My name is Dennis Tsang, and this is my personal website. I am Catholic. 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. and am currently working on the mobile game Kingdoms of Heckfire as a full-stack engineer.
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’ve been volunteering in the Catholic church: At St. Francis Xavier parish, the community that I “grew up” in, I have been volunteering on the youth ministry core team since 2007. At St. Anthony of Padua parish, I am part of the live stream and media development tech teams since the summer of 2020.
Past
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 program of which I was a participant in 2007, where I led and taught the yearbook production program.
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.