I've learned as much from the paths I've taken as from the people I've worked alongside. This section traces those journeys across roles, affiliations, disciplines, and evolving contexts. From research labs to studios, mentorships to collaborations, and the many in-between spaces that shaped how I think, work, and contribute. These experiences aren't just resume lines, they're episodes: moments of growth, friction, alignment, and learning. Together, they form a living map of how my practice has developed over time, through practice, partnership, and being present in the work.
Feel free to reach out at hello@piyushraj.org or connect with me on LinkedIn if you'd like to collaborate or invite me to speak at your event.
Experiences
2020
Sep to Jul (2021): Lead, AI & Compute Division, Team Antriksh. Led the AI and compute efforts for an autonomous Mars Rover competing in URC 2020 (The Mars Society, USA). Oversaw development of computer vision, SLAM, odometry, and drive algorithms. Designed and implemented systems using Kinect, LIDAR, YOLOv3, and TensorRT for real-time perception and navigation.
2019
May to Aug: Student Developer, Google Summer of Code @ OWASP Foundation. Selected in my freshman year to develop an educational VMware image simulating the OWASP Top 10 IoT vulnerabilities (2018). Built a legally testable environment to help security professionals practice, IoT developers improve security practices, and educators teach application-level IoT security.
Mar to Aug: Worked as a security pen-tester and auditor at Manipal University Jaipur, collaborating with faculty to audit and improve university systems, one of the only freshmen in the role.
2018
Aug to Nov: Research Intern at Piltover Technologies. Worked on real-time hand gesture recognition using the Myo armband in the R&D division.
2017
Nov to Jan (2018): Google Code-in Winner with FOSSASIA. Contributed to open source projects and was recognized as a Contribution Winner in a global contest for pre-university students.
Mentoring
2019
Aug to Dec: Teaching Assistant under the ACM Chapter's mentorship program to teach version control systems delivering sessions on Git and GitHub, blending practical workflows with foundational concepts like Git's design, distributed architecture, and collaborative tooling.
Mar to Aug: Mentored students through open-source project development, offering technical guidance, feedback, and support from proposal to completion, Manipal University Summer of Code (MUSoC)
2018
Oct to May (2019): Mentored high school students from Nord Anglia Dubai and Kodaikanal International School as part of MIT's LaunchX program.
May to Aug: Mentored and served as Project Admin for fellow college students in GSSOC (Girl Script Summer of Code), an initiative by GirlScript Foundation.
Affiliations
2019
Aug to Mar (2021): Served as Club Captain for Mozilla Campus Club, leading open-source projects and fostering a student community around the open web.
Feb to Mar (2020): Joined IEEE MUJ in my freshman year as Joint Head of Technical Projects, Senior Webmaster, and Core Committee Member.
Aug to Aug (2022): Founder & President, FOSS Society of Manipal University Jaipur
Jul to Mar (2021): Founding member, DC9114 DEFCON Local Chapter
2017
Dec to Dec (2021): Team Lead at Open Source Design (India Chapter), building community and advancing UX/UI in open source software through open design practices.
«@opensourcedesign/india»
Nov to Sep (2022): Active contributor and maintainer at FOSSASIA, began through Google Code-in and continued through CodeHeat and other community-led open source programs.