Belal.

Software Engineer

Open to software engineering roles and client website projects. Newark, NJ.

The same work, three other ways

github.com/BembabyLinkedInRésumé (PDF)

Work

Shipped products and client work come first, followed by open source, this site, and a few prototypes I built to test ideas.

Shipped product

1 project

  • Shipped productLive on the App StoreReleased December 2025 · version 3.5.7, October 2026

    FitTrack+

    Built and shipped a native SwiftUI fitness app with Apple Watch workout flows, backed by a Java/Spring Boot/MySQL API and a Next.js client.

    2,000+ App Store downloads200+ active usersSelf-reported, as of October 2026

    Who it helps
    People who train with weights and want quick set logging, programs and progress history from their iPhone or Apple Watch.
    What I owned
    The whole product: interface design, the SwiftUI iPhone, Apple Watch and widget targets, the Spring Boot API and MySQL data model, the Next.js web client, and App Store releases.
    • Swift
    • SwiftUI
    • watchOS
    • HealthKit
    • WatchConnectivity
    • WidgetKit
    • Live Activities
    • Java
    • Spring Boot
    • Spring Security
    • MySQL
    • Next.js
    • TypeScript
    • Docker
    • Railway
    Case study →View on the App StoreWeb client (fitstrack.com)
    FitTrack+ training screen showing today's split, a Start Workout button and saved programs.

Client work

2 projects

  • Client projectLive, in pre-launchOctober 2026

    emBabySteps

    Designed and built a Next.js and Postgres publishing platform for a licensed pediatric physical therapist: a custom block editor with pre-publish checks, reader accounts, comments and saved posts, authenticator sign-in for staff, branded email and scheduled publishing.

    Who it helps
    Parents and caregivers of children from newborn to age five, and the physical therapist who writes for them several times a week.
    What I owned
    Everything: product decisions with the author, the design system, the Next.js app, the Postgres schema and migrations, authentication and security, email, tests, and deployment on Vercel and Railway.
    • Next.js
    • React
    • TypeScript
    • PostgreSQL
    • Drizzle ORM
    • Better Auth
    • Tiptap
    • Tailwind CSS
    • Zod
    • Resend
    • Vercel
    • Railway
    • OpenRouter
    • Vitest
    • Playwright
    Case study →Visit embabysteps.com
    emBabySteps home page on desktop: the title Little Steps, Big Milestones over a large baby footprint, a nursery rainbow, Van Gogh's First Steps, and an age picker from 0 to 3 months through 3 to 5 years.

  • Client projectLive on the diner's domain2026

    Park West Diner

    Designed and launched a custom restaurant website that makes the menu, specials, hours, directions and ordering link easy to find.

    Who it helps
    Diner guests, mostly on phones, who want to see the menu, check whether it's open, call, get directions or order pickup.
    What I owned
    Design and front-end development, turning the printed menu into a searchable web menu, an owner update flow for specials and photos, and the launch on parkwestdiner.com.
    • Next.js
    • React
    • TypeScript
    • Tailwind CSS
    • WebGL
    • Vercel
    Case study →Visit parkwestdiner.com
    Park West Diner homepage on desktop: the diner's script logo above the line “Classic diner soul. A whole new shine.” with View the Menu and Get Directions buttons.

Open source

1 project

  • Open source46 merged PRsSeptember and October 2026

    Open-source contributions

    46 merged pull requests in other people's projects: 10 in Hugging Face's sentence-transformers, an embeddings library with about 19,200 GitHub stars, and 35 in OpenMed, a healthcare NLP toolkit. Mostly bug fixes with regression tests, plus a performance fix and a few features.

    Who it helps
    Maintainers and users of sentence-transformers, OpenMed and the Cyberwave Python SDK.
    What I owned
    Each pull request end to end: finding the bug, writing the fix and its tests, and revising it until a maintainer merged it.
    • Python
    • PyTorch
    • pytest
    • GitHub
    Details →My merged sentence-transformers PRsMy merged OpenMed PRs

This site

1 project

  • This siteLive2026

    belalembaby.com

    A React and Vite portfolio with four interfaces over one set of content: a Persona-inspired menu that greets first-time visitors, a fast, plain dossier for reading and sharing, a playable 1996 homepage, and Cobalt, a printmaker's version with a small working desktop.

    Who it helps
    Hiring teams and prospective clients, plus anyone who wants to play.
    What I owned
    Design, development, content and deployment.
    • React
    • Vite
    • React Router
    • CSS
    • Canvas / WebGL
    • Playwright
    • Vercel
    Case study →

Prototypes

3 projects

Small demos I built to test an idea. Each runs on one machine with sample data, and each lists its limits.

  • PrototypeSeptember 2026

    Service Recovery Desk

    A local Python app that turns restaurant guest feedback into a draft reply and staff follow-ups using Strands Agents and a local Ollama model. Replies quote the review verbatim and use only operator-approved facts; a person approves before anything is exported.

    Limits: Runs on one machine with synthetic data and a single operator. It doesn't post replies or issue refunds.

    • Python
    • Strands Agents
    • Ollama
    RepositoryDemo videoDevpost page

  • PrototypeSeptember 2026

    Surplus Switchboard

    A local optimizer that allocates surplus food portions to recipients under capacity, category, timing and clearance constraints, with a person verifying capacity first and max-flow/min-cut evidence for each result.

    Limits: Built on established max-flow algorithms rather than a new solver. The phone-call demo is role-play, pulling structured results out of the call isn't solved yet, and it hasn't handled real donations.

    • Python
    • Max-flow / min-cut
    • SQLite
    RepositoryDemo videoDevpost page

  • PrototypeLocal Alexa+ simulationSeptember 2026 · redesigned October 2026

    Watt If

    A local Alexa+ simulation for rearranging three optional evening chores. A Strands agent running Qwen reads the request, the PeakShift planner checks the times, and a calendar file unlocks only after the person approves the plan.

    Limits: Runs locally with fictional loads, prices and forecasts. No live Alexa or appliance control, no measured savings, and no hosted app.

    • Python
    • Strands Agents
    • Qwen
    • Ollama
    • JavaScript
    • CSS
    • ICS
    Case study →Source on GitHubOctober 21 demo videoDevpost page
    Watt If's planner introduction: a midnight-blue page with tall lettering reading An evening that moves with you, and Thorvaldsen's marble relief Night inside clock rings.