hello, i'm
umar balak
software engineer focused on building scalable, reliable systems.
currently exploring backend systems and cloud-native architecture.
status
open for work
based in
Mumbai, India
focused on
backend systems
about
i build systems that are simple, reliable, and designed to scale. my journey started with machine learning, where i focused on understanding how things work beneath the surface rather than just using them.
over time, i’ve shifted towards backend engineering, system design, and cloud. i enjoy working with data, building structured pipelines, and designing systems that handle real-world complexity without unnecessary noise.
i’m currently exploring the intersection of ai and infrastructure, aiming to build software that is not just intelligent, but also dependable and production-ready.
experience
programmer analyst trainee
Cognizant
2025 – present
working on ai and analytics systems with a focus on cloud infrastructure (gcp, deployment & pipelines)
featured projects
developed a saas platform enabling students and researchers to collaboratively build a peer-reviewed knowledge system using retrieval-augmented generation. supports semantic search, document ingestion, and citation-backed responses.
built a federated learning system supporting distributed training across multiple clients while ensuring data privacy using differential privacy techniques. optimized aggregation and communication efficiency.
implemented and fine-tuned a convolutional neural network using vgg16 for efficient image classification on cifar-10. improved accuracy with transfer learning and optimization techniques.
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get in touch
interested in working together? have a question? feel free to reach out. i'm always open to discussing new projects and ideas.