My name is Dennis Tsang, and this is my personal website. I am a software developer in Vancouver, B.C. I graduated from the University of British Columbia with a B.Sc. in Computer Science, with the Software Engineering option.
I currently work at A Thinking Ape Entertainment Inc. as a staff software engineer focusing primarily on backend systems. This marks a full arc as I originally started as a client-side engineer when I originally worked on Kingdoms at War and Meego Village. Later on, I moved into a full-stack engineer while developing Kingdoms of Heckfire – this agility meant that I could deliver full features on my own, which included the event leaderboard system and store promotion systems, which have also been ported to the other live games. I currently work on the backend services team on our live operations department which develops and maintains the server-side systems driving all of our live games.
My current software experience includes multi-platform mobile development using Unity and C# and web application development using Python with the Django framework, and MySQL databases. In the past, I have also done iOS development using Objective-C, Android development using Java, and server-side web development in PHP. I enjoy programming, and I have a number of side projects and websites of my own.
Programming background
I started coding HTML, JavaScript and CSS in 2000 when I was in sixth grade using the free web services of Netscape Websites and Angelfire. In seventh grade, I produced two websites: one on the negative effects of smoking, and another on pre-human species.
I picked up PHP and MySQL during high school while volunteering on the MyBB Group on the support and development teams. I helped develop versions of MyBB 1.0 and 1.2, and collaborated with other developers and support personnel from around the world. This was my first software development experience in a team, and it was awesome to be able to see ideas turned into commits, and being packaged and released for other people to use.
During my studies at the University of British Columbia, I had the opportunity to work at Broadcom, Tantalus Systems, INETCO, and A Thinking Ape for my co-op work terms on a variety of roles from vendor support to test automation and optimization to programming. I picked up bits and pieces of different languages such as C/C++/Objective-C, Perl, and ActionScript/Flex while at the different companies.
I also worked as a teaching assistant for CPSC 210 (Software Construction), CPSC 260 (Data Structures and Algorithms for Engineers), CPSC 319 (Project Course). It was a great experience to be able to help fellow students learn in labs and office hours, guiding them towards “eureka” moments, and seeing their mental lightbulbs light up in their minds.
Volunteering
Current
I have been leading the Tech Team at St. Anthony of Padua Parish in Vancouver since 2022, where I coordinate 18 volunteers on the team to prepare all the media and slides and operate the tech equipment during the weekend Masses.
Past
I have volunteered with the Youth and Young Adult ministry at St. Francis Xavier from 2007-2023. As a Youth Minister, I helped facilitate the youth ministry programs based on Life Teen and EDGE programs to high school and middle school youth, running games and activities, teaching and leading small group discussions. I also helped organize the a two-week pilgrimage travelling to World Youth Day 2023 in Portugal for twelve young adults from the parish.
I volunteered on the Canadian Ski Patrol team at Mount Seymour in North Vancouver during the 2019-2020 season.
During the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in the spring of 2020, I volunteered with the BC COVID-19 3D Printing Group as a courier and courier dispatcher where I helped organize and deliver packages of ear-saver and face shields to hundreds of health care professionals around Metro Vancouver.
I have also been a council member and volunteer of the S.U.C.C.E.S.S. Youth Leadership Millennium summer program of which I was originally a participant in 2007. I returned to lead and teach the yearbook program for the cohorts during the summers 2008-2014 where I taught basic design skills and Adobe InDesign to a group of high school and college-aged participants. I also maintained the program website as part of the communications committee during 2010-2014.
Interests and Hobbies
I’ve been interested in buses and trains since I was young and consider myself a transit enthusiast and photographer. I maintain the T-Comm website, and moderate the Transit-Vancouver Discord server.
I am an amateur radio operator and operate with the callsign VA7DTT.
In the warmer months I enjoy day hiking and cycling around the city. In the winter months, I recently picked up skiing.