface design, software development, and testing. Gained experience in UI prototyping and project planning.

Projects

Habitsu

A full-stack habit tracker inspired by GitHub's contribution heatmap, featuring responsive UI, authentication, and database schema design. Features include numeric versus boolean goal types, goal stats such as current and longest streaks, and daily notes

  • React
  • TypeScript
  • TailwindCSS
  • Prisma ORM
  • PassportJS
  • PostgreSQL
  • TanStack Query
  • Figma
Habitsu goals page showing goal progress heatmaps

RadioGlobe

An interactive globe visualizing live radio streams via Mapbox and the Radio Browser REST API, inspired by RadioGarden and RadioCast. Includes play/pause, volume control, favorite stations, station search, genre filtering, and zoom-to-station functionality.

  • React
  • TypeScript
  • TailwindCSS
  • REST APIs
  • Mapbox
  • TanStack Query
  • Framer Motion
  • Figma
RadioGlobe home page showing globe with radio stations and station select controls

Quizit

A quiz game featuring category selection, configurable question count, and dynamic state management using RxJS. Built to explore Angular and reactive programming principles.

Quizit review page showing questions and answers

AniCycle

An AniChart-style seasonal anime tracker with multi-page navigation for current and past seasons, staff, characters, and individual works. Features responsive design, CSS animations, and GraphQL integration.

AniCycle home page showing seasonal anime