I AM...
  • a software engineer at Braze
  • a Computer Science UC Berkeley grad
  • from Sacramento, CA
  • currently based in NYC
  • a dual U.S./Filipino citizen
  • interested in the challenges of full-stack
  • trying to not fall into a routine
  • trying to eat good Mexican food in NYC
I KNOW...
  • Python/Java/C/Ruby
  • HTML/CSS/JS
  • Photoshop
  • French
  • how to Google effectively
  • how to make things look pretty
  • how to make things accessible/usable
  • how to tell a story
I LIKE...
  • creating
  • coding
  • designing
  • writing
  • reading
  • learning
  • Reddit
  • Game of Thrones
  • beer
MAYA  ANGELICA  HERNANDEZ
BLOG
Old Personal Website
A Sea of Quotes Website
Critique Connect
A Sea of Quotes iOS App
Virtual Reality @ Berkeley Website
First Steps Android App
GrooveCube
Juniper Networks Internship Project
Burn Android App
NaNoWriMo
Everyday Video Project: Philippines
Nov 2015 - Dec 2015
Old Personal Website
My personal website from 2015 - 2016. Created from scratch using HTML, CSS, JavaScript, jQuery, and Bootstrap. I drew inspiration from the sky and featured moving clouds, stars, falling rain, glowing sun, and color changing background/sky. I considered putting my face inside the sun Teletubbies style on the about page but thought that would be too creepy. Retired this website design because I felt like a change but the full website can still be explored with the link on the right.
Oct 2011 - Present
A Sea of Quotes Website
Born out of my love for the written word, I created this Tumblr blog in 2011 in which quotes from literature are posted frequently up until this day. As of December 2017, ASQ has over 316,000 followers and over 2 million visits. Instead of using pre-made Tumblr themes, I wrote and designed the theme myself from scratch using HTML, CSS, and JS on Tumblr's code editor. I've expanded The Sea of Quotes brand to Facebook (over 8K likes), Twitter (over 1K followers), and Pinterest (over 1.8K followers) and designed ASQ and literature themed shirts, selling them on The Seas Apparel, a Spreadshirt store.
Jan 2018 - Present
Critique Connect
I created Critique Connect because I wanted to combine my passions of what I learned in the book publishing world and the tech world. As a former writer and beta writer, I identified a pain point in the writing community: finding other writers and beta readers. There are other various online communities to do this but no good way to search or filter this content that often got lost, was disorganized, and sometimes missed crucial pieces of information. Critique Connect tries to mitigate all of this. Critique Connect launched for open beta in April 20, 2019 and as of May 12 has over 150 users and growing. I hope to grow the community further, fix more bugs, and add new features.
April 2016
A Sea of Quotes iOS App
In 2012, I decided to make an iOS app for my Tumblr blog, A Sea of Quotes. However, I knew nothing about coding at the time and the free app generators I played with did not have the functionality or look I wanted. So 4 years later in my iOS class, I chose to fulfill my dream of making an iOS app for A Sea of Quotes. The app is more user-friendly for quote-hunting and quote-saving than the Tumblr app or mobile version of the blog, you can easily search for quotes which cannot be done in the Tumblr app, and a more consistent feel/look with the theme of ASQ which is difficult to customize on the Tumblr app. While the basic functionality works, this app could use some improvements in the UI and loading times that I'm working on to eventually put on the App Store one day.
May 2016 - May 2017
Virtual Reality @ Berkeley Website
I was brought on to the Virtual Reality @ Berkeley club to redesign and maintain their website as the Web and Digital Infrastructure Manager and to gain insight in VR development and industry. Using the pre-existing style guide, I redesigned their website in a way consistent to their brand image while trying to avoid looking like all the other Bootstrap-layout club websites. Additionally, I was one of the social media managers, designing most of the Facebook cover photos for VR@B events such as general meetings, bootcamps, and demos on Photoshop. As an officer, I had other responsibilities such as giving input during meetings and helping set up info sessions and conference.
Mar 2016 - May 2016
First Steps Android App
In the User and Interface Design Class at Berkeley, I was placed in a group with Simon Cao, Zach Hawtof, Ryan Kapur, and Hector Gonzalez. As a group, we went through the whole design process, including brainstorming, conducting user interviews, wireframing, prototyping, coding, and presenting the final product. As the theme of the semester focused on healthcare, we decided to target an uncommon audience -- alcoholics. The app idea: to help alcoholics find AA meetings best fit for them to encourage them to stay sober. We compared it to competitors already in the market, interviewed alcoholics, and attended AA meetings to make sure what we created wouldn't be condescending or unhelpful. My responsibilites laid more on the design and execution of presentation side, also making sure that teammates were kept on track.
Nov 2015 - Dec 2015
GrooveCube
In the Critical Practices class at UC Berkeley, CNM190, I was placed in a group with Serena Chang, Alice Pang, Mark Lam, and Ingrid Hong. As a group, we went through the whole design process. Our focus was on freestyle circles and how to encourage shy people to participate and foster a closer community within dance teams. Some components used were a Raspberry Pi and laser cutter. The idea is to press the button on the GC, which will play a song and record you dancing. You then pass the GC to a friend, who records themselves dancing to the next portion of the song, and so on. At the end, the GC uses Python scripts to concatenate the videos using FFMPEG, then uploads the video to YouTube. We also made packaging for the GC with simple instructions. In this way, virtual freestyle videos can be formed. I was mainly responsible for design, debugging, and final presentation items.
May 2016 - Aug 2016
Juniper Networks Internship Project
I interned at Juniper Networks as a Technical Marketing Engineer/Software Developer intern. I created a website with Linux, Apache 2, MySQL, PHP, HTML, and CSS to easily search through a database of automation tools and code such as PyEZ and Slax scripts to expand awareness and usability of automation. Since my Automation Tools and Code Index highly resembled a Pokedex which are used to search for Pokemon, I decided on a Pokemon theme for the intern showcase, with automation tools and scripts as the Pokemon. Made video with dubbed subtitles about my project, stickers and handouts as Pokemon cards with information on various automation tools and links to the site itself, which can only be accessed within Juniper's VPN. Shoutout to my awesome managers for believing in and being there for me.
Feb 2016
Burn Android App
My first attempt at coding for Android for CS160, the User and Interface Design class in UC Berkeley. The user can input how many minutes/reps of an activity they did and get results of how many calories they burned plus equivalent minutes/reps of other workouts instantly – no extra scrolling or button pressing required. Was featured in class by the professor for its UI and presentation design.
Nov 2009, Nov 2010, Nov 2011
National Novel Writing Month
Before writing code I wrote novels. NaNoWriMo is National Novel Writing Month in which you must write at least 50K words of a novel in the month of November. When you win NaNoWriMo, you can print your novel with CreateSpace. Here is a picture of a few of my novels. Crossed out the title names because they were too embarrassing. Because of my love for creative writing, I know how important it is to tell a story, and to tell it well.
Summer 2015, Summer 2016, Summer 2017
Everyday Project: Philippines
Documented every day of my life in the Philippines with my family in summer 2015 and 2016 with my iPhone and iMovie.