About Me

Overview

Currently, Mazen is an AI Staff Engineer at Deep.sa, a Saudi AI Startup.

Prior to that:

  • He worked Senior Machine Learning Engineer at Malaa Technologies, a Saudi FinTech Startup. He contributed mainly in Personal Finance Management part of the Malaa App where he improved ML Systems to enhance user’s experience, built Data Infra to enable internal auditing, and implemented backend features.
  • He worked as a Faculty Research Assistant working on Machine Common Sense project supervised by Dr. Alan Fern at Oregon State University (OSU) and Data Scientist at the Center for Genome Research & Bio-computing (CGRB).

He graduated with a Masters of Science (MSc) in Artificial Intelligence from OSU, under the supervision of Dr. Fuxin Li at Deep Machine Vision (DMV), and Bachelor of Science (BSc) degree in Computer Science Applied in Artificial Intelligence; with a minor in Actuarial Science from OSU.

During his Masters studies, he worked as a Research and Teaching Assistant. During his Bachelor studies, he worked as a Lead GPU Computational Researcher at CGRB and was the Vice-President of OSU ML/AI Club (known as OSU AI Club now) for 2017-2018 & 2018-2019.

Graduate Studies

Teaching/Research Assistant

  • 2021-2022:
    • Summer: Research Assistant - Machine Common Sense project
    • Spring:
      • Lead Teaching Assistant - Engineering Computation and Algorithmic Thinking (ENGR 103)
      • Research Assistant - Machine Common Sense project
    • Winter: Teaching Assistant - Computer Networking (CS 372) & Graph Theory and Its Applications (CS 420/520)
    • Fall: Research Assistant - Machine Common Sense project
  • 2020-2021:
    • Summer: Research Assistant - Machine Common Sense project
    • Spring: Teaching Assistant - Computer Networking (CS 372)
    • Winter: Teaching Assistant - Analysis of Algorithms (CS 325)
    • Fall: Teaching Assistant - Introduction to Databases (CS 340)

Completed Courses

  • 2021-2022:
    • Spring
      • Social and Ethical Issues in Artificial Intelligence (PHL 546)
    • Winter
      • Machine Learning Security (CS 599)
      • Algorithms and Data Structures (CS 515)
    • Fall
      • Thesis & Dissertation Writing (WR 573)
      • Big Ideas in Artificial Intelligence (AI 530)
  • 2020-2021:
    • Spring
      • Deep Learning (CS 535)
      • Intelligent Agents and Decision Making (CS 533)
    • Winter
      • Natural Language Processing with Deep Learning (CS 539)
      • Matrix Analysis, Signal Processing, and Machine Learning (ECE 599)
    • Fall
      • Digital Image Processing (CS 559)
      • Convex Optimization (ECE 599)
      • Machine Learning (CS 534)

List 100

Things Mazen wants to do before he dies. Please let him know if you have any recommendations. Inspired by Chip Huyen.

  • Live in another country (US)
  • Get an affiliation on Twitch
  • Become one of the authors of a paper at a top-tier conference
  • Get a Masters Degree
  • Publish a Python package
  • Become the first author of a paper at a top-tier conference
  • Publish more than 25 posts
  • Publish an NPM package
  • Get a PhD Degree
  • Work as a scientist in any of the FAANG companies
  • Live in a different country for over 2 years (other than US).
  • Be fluent in other language.
  • Teach a course
  • Teach a graduate-level course
  • Write a book
  • Get a patent
  • Start a company
  • Start an non-profit organization
  • Program/write every day for a year

Software Development

  • Simple Scripts (e.g. checking logs, running commands, etc.): Bash
  • Building Software Projects: Python
  • Web Development: NextJS

Programs that I use

I do use MacOS as my main OS.

1) Plan & Organize (daily cockpit)

  • Tasks: Todoist → personal to-dos and routines
  • Calendars:
  • Team docs: Notion → specs, playbooks, wikis
  • Project management: Linear → issues, sprints, roadmaps
  • Browser (general): Arc → everyday browsing, profiles

2) Research & Ideation

  • Web research: Perplexity → search + synthesized answers
  • Brainstorming / drafting / code help: ChatGPT → ideas, specs, code snippets

3) Build & Ship (development loop)

  • IDE: Cursor → coding with AI pair programming
  • Terminal: iTerm2 → shells, profiles, panes
  • Containers: OrbStack → Docker Desktop alternative; faster dev loops
  • Browser (dev/testing): Google Chrome → local web dev, devtools

4) Knowledge & Publishing

  • Knowledge base / dev logs: Obsidian → notes, PKM, daily logs
  • Personal blog: Notion → publishing and pages
  • Resume/CV: Overleaf (web) → LaTeX editing

5) Storage & Security

  • Cloud storage: Google Drive → files and backups
  • Password manager: 1Password → credentials and vaults

6) Focus & Metrics

  • Focus + time use: RescueTime → Pomodoro, app usage overview
  • Coding analytics: WakaTime → detailed editor/project stats

7) System Utilities (macOS)

  • Window manager: AeroSpace → tiling window management
  • App launcher: Raycast → Spotlight replacement + workflows
  • Keep-awake: Amphetamine → prevent sleep on demand
  • Menu bar manager: Ice → hide/reorder menu bar items

8) Media & Breaks

  • Audio: Spotify → music/podcasts
  • Video: YouTube → viewing and subscriptions

Contact

Follow Me

  • X (Twitter)  for my latest updates, thoughts, and opinions.
  • LinkedIn  for career updates and professional networking.
  • GitHub  for my open-source projects and contributions.

Reach Out

  • X (Twitter)  for quick questions, feedback, or just to say hi.
  • LinkedIn  for professional inquiries, collaborations, or job opportunities.
  • Or, you can send me an email for anything else: mazen [dot] ota [at] gmail [dot] com