I'm Justin Kong
🎓 Computer Science @ Rutgers University (Class of 2028)
🚀 Backend developer | API specialist | Cloud computing enthusiast | Problem solver
🎓 Full-Stack Software Engineering Intern @ Deepiri

• Implemented HTTPS with TLS termination at Nginx (Let’s Encrypt, automated renewal) while deploying a Dockerized Django app on AWS EC2 using Docker Compose and Gunicorn.
• Increased throughput 20% and reduced latency 16.5% (19% p95) by implementing Nginx caching and load-tested performance optimizations with k6.
• Reduced average API route latency by 85.9% (from 313ms → 44ms) by implementing Redis caching for high-traffic user/session reads, cutting repeated PostgreSQL hits.

What this shows: full lifecycle backend engineering—built a Django web app from local development to a production deployment on AWS, containerized the application with Docker for consistent environments and repeatable releases, ran Gunicorn as the application server behind Nginx (reverse proxy + static asset delivery), and improved scalability and reliability by using Redis caching to reduce PostgreSQL load and cut endpoint latency.

Check it out and try it here: NoteTube

Designing and building a school-wide matchmaking platform for Rutgers students, including auth, survey flows, matching logic, and announcement pages, handling real student sign-ups and live traffic.

• Implemented Google SSO with OAuth 2.0/OIDC, including PKCE, ID token verification, hosted-domain enforcement, and JWT-based authentication for protected REST APIs.
• Built a weighted-vector compatibility algorithm for a student-matching system serving 2,000+ Rutgers users.
• Architected a scalable matching platform with 70-dimensional embeddings, achieving <400 ms search latency and 99.9% uptime.

What this shows: full-stack backend system design—implemented secure OAuth 2.0 authentication with JWT-based session handling, designed a scalable vector-based matching algorithm using 70-dimensional embeddings, and built a production-ready platform capable of serving 2,000+ real users with sub-400ms search latency and high uptime.

Check it out and try it here: RU My Valentine

Languages: Python, Java, SQL, HTML/CSS, JavaScript, TypeScript
Frameworks/Libraries: FastAPI, Django, Flask, Pydantic, Tailwind CSS, SQLAlchemy, Spring Boot, Spring Data JPA
Databases: PostgreSQL, MongoDB, Redis
Tools & Platforms: Git, AWS EC2, Docker, Nginx, k6, Gunicorn, Kafka, Postman
APIs & Integration: Google OAuth, Google Gemini API, AssemblyAI API, OpenAI API, Weather API

Email: jhk174@scarletmail.rutgers.edu
Personal-Portfolio: Justin Kong
LinkedIn: JustinHKong