Jia Xuan Li, 22
The Systems Innovator: Unlocking Unseen Horizons for the Next Generation of Coders
For Jia Xuan Li, getting started in technology wasn't about following standard tutorials - it was about tearing mechanics apart to see what made them tick. Experimenting in Roblox as a kid, he quickly moved beyond standard gameplay to dissect existing game systems, unraveling how back-end logic, web interfaces, and interactive tools fit together. “Every bug I fixed kept me hooked, and I realized I loved solving technical problems,” Jia recounts. Building for fun laid his technical foundation, but realizing that his code could deliver immediate, tangible value to others defined his path forward.
That shift from self-driven exploration to real-world impact took shape in college, when Jia set out to make course registration smoother and more intuitive. He engineered a custom web-based schedule builder designed to make visualizing class options effortless - a tool he initially created simply because he needed it himself. After sharing the platform with a few classmates, word-of-mouth spread rapidly across campus. Today, over 5,000 students rely on the platform every semester to plan their schedules. “I still maintain it to this day, whenever students message me,” Jia shares. “That's when I realized that building useful tools that makes life easier is something that I loved doing.”
That passion for practical, high-impact tools carried into the competitive hackathon scene. His teammates were unable to attend last minute, leaving Jia to enter ConUHacks IX as a solo participant among 800 competitors. He designed LeetWrite - an educational application that displays code snippets and challenges users to articulate their underlying functionality. This was Jia’s first time working with Open AI’s API, but despite the challenge, he captured 2nd place overall. “It changed what I thought I was capable of,” recalls Jia. “What meant the most to me was hearing from newer hackers afterward who said that seeing someone compete alone, with no track record, made the whole thing feel less scary. I also made new friends and found it easier to form teams after that.”
That momentum carried him directly into the Major League Hacking (MLH) Fellowship in Production Engineering, where he gained hands-on engineering mentorship and built a close-knit network of fellow builders. “Through MLH, I got access to mentorship and networks that I now share with other hackers who don't know these paths exist,” Jia reflects. “It was the most valuable experience of my life, and it led to me landing a production engineering internship at Meta.”
Jia is a dedicated member of this community - creating lasting pathways for other student developers. He recently joined the founding team of a Hack4Impact chapter at Concordia University (CU), connecting university engineering teams with nonprofits to build software for social good. Drawing from his own journey as a first-generation student without early industry connections, he actively demystifies tech career paths and encourages newcomers to embrace hackathons as places for experiment and growth rather than intimidation.
Reflecting on his journey, Jia credits the hacker community for giving him a path forward that focused his passion. “My goals were low because I didn't know what options existed,” he explains. “Hackathons changed that by showing me paths I had never seen before.” By paying that realization forward, he empowers the next generation of student developers to discover their own potential and build without limits. Through every line of code and community initiative, Jia continues to prove how far curiosity, resourcefulness, and a focus on helping others can take a builder.
Quick Facts
Jia Xuan Li, 22
The Systems Innovator: Unlocking Unseen Horizons for the Next Generation of Coders
For Jia Xuan Li, getting started in technology wasn't about following standard tutorials - it was about tearing mechanics apart to see what made them tick. Experimenting in Roblox as a kid, he quickly moved beyond standard gameplay to dissect existing game systems, unraveling how back-end logic, web interfaces, and interactive tools fit together. “Every bug I fixed kept me hooked, and I realized I loved solving technical problems,” Jia recounts. Building for fun laid his technical foundation, but realizing that his code could deliver immediate, tangible value to others defined his path forward.
That shift from self-driven exploration to real-world impact took shape in college, when Jia set out to make course registration smoother and more intuitive. He engineered a custom web-based schedule builder designed to make visualizing class options effortless - a tool he initially created simply because he needed it himself. After sharing the platform with a few classmates, word-of-mouth spread rapidly across campus. Today, over 5,000 students rely on the platform every semester to plan their schedules. “I still maintain it to this day, whenever students message me,” Jia shares. “That's when I realized that building useful tools that makes life easier is something that I loved doing.”
That passion for practical, high-impact tools carried into the competitive hackathon scene. His teammates were unable to attend last minute, leaving Jia to enter ConUHacks IX as a solo participant among 800 competitors. He designed LeetWrite - an educational application that displays code snippets and challenges users to articulate their underlying functionality. This was Jia’s first time working with Open AI’s API, but despite the challenge, he captured 2nd place overall. “It changed what I thought I was capable of,” recalls Jia. “What meant the most to me was hearing from newer hackers afterward who said that seeing someone compete alone, with no track record, made the whole thing feel less scary. I also made new friends and found it easier to form teams after that.”
That momentum carried him directly into the Major League Hacking (MLH) Fellowship in Production Engineering, where he gained hands-on engineering mentorship and built a close-knit network of fellow builders. “Through MLH, I got access to mentorship and networks that I now share with other hackers who don't know these paths exist,” Jia reflects. “It was the most valuable experience of my life, and it led to me landing a production engineering internship at Meta.”
Jia is a dedicated member of this community - creating lasting pathways for other student developers. He recently joined the founding team of a Hack4Impact chapter at Concordia University (CU), connecting university engineering teams with nonprofits to build software for social good. Drawing from his own journey as a first-generation student without early industry connections, he actively demystifies tech career paths and encourages newcomers to embrace hackathons as places for experiment and growth rather than intimidation.
Reflecting on his journey, Jia credits the hacker community for giving him a path forward that focused his passion. “My goals were low because I didn't know what options existed,” he explains. “Hackathons changed that by showing me paths I had never seen before.” By paying that realization forward, he empowers the next generation of student developers to discover their own potential and build without limits. Through every line of code and community initiative, Jia continues to prove how far curiosity, resourcefulness, and a focus on helping others can take a builder.
