About / Aliu Tijani
Engineer by training.
Builder by habit.
I connect cloud infrastructure, application code, and the interfaces people use. Based in Accra, building across the stack.
From hardware
to the cloud.
My background is in Computer Engineering at Accra Institute of Technology, where my studies brought software, networking, and embedded systems together. My work has moved between those layers: a WebSocket-based IoT architecture and robot-navigation module during an internship, robotics teaching and mentoring at Fireflyio, and a facial-recognition access system running on a Raspberry Pi 5 for my capstone. Those projects connected application code to physical devices and the people using them.
On the product side, I have worked with React, Next.js, TypeScript, and React Native to turn backend capabilities into usable interfaces. At Firnal, that included production screens and reusable components, REST API and OpenAI integrations, and dashboards presenting behavioural insights over a 250M+ consumer graph. Working in a small team with weekly releases made component consistency, API integration, and cross-browser behaviour part of the delivery work, not separate finishing tasks.
My cloud work extends that end-to-end approach into infrastructure. Projects such as SafeRoute, PayTrack Africa, and event-cloud connect AWS request handling, authentication, data storage, and orchestration with Terraform-defined environments. They address different problems, from incident response to invoicing and event registration, while bringing together application design and the way the system is provisioned and deployed.
I also work with applied computer vision and security. At Youth in AI, I built a produce-quality detection pipeline that included annotation, preprocessing, and YOLOv8 fine-tuning. My network-security lab and cybersecurity training provide another perspective on the systems I build: how services are exposed, how traffic behaves, and how access is controlled. Across these areas, my focus is on connecting the parts into a working system rather than stopping at one layer.
Participant in the IEEE Computer Society 2026 Global Student Challenge and an alum of the Azubi Africa cloud engineering program, currently based in Ghana.
Experience
Software Engineer
Firnal Inc, moonbrush.ai
Software Engineer
Firnal Inc, moonbrush.ai
- Engineered 15+ production UI screens and reusable components in React, Next.js, and TypeScript for enterprise and political clients
- Built REST API and OpenAI integration layers powering real-time behavioural-insight widgets over a 250M+ consumer graph
- Designed Tailwind CSS dashboards that translate segmentation and AI-generated audience data into clear views for non-technical stakeholders
- Shipped weekly on a 4 to 6 person team, standardizing cross-browser compatibility as the component library scaled to new client verticals
AI Research Intern
Youth in AI
AI Research Intern
Youth in AI
- Built and deployed an end-to-end computer-vision pipeline using YOLOv8 for automated produce quality detection
- Fine-tuned a YOLOv8 model on a custom produce dataset to improve detection accuracy
- Engineered a data annotation and preprocessing pipeline that improved dataset consistency and training throughput
Robotics Instructor and Mentor
Fireflyio
Robotics Instructor and Mentor
Fireflyio
- Taught robotics fundamentals and software-hardware integration to 50+ students across multiple cohorts
- Mentored 15 student teams for the Ghana Robotics Competition and lifted team completion rates by 30%
Full-Stack Developer
Global Talent
Full-Stack Developer
Global Talent
- Built a cross-platform React Native sports-scouting app with real-time notifications and REST API integration
- Improved backend data-sync performance by 40% through tighter API contracts
Computer Engineer Intern
Techten Planet
Computer Engineer Intern
Techten Planet
- Built a real-time WebSocket IoT communication architecture that cut latency by 25%
- Developed a computer-vision module for robot navigation
What I work with
Cloud and serverless
Designing event-driven backends that scale to zero and provision from code.
- AWS Lambda
- API Gateway
- DynamoDB
- Step Functions
- Cognito
- S3
- Location Service
- Terraform
- GitHub Actions
- OIDC deploys
Frontend
Interfaces that stay fast and legible on top of busy data.
- React
- Next.js
- TypeScript
- Tailwind CSS
- React Native
Backend and APIs
Contracts, auth, and data layers that hold up outside a demo.
- Node.js
- Express
- FastAPI
- Flask
- REST
- GraphQL
- WebSocket
- JWT
AI and computer vision
From annotation pipeline to inference on a device.
- OpenAI API
- Gemini API
- LLM integration
- YOLOv8
- OpenCV
- Model fine-tuning
Data
Choosing the store that fits the access pattern.
- DynamoDB
- MongoDB
- PostgreSQL
- MySQL
- Redis
- Firebase
Security
Reconnaissance, scanning, and hardening as a habit.
- Nmap
- Scapy
- Wireshark
- Enum4Linux
- Burp Suite
- Kali Linux
Education
B.Sc. Computer Engineering
Accra Institute of Technology
- Machine Learning
- Deep Learning
- Computer Vision
- Distributed Systems
- Data Science
- Networking and Security
- Embedded Systems
Certification
- Cloud EngineeringCapstone: event-cloud
- Certified Ethical HackerPerfect score
- IEEE Computer Society Global Student Challenge2026 participant
- Introduction to Cybersecurity Essentials
- AI-900: Azure AI FundamentalsIn progress
Recognition
Full profile on LinkedInAkwaaba Dapps Hackathon / ICP Hub Ghana
Built TrustChain, a blockchain-based reputation system on the Internet Computer, selected for Demo Day.
2nd PlaceATF AI Challenge / African Technology Forum and OpenAI Foundation
Built SignGPT, an AI sign-language translation app, competing against 400+ students from 23 universities.
2nd PlaceSAF Hackathon / StudentPreneur Africa Festival
Finalist