HI, I'M JOEL

Electrical turned AI/ML Engineer

AI and Machine Learning engineer with a knack for problem solving, debugging, and inventive ideas.

Below is a showcase of AI/ML projects, full-stack web apps, and hardware projects I've built. I hope you enjoy!

A portrait of Joel Wigton, a machine learning engineer

AI/ML Projects

Some fun projects I did on my own to continue to hone my AI and Machine Learning skills using Python, TensorFlow, Keras, and more.

AI / ML / SOFTWARE SKILLZ

Some of the technologies I'm comfortable with..

TensorFlow logo
Keras logo
Python logo
NumPy logo
OpenCV logo
PyTorch logo
Pandas logo
Kaggle logo
Google Colab logo
ChatGPT logo
Unreal Engine logo
DALL-E logo
Django logo
Flask logo
Selenium logo
Git logo
PostgreSQL logo
JavaScript logo
A stylized image of a quotation mark

After 15 years designing computer chips, writing firmware, and designing electronics, I switched careers to AI and Machine Learning.

My superpower is problem solving, which I achieve through my ability to learn quickly and research thoroughly.

Since AI and ML are also superpowers for problem solving, they make a symbiotic and powerful extension of my abilities.

A profile photo of Joel Wigton, a machine learning engineer

Some Web Apps I've Made

A website and browser extension to legally help make online news more freely accessible for all.

An icon of a square bar chart

Built to Scale

Runs on JavaScript in the cloud via Cloudflare Workers. Browser extension is client-side JavaScript.

An icon of a pinkish purple heart

Loved by Users

The most popular paywall extension in the Chrome store. Over 45K weekly active users and growing.

An icon of a trophy

Always Improving

Recently pivoted to a freemium model, using subscriptions and license keys for upgraded plans.

A screenshot of a browser extension and paywall bypass tool

Archived Web Apps

Various projects or bootstrapped startup ideas that didn't make it, for one reason or another.

A collection of bugout bag kits

Haven Bugouts

Custom storefront related to the survival gear niche. The site allowed you to create bespoke survival kits in a custom-built shopping cart and then passed you to checkout on Amazon. Python/Django, PostgreSQL, Heroku, background workers, Amazon Product Advertising API, HTML/CSS/JavaScript.

A screenshot of a web app for tracking work progress

Checkmate

Developed a web app that tracks the progress of circuit board designs through various checklist milestones. Database-backed CRUD app allowed users to add and remove blocks, assign block owners, and mark progress on each checklist item across multiple blocks. Python/Django, SQL, AJAX, HTML/CSS/JavaScript.

A screenshot of a web app for subscribing to multiple digital newspaper subscriptions

PressPass

One digital news subscription that would get you access to all partner sites. I developed a proof of concept that let you log into the partner sites (similar to Single Sign-On). The difficulty of partnering with giant conglomerates and long distances between co-founders pretty much doomed this one from the start.

Hardware, my first loveAn icon for a heart

An electrical engineer by schooling, I will always have a special place in my heart for hardware. Here are some projects I've worked on for myself or others.

College

University of Michigan, Ann Arbor

Bachelors, Electrical Engineering.
Magna Cum Laude

Masters, Electrical Engineering.
Summa Cum Laude

  • Graduated with Honors
  • Dean's List
  • Two senior class "Best Project" Awards

AI/ML Continuing Education

Learning whatever skills I need to solve problems.

A certificate of completion

TensorFlow Developer CertificateAn icon for an external link

Google-certified TensorFlow Developer Certificate. Foundational, practical machine learning skills via the building and training of models using TensorFlow.

TensorFlow Keras Regression Classification Image Classification NLP Time Series

A certificate of completion

Udacity's Computer Vision NanodegreeAn icon for an external link

The computer vision skills behind recent advances in robotics and automation. Taught with PyTorch. Write programs to analyze images, implement feature extraction, and recognize objects using deep learning models.

PyTorch Facial Keypoint Detection Image Captioning SLAM

A certificate of completion

DeepLearning.AI's Natural Language Processing SpecializationAn icon for an external link

Foundations of NLP covering logistic regression, naïve Bayes, hidden Markov models, word embeddings, recurrent neural networks, Siamese networks, encoder-decoder models, attention, and transformers.

Autocomplete Sentiment Analysis Shakespeare Generative RNN Question Duplicates Seq2Seq Chatbots Summarizers Machine Translation

A certificate of completion

DeepLearning.AI's Deep Learning SpecializationAn icon for an external link

Fundamentals of Deep Learning taught by Andrew Ng. Identify key architectural tradeoffs, analyze datasets, build deep neural networks in TensorFlow, build CNNs for image recognition, build and train RNNs and Hugging Face transformer models for NLP tasks.

NN from Scratch Face Recognition YOLO Image Segmentation Sentiment Analysis NMT Trigger Word Detection TensorFlow

A certificate of completion

Stanford's Machine Learning SpecializationAn icon for an external link

Fundamentals of machine learning taught by Andrew Ng. Supervised machine learning algorithms, including linear regression, logistic regression, neural networks, decision trees, and reinforcement learning in Python.

Handwritten digit recognition Spam classification filter Anomaly detection Movie recommendation engine Q-Learning Lunar Lander

A certificate of completion

Harvard's CS50 Web Programming with Python and JavaScriptAn icon for an external link

Design of web apps with Python, JavaScript, Django, SQL, and Bootstrap. Topics include database design, scalability, security, and user experience.

Review site Slack app Shopping cart

A certificate of completion

Udacity's Full-Stack Web Development NanodegreeAn icon for an external link

Learn to build database-backed APIs and web applications with Python, Flask, and JavaScript. Database design, manage user authentication and access control with Docker and Kubernetes.

Music venue app API design Roles-based access control

A certificate of completion

Stanford's (Original) Machine Learning SpecializationAn icon for an external link

This was the original version of the fundamentals of machine learning specialization. Taught by Andrew Ng using Python and Matlab. Supervised machine learning algorithms, including linear regression, logistic regression, neural networks, and support vector machines.

K-means PCA Anomaly detection Recommender systems Matlab

An image of a radial gradient pattern

They said it, not me..

“It is without hesitation that I give Joel my highest praise”

“Joel performed well beyond my high expectations. He was self motivated, and was quickly able to set his own goals and timelines for his work. He did excellent independent research ... He incorporated both large and small pieces of innovations to meet the demanding project requirements. Joel maintained a high level of focus in his day to day work. He is not easily distracted from the task at hand. I cannot remember him ever missing a deadline for a deliverable. Joel worked very well with the other engineers in the group. He works well under pressure and is able to bring his ideas in team discussions in a positive, non-confrontational manner. He delivers across all possible considerations: productivity, initiative, responsiveness , and professionalism. His friendly positive personality is a great asset to any team environment.”

A portrait photo of Tom Grutkowski

Thomas Grutkowski

Principal Engineer at Intel

“We still talk about some of those early days where you really saved our bacon”

A portrait photo of Thomas Reilly

Thomas Reilly

CEO at Access Sensor Technologies

“Managers and technical leads knew they could trust him”

“Joel did well working independently, even on difficult problems ... His work was of the highest quality. Throughout his time on my team, Joel showed a knack for learning new subjects quickly, he showed excellent communication/teamwork, and he reliably met his schedules. I'd be happy to have Joel return to my team!”

A portrait photo of Paul Thayer

Paul Thayer

Director of Engineering at Intel

“Passionate, precise and creative”

“Joel understands complex matters even when outside of his direct area of expertise. He is quickly able to learn new software tools, which enables him to spend less time with the mechanics of the job and more time doing the actual work before him. Joel's work ethic and attitude are an asset to any team.”

A portrait photo of Mike Barber

Mike Barber

Principal Engineer at Edge Scientific

AI Consulting

AI services tailored to your needs

I offer a blend of creativity, technical expertise, and a passion for solving complex challenges. I'm here to guide your AI and Machine Learning projects from concept to completion. My services include custom machine learning and deep learning solutions, and synthetic labeled data for computer vision and NLP, all tailored to your specific challenges. Contact me today to transform your ideas into cutting-edge realities, and let's create something remarkable together.

© Copyright 2019– Joel Wigton, All Rights Reserved.