Mentorship Program 2025-2026 Mentors

I am currently a software development engineer at Amazon Web Services, working in the Amazon Linux team. My professional interests include algorithms, distributed systems, database systems, and programming languages. Throughout my career, I’ve gained experience at 9 different companies, including 1.5 years of Backend experience in Trendyol and 7 internships during my bachelor’s degree at organizations like Amazon, Getir, Commensis, Baykar Technologies, and Garanti BBVA. I’ve had the opportunity to work in various technical areas, including robotics, frontend, and backend development. For those seeking to benefit from my mentorship, I can assist with topics such as algorithms, distributed systems, computer science fundamentals, and software engineering. I offer support with CV preparation, finding internships, and providing career guidance within the industry. Additionally, I help individuals make informed decisions about their career paths and effectively manage their bachelor’s studies. I can also assist those approaching graduation with their initial career steps, including job searches and building professional networks.

I graduated from Istanbul Technical University with a Bachelor’s degree, earned my Master’s at UNC Chapel Hill, and I am currently a 4th-year PhD student in Computer Science at UC San Diego.

During my undergraduate years, I aimed to grow in multiple dimensions: I developed leadership skills through active involvement in student clubs, strengthened my technical abilities by working for two years in part-time software engineering positions at various companies, and gained research experience by collaborating with professors in different labs. In graduate school, I have continued to broaden my perspective by engaging in both academic and industrial research, which has given me a deeper understanding of how different paths can shape a career.

As a mentor, I bring a wide range of experiences from both academia and industry. I can share insights on the pros and cons of different career paths and help mentees think through what might be the best fit for them. I’m also happy to support graduate school applications, including motivation letters and CVs, and can connect mentees with experts in areas beyond my own. I enjoy having regular virtual meetings to check in on progress, answer questions, or just chat about random topics. I offer a totally relaxed and open environment where mentees feel comfortable discussing anything.

I am Berfin Duman. I graduated from Istanbul Technical University with a degree in Electronics and Communication Engineering, and I am currently pursuing a master’s degree in Computer Engineering at Koç University. I have been working as an AI researcher and engineer for the past 1.5 years. Having gained experience both in academia and industry, I believe I can support my mentees by guiding them from the perspective that best fits their needs. I am available for in-person meetings within Istanbul.

I am currently pursuing a PhD in Computer Science at the University of Illinois, and I graduated from Istanbul Technical University (ITU) with a degree in Computer Engineering in Jan 2023. Before my PhD, I worked in applied machine learning roles at both corporate and start-up environments.

Right now, my research interests are human-computer interaction and computer science education, where I explore how we can improve the ways we teach programming with new technologies such as large language models. 

I would love to support mentees who are interested in research and academia. I like to connect with mentees through online meetings and written communication, and also by providing feedback as they build their portfolios and application materials.

I’ve graduated from Bilkent University in 2022. Completed my first internship in Turkcell. Completed my second internship in Udemy and continued working there part time during my senior year in the college. After my graduation, I’ve started working in Google Cloud as a Backend Software Engineer in Warsaw.

I can help with the CV, preparations for the interviews, and share my experience of working abroad in a big company.

About Me

I’m a Senior Data Scientist with experience building and deploying machine learning solutions in fintech. I started my career at Tarfin in Istanbul, where I worked on credit scoring, fraud detection, and pricing models. Now I’m based in Berlin, working at Pair Finance on ML-driven debt recovery strategies, fine-tuning LLMs, and maintaining ML APIs in the cloud.

My Interests

I’m passionate about using data science to solve real-world problems, especially in fintech. I’m also curious about the intersection of ML and LLMs. Outside of work, I’ve been sailing since I was 14 and regularly play beach volleyball.

What I Offer as a Mentor

I can help with building and deploying ML models, navigating the challenges of data science in production, and growing your career in tech. I’m also happy to support interview preparation or just share experiences from my journey.

What I Expect from Mentees

I value curiosity, openness, and commitment. If you’re motivated to grow as a data scientist and ready to put in the effort, I’ll do my best to support you along the way.

I graduated from Istanbul Technical University (ITU) with a degree in computer engineering 2.5 years ago. I have a strong background in math and computer science from my work in olympiads, and I’ve spent 2-3 years developing web and mobile applications.

For more than one year, my main interests are high-frequency trading (HFT) and algorithmic trading, where I use advanced algorithms in financial markets. I also have a broad network and can connect my mentees with experts in different areas when needed. I like to keep in regular contact with my mentees, through frequent meetings and constant communication. I also enjoy face-to-face meetings to build a strong and productive relationship.

I graduated from Hacettepe University with a degree in computer engineering a year ago and am pursuing my Master's Degree in San Jose State University at the moment. I've completed several internships before including the one at Meta. I've worked on PyTorch compiler optimization and backend development in general.

I’ve always loved solving LeetCode problems. I especially enjoy working on them as if I were in an interview setting. I’ve been training myself in this area for over three years, constantly practicing and learning. I’d be happy to help, particularly with preparation for big tech interviews.

I'd love to see that mentees are motivated and enthusiastic, and that they show this in their work and studies. We could also chat about life in the U.S especially if you’re interested in working/studying in the U.S.

I am currently a Quantitative Software Engineer at Qube Research & Technologies (QRT) in London, where I’ve been working for the past 2 years on the Core Pricing and Risk Platform team. My role involves developing high-performance C++ systems that provide real-time and EOD pricing and risk information across all trading activities. Before joining QRT, I interned twice at Google, once as a SWE and once as an SRE, and gained experience at two fintech startups as a software engineer. These experiences gave me exposure to both large-scale systems and the fast-paced environment of early-stage companies. Through my career so far, I’ve had the chance to collaborate closely with traders, quantitative researchers, and risk managers, working at the intersection of technology and finance.

As a mentor, I can provide guidance on CV preparation, internship and job applications, and overall career planning. My aim is to help mentees make confident choices about their professional direction, manage their studies effectively, and get ready for the early stages of their careers — from securing internships to transitioning into full-time roles. To ensure the best outcome, I encourage mentees to take initiative in arranging meetings and share their goals/expectations openly.

Last year, I graduated from the Computer Engineering Department at Hacettepe University. During my studies, I took part in artificial intelligence projects both in Teknofest competitions and at Hacettepe on an academic level. I also gained experience in algorithms, as well as web and android development.

Currently, I work at Commencis, where I contribute to developing a React Native application.

As I am starting my mentoring journey, I would like to support mentees in areas such as algorithms, artificial intelligence, and web/android development. I also hope to share my experiences with those who, like me at one point, may be unsure about which field to pursue, and help guide them along the way.

I look forward to keeping in regular contact with my mentees through open communication and frequent meetings, and I will always be available whenever needed.

I'm Yasin, I graduated from Bogazici University in 2022. I've been working as a Software Development Engineer (SDE) at Amazon in the Berlin office since June 2022. Previously, I did two summer internships in the same team at Amazon. Our work is mostly on building infrastructure for ML models using AWS Services and making images beautiful. I believe I can be most helpful when preparing for internships/full-time work abroad (e.g. CV preparation/interviews). Other than that, I would be happy to talk about working abroad or working as an SDE in a science team.

Researcher and AI Engineer with a PhD in Applied Informatics, specialising in developing scalable AI solutions by leveraging Large Language Models, Vision-Language Models and Retrieval-Augmented Generation for solving complex multimodal problems. Experienced in designing innovative workflows that combine vision and language understanding with downstream tasks. Demonstrated expertise in semantic segmentation and object detection, particularly within geospatial and remote sensing domains. Proven track record in building production-ready inference pipelines and interactive AI tools using cloud infrastructure.

All participants have to abide by our CODE OF CONDUCT  and LETTER OF CONSENT. 

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