Johnny (Hongyi) DingJohnny Ding
Backend & systems engineer · Seattle, WA
I build reliable infrastructure — distributed systems, cloud services and computer graphics. MSE in CIS at the University of Pennsylvania, where I TA CIS 5550 Distributed Systems. Previously a backend developer at Shenzhen Leyi Network, where I developed high-performance game servers.
About
I am a backend developer with experience in software systems, cloud computing, security, and computer graphics. Passionate about building reliable infrastructure.
Currently, I am a master's student in CIS at the University of Pennsylvania. I earned my bachelor's degree from ShanghaiTech University and previously worked as a backend developer at Shenzhen Leyi Network, where I was responsible for developing high-performance game servers.
In my spare time, I enjoy hiking, playing board games and doing origami. I am also maintaining a website for artist Hua Liu. Welcome to liuhuaart.ink and learn more about the art of Suzhou Garden!
Education
University of Pennsylvania
MSE in Computer and Information Science
2024 – 2026 · Philadelphia, PA · GPA 3.84/4.0
Courses: Software Systems, Cryptography, Distributed Systems, GPU Programming and Architecture, Interactive Computer Graphics
ShanghaiTech University
Bachelor of Engineering in Computer Science
2020 – 2024 · Shanghai, China · GPA 3.77/4.0
Courses: Computer Networks, Computer Graphics I & II, Operating Systems, Parallel Computing, Information Theory, Database, Data Visualization
University of California, Berkeley
Exchange Student in Computer Science
Jan 2023 – May 2023 · Berkeley, CA
Courses: Efficient Algorithms and Intractable Problems, Computer Security, Artificial Intelligence
Experience
University of Pennsylvania
Teaching Assistant, CIS 5550 Distributed Systems
Sep 2025 – May 2026
- TA for two semesters: Fall 2025 and Spring 2026
- Held office hours and helped students debug their course projects
- Graded assignments and exams
Shenzhen Leyi Network
Backend Developer
Feb 2024 – Jun 2024
- Drove backend feature development for games with 100k+ active players
- Used a global lock and message queue to synchronize 1k+ requests per second
- Developed Bash scripts to automate log file backup, reducing disk usage by 40%
- Wrote documentation and drew UML diagrams
Artist Website Maintenance
Website Manager
Aug 2021 – Present
- Designed a responsive artist website and maintain it on Alibaba Cloud