Software engineer · Educational psychology

I build with care, think deeply, and keep learning.

I’m Shawna Yuan. For the past ten years, I’ve built software and studied the systems behind how people work. Today, I’m bringing that same patience and curiosity to questions about learning, motivation, and human growth.

grounded workcareful analysislifelong learning
A warm, sunlit workspace with books, coffee and yellow flowers
A quiet place to read, think, test, and begin again.
My work sits where technical systems meet human learning. I care about what happens after a tool is built: whether people understand it, trust it, and grow through using it.
10 yearssoftware engineering
Full stackproduct to infrastructure
Next chapterlearning systems
Selected work

Projects shaped by real problems.

I tend to stay with a problem long enough to understand its structure. These projects show different parts of that process: production engineering, personal experimentation, and learning design.

01 · Core engineering work

smartCMS

Built through traditional software engineering, before vibe coding

A full-stack content and email operations platform for complex publishing workflows. It connected content selection, audience rules, reusable templates, campaigns, testing, scheduling, and operational data.

ReactTypeScriptRedux SagaGoMariaDBRedisDocker

What I built

  • A React and TypeScript administration interface with reusable, metadata-driven tables and editing tools.
  • Newsletter builders for assembling articles, reusable templates, and audience-specific versions.
  • Campaign configuration for audience groups, A/B tests, RSS updates, and scheduled processing.
  • A Go API with JWT authentication, database access, email generation, background scheduling, and Redis-supported services.
  • A Docker-based environment connecting the web app, API, MariaDB, and supporting services.

How I approached it

I traced how the work moved between people and systems, modeled the underlying data and rules, and tested how decisions in one area affected later stages. The platform evolved through production use, edge cases, and changing requirements.

Why it matters

smartCMS best represents the depth of my engineering experience. I designed, implemented, debugged, integrated, and maintained the system through hands-on software engineering before AI-assisted vibe coding became part of development work.

02 · Personal learning system

silentE

I noticed that looking up words, listening to an audiobook, reading an EPUB, and saving vocabulary all happened in separate places. silentE explores how those actions can become one continuous learning flow.

View the development repository
03 · Learning design experiment

Word Town

I am testing whether vocabulary becomes easier to understand and recall when words live inside places, scenes, and meaningful relationships instead of a flat list.

Research question: Can spatial context become a memory cue for language learning?

How I think
Good systems begin with patient observation.

I enjoy the part before the answer is obvious: collecting clues, finding patterns, separating assumptions from evidence, and understanding why a problem keeps happening.

01

Observe the real workflow

I start with what people actually do, including workarounds, repeated friction, and the steps that are easy to overlook.

02

Map the relationships

I break a large problem into data, decisions, dependencies, and human needs, then look for the points where they influence one another.

03

Build and test carefully

I prefer small working versions, concrete feedback, and steady refinement over confident guesses.

04

Keep learning from the result

A finished feature still has something to teach. I watch how it behaves in practice and carry those lessons into the next design.

My path

Engineering led me toward learning.

My direction changed gradually. Each stage added another layer to the same question: how can systems support people more thoughtfully?

Foundation

Computer science

Graduate training gave me a foundation in architecture, data, and structured problem solving.

Practice

Software engineer

I spent ten years building web applications and internal platforms across front end, back end, and operations.

Responsibility

Technical lead

Supporting junior engineers made me pay closer attention to confidence, feedback, different learning styles, and team culture.

Study

Educational psychology

I returned to graduate school to study cognition, motivation, group dynamics, ethics, and research methods.

Direction

Learning Systems Architect

My long-term goal is to connect technical architecture with how people learn, work, and continue developing.

Learning lab

Questions I’m researching through making.

My personal projects function like small experiments. I use them to make an abstract question concrete enough to observe and improve.

Listening × reading

Can audio and text remain in one cognitive flow?

Testing audiobook–EPUB alignment so readers can hear, follow, and capture unfamiliar language without repeatedly changing tools.

Words × place

Can a vocabulary list become a mental map?

Exploring rooms, streets, and visual scenes as memory cues for vocabulary learning.

Teams × growth

What helps beginners feel safe enough to learn?

Connecting technical onboarding with feedback, psychological safety, group dynamics, and differences between novice and experienced workers.

Right now

What I’m studying and building.

These are the questions and projects currently taking up space in my notes.

StudyingEducational psychology and professional ethics
BuildingAudiobook–EPUB synchronization for silentE
ExploringSchool technology and EdTech roles in the Hudson Valley
ResearchingHow attribution shapes responses to student anxiety
Contact

Thoughtful technology starts with a good question.

I’m interested in software, educational technology, school systems, and work that connects strong technical foundations with human development.

Find me on GitHub