**Kaggle achievements**:
- World’s first Quadruple Grandmaster
- Top 5 in all categories
- Kaggle profile: http://www.kaggle.com/abhishek

Get my book: Approaching (Almost) Any Machine Learning Problem for FREE: https://github.com/abhishekkrthakur/approachingalmost

I post a lot of cool stuff from time to time on my YouTube channel. Subscribe me on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/AbhishekThakurAbhi

I hold a Master's Degree in Computer Science from the University of Bonn. In my free time, I like to take part in machine learning competitions and have taken part in over 200 competitions. My research interests include automatic machine learning, deep learning, hyperparameter optimization, computer vision, image analysis and retrieval and pattern recognition.

Abhishek Thakur

CAPRISA

Postdoctoral Research Fellow

Zakia Salod Scholarly Consultancy

Founding CEO

IIE Varsity College

I lectured Bachelor of Computer and Information Sciences Honours students on Artificial Intelligence (AI) module. This role involved the following:
- Preparing lecture slides
- Delivering lectures
- Setting and marking tests, and quizzes
- Marking assignments
- I also played a pivotal role in shaping the curriculum for this module, having met with the National Head of Programme to refine and update the course syllabus and assessments
- Topics covered include the following: the seven stages of AI, Machine Learning, Neural Networks, Deep Learning, Natural Language Processing (NLP)

Artificial Intelligence Lecturer

InstaDeep

- Completed BioNTech training
Worked on the BioLLM project:
- Ran experiments on the TPU on Google Cloud Platform (GCP)
- Monitored experiment results via Neptune
- Kept up-to-date with the literature  by reading relevant scientific papers related to Reinforcement Learning with Human Feedback (RLHF)
- Contributed to the knowledge base by creating or updating the Notion page of the project
- Researched and came up with ideas of how to contribute towards and features to add for better efficiency to the project, and also gave talks on the same during weekly meetings
- Attended weekly stand-up sessions, and project-related meetings
- Learnt more about Reinforcement Learning (RL), RLHF, etc
- Learnt the Jax programming language, especially as it relates to higher performance computing (HPC)

Artificial Intelligence Research Scientist

University of KwaZulu-Natal

PhD Candidate

Masters in Medical Science (MMedSc) Medical Informatics candidate

Masters Candidate

South African Sugarcane Research Institute

Senior Software Developer in the Biometry Team of the Diagnostic and Analytical Resource Unit (DARU) at South African Sugarcane Research Institute (SASRI) in South African Sugar Association (SASA)

Java
Oracle SQL
Oracle PL/SQL
Oracle ADF
JDeveloper IDE
PL/SQL Developer IDE
Oracle APEX
Balsamiq Mockups for creating wireframes/designing screens
JIRA for project management
Source Code Management (SCM) Tool: Git
Bitbucket 
Sourcetree
Agile methodology
Attend daily Scrum stand-up sessions and bi-weekly sprint planning sessions
Attend Retro sessions
Assist and mentor junior developers and intern developers
Code-review work done by junior developers and intern developers
Facilitated scrum sessions at times

Senior Software Developer, Project Lead & Mentor

LexisNexis South Africa

Software Developer in the Technical Development ("Tech_Dev")  - Research Team at LexisNexis South Africa. Work on the following Technology Stack :

C# - With IDE: Microsoft Visual Studio
ASP.NET Framework - With IDE: Microsoft Visual Studio
MVC Pattern
T-SQL - With IDE: Microsoft SQL Server
JavaScript
HTML
CSS
Python - With IDE(s) : Anaconda; PyCharm
Source Code Management (SCM) Tool: Git
Github
GitKraken
Team Foundation Server (TFS)
IIS
SharePoint
Neo4J
Cypher Query Language (CQL)
Octopus Deploy
Data Extraction: Web Scraping using Python's Libraries - Beautiful Soap, Urllib, Request
Setup of environment, Deployment of Projects and scheduling on Windows Server 2012 R2
Consume libraries in Microsoft Visual Studio, via NuGet package manager
Consume libraries in Python, via pip package manager and conda package manager
Microsoft Bot Framework
Microsoft Bot Framework Emulator
Design Patterns: Abstract Factory, Factory Method, Repository 
Microsoft Cognitive Services - Language Understanding Intelligent Service (LUIS)
SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS): make changes to reports, debug reports
SQL Server Integration Services (SSIS): create SSIS package to move data from one database source to another database source
ASP.NET Web API: create new endpoint 
Postman used for API testing
Site profiling
Performance optimization of sites
Create prototypes of proposed new solutions
Attend meetings; contribute to discussions
Have knowledge-sharing sessions with DevOps Team
Agile methodology
Attend daily Scrum stand-up sessions and bi-weekly sprint planning sessions
Attend Retro and Spine Reticulation Strategies sessions
Attend backlog grooming sessions
Behaviour-Driven Development (BDD) with SpecFlow Testing Framework (.NET version of Cucumber Testing Framework): create SpecFlow tests for new .NET Web API endpoint; Gherkin
Test-Driven Development (TDD) with nUnit Testing Framework
Create User Acceptance Documents for features implementated on Lexis product

Software Developer

Africa Teen Geeks NPC

Volunteer Programming Facilitator and Mentor to underprivileged kids from Grades 3-12, hosted at UNISA Lab - Durban, KwaZulu-Natal, on Saturdays.

Volunteer Programming Facilitator & Mentor

2Cana Solutions

Oracle Software Developer 
February 2013-September 2017
-	Momentum Health Software:
Oracle SQL, PL/SQL, Forms
Unix
Java
XSL, XML, HTML
Perl
Front-end, back-end and web development
Development, testing, documentation, debugging, analysis, client interaction – user/business analysts
Callout support for Momentum Health Software
Provide estimates for requirements to team leader
Attended meetings with team leader and clients (users and business analysts) to discuss client requirements
Handed out and managed work to graduate developers and other junior developers
Attended JAD sessions with Team Leader
Agile methodology
Attend daily Scrum stand-up sessions


Business Intelligence (BI) Assistant
September 2012-January 2013
-	Private Health Administrators (PHA) Software:
Business Intelligence Publisher 11g
Development of data models to produce reports to meet client requirements


Oracle Apex Assistant
August 2012-August 2012
-	Health Information Platform (HIP) Software:
2Cana Solution’s platform for administration of medical schemes
Worked on the initial stages of the portals created for this product
Oracle APEX


Microsoft Software Developer
April 2012-July 2012
-	Central Applications Office (CAO) Software:
T-SQL
C#
-	Developed a new Employee Self-Service Portal (in-house) for 2Cana Solutions:
Enables all employees from both Durban branch and Johannesburg branch to capture, edit, view, cancel, approve (relevant persons) their various type of leave
SharePoint 2010

Dr Zakia Salod is a multi-award-winning, multifaceted professional, and born artist from South Africa, with a background in programming, data analysis, business intelligence, medical informatics, and Artificial Intelligence (AI). Her primary focus and passion lie in the medical field, particularly at the intersection of healthcare and technology, with a strong interest in medical AI.

Dr Zakia holds a PhD in Public Health, where her thesis explored the integration of reverse vaccinology with AI. Her Masters in Medical Science (Medical Informatics) focused on developing machine learning models for breast cancer prediction, and her BCom Honours dissertation examined students' motivation in Information Technology using a multidisciplinary approach grounded in psychology. She also holds a BSc in Computer Science and Information Technology.

Dr Zakia’s professional experience spans both corporate and academic sectors, including significant work on the Momentum Medical Aid System. She has also contributed to the legal and agricultural fields, reflecting her adaptability across industries.

Her achievements include being a Top 21 finalist for the Top Outstanding Young Persons (TOYP) of South Africa by the JCI in 2021, winning Professional Achiever of the Year in South Africa 2019 by the Minara Chamber of Commerce, and being named one of the Top 15 Young Geeks in South Africa by Geekulcha in 2019. These accolades highlight her leadership and excellence across various fields.

In addition to her technical expertise, Dr Zakia is a born artist, having won numerous art competitions, including two regional art competitions by the age of 13. She combines her artistic talents with her philanthropy, leading initiatives in both areas.

Dr Zakia is a natural leader and thrives in Agile environments, excelling in individual and team roles. Her multidisciplinary expertise across technology, healthcare, research, and art, paired with her research and writing skills, makes her well-suited for roles requiring innovation, ethical leadership, and cross-functional collaboration, especially in medical AI and healthcare.

Zakia's drive is rooted in her higher calling to serve humanity through the medical field. She views this as her divine mission from The Almighty—leveraging her expertise in medical AI to improve healthcare and save lives. As the Qur’an reminds us: "And whoever saves one [life] – it is as if he had saved mankind entirely." (Surah Al-Ma'idah, 5:32)

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