layout: page title: Ahoy! I'm Mat, description: My personal site's home page permalink: / #
(:places)
an aspiring engineer focused on open protocols, automation, and rapid prototyping.
a lil' :about me #
A decade of technical experience has shaped me into an indie maker who builds engaging, accessible, and secure toolsI see my projects as tools meant to serve, not products to exploit. I prefer to use tools which align with this.[1] for real people. I am especially passionate about search UX, crafting interfaces with the real world, and decentralized infrastructure.
Outside of computing, I’m also a guitarist, competition aficionado, and linguaphileI speak and (sometimes) understand English, Spanish, and Esperanto so far[2].
what i'm up to :now #
Recently, I've been shipping, (expand for stats!) but also:
formative :experiences #
Since being exposed to computer programming on Scratch a decade ago, I’ve:
- built a life-sized board game using industrial tech which supports community outreach & won:
- 1st in the 2025 PLCNext Innovation Contest Nationals
- 1st at the 2026 Pennsylvania Invention Convention
- a Hack Club X Congressional App Challenge Open-source Certification
- made videogame submissions within 48hrs-2wks for ~7 game jams
- run AV systems (livestreams and sound mixers) for funerals and weddings
- discovered and disclosed vulnerabilities / data leaks within my school and Hack Club
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been recognized in other ways (not that interesting)
- participated in the selective PennApps XXVI college [hackathon](https://pennapps.com)
- received recognition for Integrity and Sportsmanship within academics and competitions.
- earned ~$1k in grants and prizes for personal projects submitted to Hack Club programs incl. High Seas, Summer of Making, CMD-K, and Magazine.
I recommend (not biased at all) that you check out...
...some initiatives & projects I've worked on independently or with competition teams, (all)
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{% assign visible_projects = site.projects | where_exp: "project", "project.hidden != true" %}
{% assign projects_without_end = visible_projects | where_exp: "project", "project.end_date == nil or project.end_date == ''" %}
{% assign projects_with_end = visible_projects | where_exp: "project", "project.end_date != nil and project.end_date != ''" | sort: "end_date" | reverse %}
{% assign recent_projects = projects_without_end | concat: projects_with_end %}
{% assign project_count = 0 %}
{% for project in recent_projects %}
{% unless project.org contains 'hack club' or project.org contains 'Hack Club' %}
{% include post-card.html entry=project kind='project' %}
{% assign project_count = project_count | plus: 1 %}
{% if project_count >= 8 %}
{% break %}
{% endif %}
{% endunless %}
{% endfor %}
...my various roles and responsibilities at Hack Club,
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{% assign visible_projects = site.projects | where_exp: "project", "project.hidden != true" %}
{% assign projects_without_end = visible_projects | where_exp: "project", "project.end_date == nil or project.end_date == ''" | where_exp: "project", "project.org contains 'hack club' or project.org contains 'Hack Club'" | sort: "start_date" | reverse %}
{% assign projects_with_end = visible_projects | where_exp: "project", "project.end_date != nil and project.end_date != ''" | where_exp: "project", "project.org contains 'hack club' or project.org contains 'Hack Club'" | sort: "start_date" | reverse %}
{% assign recent_projects = projects_without_end | concat: projects_with_end %}
{% for project in recent_projects limit:8 %}
{% include post-card.html entry=project kind='project' %}
{% endfor %}
...and some thoughts I've had or shared, (all)
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{% for post in site.posts limit:3 %}
{% include post-card.html entry=post kind='post' %}
{% endfor %}
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{% include icon.html name="fa-solid fa-paper-plane" class="w-4 h-4 inline-block text-primary-800 dark:text-primary-600" %} Find out when I post by:
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adding to your feedreader:
<a href="/rss.xml" class="no-underline no-external-icon"> <div class="bg-primary-100 dark:bg-primary-900 border border-primary-500 py-1 px-2 rounded-md text-xs flex flex-row items-center gap-2">{% include icon.html name="fa-solid fa-rss" class="w-3 h-3" %}RSS</div> </a> <a href="/atom.xml" class="no-underline no-external-icon"> <div class="bg-primary-100 dark:bg-primary-900 border border-primary-500 py-1 px-2 rounded-md text-xs flex flex-row items-center gap-2">{% include icon.html name="fa-solid fa-atom" class="w-3 h-3" %}Atom</div> </a> </div></li> <li ><strong class="text-sm mb-2 "> or subscribing to my newsletter:</strong></li> </ul> <form action="https://buttondown.com/api/emails/embed-subscribe/matmanna" method="post" class="embeddable-buttondown-form flex flex-col w-full gap-2 items-stretch " > <div class="flex flex-row flex-wrap gap-3 w-full"> <input type="email" name="email" id="bd-email" placeholder="Your email goes here" class="flex-grow border border-primary-500 bg-primary-200 dark:bg-primary-950 text-primary-800 dark:text-primary-300 rounded-md px-3 py-2 text-sm" /> <input type="submit" value="Subscribe" class="border border-primary-500 bg-primary-300 dark:bg-primary-800 text-primary-800 dark:text-primary-200 hover:bg-primary-200 dark:hover:bg-primary-700 rounded-md px-3 py-2 text-sm items-center" />This list is managed through Buttondown and I'll never send spam :D
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thank you for reading to the end of my little page! i'm guessing that probably means you like interesting things, so have this mysterious button as a token of my gratitude 😄