Hi, my name's
Jacques Amsel

About me

My bio

I'm a second-year student at Stellenbosch University studying BEng Electical and Electronic Engineering (with Data Engineering) and a member of Simonsberg Men's Residence. Hopefully, I will graduate in 2026. 😉 I have a keen interest in entrepreneurship, and am currently working on Qala.africa. Interested in collaborating? Catch me on LinkedIn.

Experience

  • June 2024-present
    I am currently a part-time software engineer at Yellow where I focus on implementing AI solutions for credit application processing and developing and maintaining the payment portal.
  • 1 month
    During my 1-month internship, I completed four key projects that enhanced Plentify's smart water heating solution (HotBot):
    • Developed an unsupervised model to calculate standing heat loss in geysers, improving energy efficiency assessments, and quantified its precision, with unknown true values, and with extremely noisy data.
    • Created models for water flow patterns, enabling personalised recommendations to customers for optimal usage periods.
    • Engineered a model to predict inlet water temperature for geysers, contributing to more accurate heating control and energy savings.
    • Implemented monitoring systems for AWS Lambda functions, strengthening the reliability of cloud-based operations.
    These projects allowed me to apply data science techniques to real-world energy efficiency challenges, while gaining valuable experience in cloud computing, and predictive modelling, in IoT applications.
  • 1 month
    During my internship at a company that provides financing for solar systems and cellphones to individuals in Madagascar, Malawi, Mozambique, Rwanda, Uganda, and Zambia during my Matric holiday before starting university, I...
    • designed, implemented, and deployed (using AWS Fargate) a tool that evaluates and corrects machine translations from Google, Microsoft, and OpenAI's GPT Davinci model between English and various African languages. This tool enhances and accelerates human translation of agent training documents and improves communication with agents.
    • implemented a payment history feature in the customer app
    • redesigned and improved the login and signup flow of the customer app (Flutter)
  • 1 year

    Teaching primary & secondary school children coding & robotics.

  • 4 months

    Security analysis and improvement. Drawing together a consistent user experience by designing and implementing a functional user interface in VueJS.

My awards

Cum'ed my 2nd year (2024)
Top Computer Systems 214 student with 100% 1st semeter, 98% 2nd, top Data Eng 245 Student @ 83%, 96% for Numerical Methods, and 95% for Eng maths 214
Top 2nd-year in Simonsberg (2024)
Top performing second-year student in Simonsberg Men's Residence for 2024
Cum'ed my first year (2023)
Receieved a "pass with distinction" for Probability Theory and Stats, Engineering Maths, Applied Maths, Chemistry, Physics, Data Science, Electrotechnique, Computer Programming, and Applied Maths. Mean: 85%
9 Distinctions in Matric (2022)
9 distinctions in my IEB matric
Subject prizes (2022)
Achieved 1st place in my school in Physical Sciences, Further Studies Physics, Maths, Further Studies Maths, Computer Applications Technology, and German
Valedictorian (2022)
Awarded for best overall achievement at school
Best academic achievement (2021)
Achieved the 1st prize for academics in Grade 11
Cum'ed my 2nd year (2024)
Top Computer Systems 214 student with 100% 1st semeter, 98% 2nd, top Data Eng 245 Student @ 83%, 96% for Numerical Methods, and 95% for Eng maths 214
Top 2nd-year in Simonsberg (2024)
Top performing second-year student in Simonsberg Men's Residence for 2024
Cum'ed my first year (2023)
Receieved a "pass with distinction" for Probability Theory and Stats, Engineering Maths, Applied Maths, Chemistry, Physics, Data Science, Electrotechnique, Computer Programming, and Applied Maths. Mean: 85%
9 Distinctions in Matric (2022)
9 distinctions in my IEB matric
Subject prizes (2022)
Achieved 1st place in my school in Physical Sciences, Further Studies Physics, Maths, Further Studies Maths, Computer Applications Technology, and German
Valedictorian (2022)
Awarded for best overall achievement at school
Best academic achievement (2021)
Achieved the 1st prize for academics in Grade 11
Cum'ed my 2nd year (2024)
Top Computer Systems 214 student with 100% 1st semeter, 98% 2nd, top Data Eng 245 Student @ 83%, 96% for Numerical Methods, and 95% for Eng maths 214
Top 2nd-year in Simonsberg (2024)
Top performing second-year student in Simonsberg Men's Residence for 2024
Cum'ed my first year (2023)
Receieved a "pass with distinction" for Probability Theory and Stats, Engineering Maths, Applied Maths, Chemistry, Physics, Data Science, Electrotechnique, Computer Programming, and Applied Maths. Mean: 85%
9 Distinctions in Matric (2022)
9 distinctions in my IEB matric
Subject prizes (2022)
Achieved 1st place in my school in Physical Sciences, Further Studies Physics, Maths, Further Studies Maths, Computer Applications Technology, and German
Valedictorian (2022)
Awarded for best overall achievement at school
Best academic achievement (2021)
Achieved the 1st prize for academics in Grade 11
Cum'ed my 2nd year (2024)
Top Computer Systems 214 student with 100% 1st semeter, 98% 2nd, top Data Eng 245 Student @ 83%, 96% for Numerical Methods, and 95% for Eng maths 214
Top 2nd-year in Simonsberg (2024)
Top performing second-year student in Simonsberg Men's Residence for 2024
Cum'ed my first year (2023)
Receieved a "pass with distinction" for Probability Theory and Stats, Engineering Maths, Applied Maths, Chemistry, Physics, Data Science, Electrotechnique, Computer Programming, and Applied Maths. Mean: 85%
9 Distinctions in Matric (2022)
9 distinctions in my IEB matric
Subject prizes (2022)
Achieved 1st place in my school in Physical Sciences, Further Studies Physics, Maths, Further Studies Maths, Computer Applications Technology, and German
Valedictorian (2022)
Awarded for best overall achievement at school
Best academic achievement (2021)
Achieved the 1st prize for academics in Grade 11
...and more