Mike Cichonski

Mike Cichonski

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ABOUT ME
Full-stack developer with 9+ years of experience in web, cloud, and AI
Full-stack developer with 9+ years of experience in web, cloud, and AI

I'm a software engineer, data scientist, and founder based in Toronto, with 9+ years of experience turning complex ideas into useful software. My background in cognitive science shapes how I approach problems: understanding the people, the underlying data, and the system as a whole.

At the University of Toronto, I lead Dynamic Datasets development for CanDIAPL, building astronomy data infrastructure and tools that help researchers work with large, varied datasets. Previously, I spent six years at Creative Destruction Lab, delivering 50+ software and R&D projects that collectively saved over 10,000 hours of manual work.

My AI experience spans statistical modelling, NLP, and LLM applications. Early work at CDL included transformer autoencoders, Hugging Face, and embeddings; today I build systems that combine language models with structured data, retrieval and validation. My SOILIE-3D research explores computational visual imagination through the generation of 3D scenes.

I also founded Halo Media Solutions, where I take products from concept through architecture, development, and deployment. My projects include AI-powered tools such as Domain Seeker, the Worlds Become game, and applications for music, visual art, and media. That experience shapes how I think about user experience, maintainability, and the practical tradeoffs of running a product.

I work primarily with Python, TypeScript, React/Next.js, SQL, and AWS, though I am comfortable with the entire software stack on any developer platform. I enjoy collaborating across disciplines, turning open-ended ideas into practical plans, and building systems that people can understand, use, and maintain.

Skills

AI and language models: Natural Language Processing, Machine Learning, Large Language Models, Hugging Face, Transformers, Embeddings, Model Evaluation

Data and verification: Structured Data Extraction, Data Engineering, SQL, PostgreSQL, Data Validation, Data Provenance, Database design

Applied AI workflows: Retrieval-Augmented Generation, Human-in-the-Loop Workflows, OpenAI, Anthropic, Google Gemini, Amazon Bedrock

Infrastructure and delivery: AWS, REST APIs, Docker, Kubernetes, CI/CD, GitHub Actions, OAuth, OpenID Connect, Technical Documentation

Full-stack breadth: Python, TypeScript, JavaScript, React, Next.js, Flask, Pandas, NumPy, scikit-learn, Cloudflare Workers, PostGIS, TimescaleDB

Eastern Time (US & Canada) (-04:00)
Joined December 2025
EXPERTISE
7 years experience
10 years experience
10 years experience
7 years experience
10 years experience
7 years experience
2 years experience

REVIEWS FROM CLIENTS

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SOCIAL PRESENCE
GitHub
quickERP
This allows the Muse™ device from InterAxon Inc. to collect data to be used for EEG processing in Research. But this is the beginning of something much bigger...
Roff
1
0
circle-pass
An attempt at a simple, novel, secure password scheme.
Python
0
0
EMPLOYMENTS
Lead Software Developer
University of Toronto — Dunlap Institute for Astronomy & Astrophysics
2025-08-01-Present

Technical lead for Dynamic Datasets within CanDIAPL, a national, multi-university astronomy inf...

Technical lead for Dynamic Datasets within CanDIAPL, a national, multi-university astronomy infrastructure initiative.

• Architect data services and ingestion workflows for heterogeneous survey data, including PostgreSQL/PostGIS/TimescaleDB designs, metadata validation and CADC/CANFAR integration.
• Deployed CANFAR services on an Arbutus Kubernetes cluster with shared CephFS storage and CADC authentication/group authorization; successfully ran thousands of headless jobs.
• Develop COMET, SILKEN and Multi-Messenger Portal tooling for software onboarding, deployment, data discovery, research workflows, and user access.
• Assess implementation readiness, identify capability gaps and integration dependencies, and translate findings into architecture documentation, priorities, and operational guides.
• Collaborate with scientists and partner engineers across Canadian research institutions to turn evolving requirements into maintainable services.

Python
PostgreSQL
OAuth 2.0
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Python
PostgreSQL
OAuth 2.0
Docker
PostGIS
Kubernetes
Helm
RESTful API
OIDC
GitHub Actions
Technical documentation
Software architecture
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Founder & Lead Software Engineer
Halo Media Solutions Inc.
2025-03-01-Present

Founded and run an independent software company, owning product strategy, architecture, implementation, deployment, and ongoing iterat...

Founded and run an independent software company, owning product strategy, architecture, implementation, deployment, and ongoing iteration.

• Build AI-enabled products and developer tools, including Domain Seeker, and the pre-release Worlds Become LLM-powered MMORPG and a text-to-3D generation platform & API.
• Develop LLM integrations with structured output validation, independent result checks, caching, quotas, usage accounting, and cost controls.
• Implement retrieval-augmented NPC memory and bounded model contexts, with server-side validation of proposed actions.
• Design full-stack applications and cloud services using TypeScript, Python, Next.js, AWS and Cloudflare, including authentication, asynchronous processing, and persistent data models.
• Develop additional media and creative tools spanning image transfer, colour analysis, music composition, and local rendering.
• Own requirements, user experience, technical documentation, and delivery decisions across a portfolio of products at different development stages.

Python
SQL
NoSQL
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Python
SQL
NoSQL
TypeScript
React
Next.js
CI/CD
RESTful API
OpenAI
Cloudflare workers
Software architecture
AWS
LLM
Aws (eks, bedrock)
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Research Consultant / Software Developer
Carleton University — Science of Imagination Lab
2015-01-01-Present

Long-running research collaboration on computational visual imagination and the SOILIE-3D scene-gen...

Long-running research collaboration on computational visual imagination and the SOILIE-3D scene-generation system.

• Develop algorithms and research software for representing, processing, and visualizing labelled 3D scene data and generating novel indoor environments.
• Investigate geometric and data-quality failure modes, compare implementation approaches, and document their implications.
• Built the public SOILIE-3D research website and demonstrator, and extended comparative evaluation and technical reporting.
• Collaborate with researchers on experimental design, implementation challenges, analysis and manuscript revisions.

This is an ongoing research collaboration, separate from my full-time employment.

Python
NumPy
Scipy
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Python
NumPy
Scipy
Computer Vision
3D Graphics
Blender
Research
3D Modeling
Technical documentation
Model evaluation
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PROJECTS
Worlds Become — Game Development & Applied AI
2026
Worlds Become is an independent game project that brings together AI engineering, interactive 3D software and full-stack product developm...
Worlds Become is an independent game project that brings together AI engineering, interactive 3D software and full-stack product development. I lead its design and implementation, from the player experience to backend services, cloud deployment, and development tooling. A substantial part of the work involves integrating language models into application workflows, including structured outputs, context retrieval, validation, evaluation, and cost controls. I also build the surrounding APIs, authentication, persistent data systems, testing, and release processes. The project is currently in stealth development, with further product details to be shared closer to release.
3D
Three.js
WebGL
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3D
Three.js
WebGL
TypeScript
3D Graphics
React
Cloudflare
Game Design
Game Physics
3D Modeling
Next.js
Game Engine Development
Webgpu
Video Game Design
Software architecture
AWS
Generative AI
LLM
Retrieval-Augmented Generation
Video game coding
Agentic frameworks
Llm provider apis
Llm agents
Agent Driven ai architectures
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SOILIE-3D — Computational Visual ImaginationView Project
2026
SOILIE-3D is a research project from Carleton University's Science of Imagination Lab exploring how a computational system can model aspe...
SOILIE-3D is a research project from Carleton University's Science of Imagination Lab exploring how a computational system can model aspects of human visual imagination. I developed the core Python software, which extracts spatial relationships from labelled RGB-D data and uses them to generate and render novel indoor scenes. My work spans data preprocessing, statistical modelling, 3D geometry, Blender integration, and experimental evaluation. More recently, I built a public website and cloud demonstrator, along with reproducible comparison workflows and visual reporting to explore the model's output, performance, and limitations.
HTML/CSS
Python
NumPy
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HTML/CSS
Python
NumPy
Amazon S3
Scipy
3D Graphics
Blender
Research
3D Modeling
AWS Lambda
Research Papers
Statistical Analysis
Model evaluation
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