Kerlyn Difo

kerlyn angel difo

Learning to build systems and create meaningful projects

Currently at Datadog

Previously at Capital One & Columbia

Projects

A collection of projects I've worked on, from distributed systems to full-stack apps.

🔍

URL Monitor

Distributed URL monitoring system with real-time health checks, custom alerting, and comprehensive Datadog Agent integration for metrics, logs, and distributed tracing.

GoDistributed SystemsDatadogObservability
01
MultiOmic Phenotypic Data Search
🧬

MultiOmic Phenotypic Data Search

ETL pipeline querying PubMed & dbGaP with advanced visualization for biomedical researchers.

  • Unifies study, sample, and assay records from PubMed, GEO, ENA, dbGaP, and BioStudies into a single searchable schema
  • Orchestrated an asynchronous ingestion layer (aiohttp + asyncio) and vectorized clustering logic, shrinking metadata harvest time from 60 min to < 8 min
  • Built a fault-tolerant ETL pipeline on AWS (EC2 + S3, IAM-scoped roles, CloudWatch alerts)
PythonETLBiomedicalAWS
RefuConnect
🌍

RefuConnect

HopHacks 2024 Winner: Bloomberg Track

Real-time multilingual platform connecting refugees with resources. 2nd place at HopHacks.

  • Implemented real-time chat feature with WebSockets for instant communication
  • Integrated Google Translate API for automatic message translation
  • Built responsive React front-end with intuitive user interface
ReactNode.jsWebSocketsMongoDB
CUNY to Calendar
📅

CUNY to Calendar

Chrome extension letting CUNY students export class schedules directly to Google Calendar.

  • Built a chrome extension that allows CUNY students to easily add their classes to their Google Calendar
  • Used ICS library to parse the class schedule
  • Integrated custom API to scrape the class schedule
TypeScriptChrome ExtensionWeb Scraping
Code Whisperer
🎤

Code Whisperer

HackKnight 2025 Winner: Best Software

VSCode extension using Faster-Whisper for real-time code transcription with instant feedback.

  • Implemented a VSCode extension that uses OpenAI's API to type code for you
  • Integrated Faster-Whisper for real-time transcription of code
  • Added features like switching between lines, adjusting already typed code
PythonTypeScriptVSCode APIFaster-Whisper
Discord Job Tracker Bot
🤖

Discord Job Tracker Bot

Discord bot that tracks job applications and provides status updates.

  • Built a REST API using Flask and SQLite to store job application data
  • Implemented a Discord bot using Discord.py that allows users to track their job applications
  • Integrated options like update, export, list by company, and list by status
PythonDiscord.pySQLiteAPI
📨

Distributed Message QueueWIP

Kafka-inspired message queue system. Currently in progress — building for scale and reliability.

GoDistributed SystemsWIP