gizem topsakal

MSc Informatics, University of Zurich

Software engineer working on how people and AI collaborate.

I spent 17 months as a full-time software engineer at a major bank, building full-stack and backend systems with Java Spring Boot, React and Oracle SQL. Now I study software systems and human-computer interaction in Zurich.

I teach Maths for AI and Data Science, help run the Women in Informatics Network Zurich, and I am looking for graduate and junior software engineering roles from summer 2027.

Experience

Sep 2026 – now

Teaching Assistant, Maths for AI and Data Science

University of Zurich

  • Grade assignments and exams for 150 students, with written feedback aligned to the professor's criteria.
  • Answer questions on the course forum and by email on linear algebra, probability and optimisation, and support course administration.
Mar 2024 – Jul 2025

Software Engineer

Yapı Kredi Technology, Istanbul

Full-time in the POS Online and Terminal Application Development team, after starting as an intern in Mar 2023.

  • Built full-stack screens with React.js and Node.js to automate serial number formatting in terminal management.
  • Developed Java Spring Boot microservices and Spring Batch jobs for terminal management.
  • Optimised Oracle SQL and PL/SQL queries, and contributed to the re-platforming of terminal management systems in an Agile team.
JavaSpring BootReactOracle SQLAgile
Mar 2023 – Feb 2024

Software Engineering Intern

Yapı Kredi Technology, Istanbul

Worked with software engineers in an Agile environment and gained hands-on experience with enterprise banking systems.

Mar – Aug 2022

Business Analyst Intern

KiraPratik, Istanbul

  • Ran Agile ceremonies with Jira, executed database and UI tests, and coordinated between the IT department and business units.
Feb – Jun 2022

Undergraduate Research Assistant

PURE, Sabancı University

  • Researched motion integration in visual perception and collected EEG data in the lab.

Projects

Live concept maps for meetings

Master's project, University of Zurich

A tool that listens to co-located meetings, tells speakers apart and grows a concept map during the conversation, so participants can follow the discussion and see which ideas the group has confirmed. It builds on research into grounding and confirmation in human-AI collaboration.

LLMsHCISpeech

Water transport in SNOWPACK

Course project, University of Zurich

Compared the bucket scheme with the Richards equation for water transport in the SNOWPACK snow model.

Scientific computingSimulation

Dark patterns in cookie banners

User study, University of Zurich

A study of how cookie consent banner design steers user choices, run with participants in a controlled comparison.

User researchHCI

Knowledge graphs and SPARQL

Course project, University of Zurich

Worked with SPARQL queries and knowledge graph embeddings on a question-answering platform for the Advanced Topics in AI course.

SPARQLEmbeddings

Skin lesion classification

Graduation project, Sabancı University

Compared ResNet, ResNeXt, ConvNeXt and EfficientNet models with hair removal, data augmentation, test-time augmentation and an ensemble, reaching 73% accuracy.

PyTorchCNNsComputer vision

Education

Sep 2025 – Jun 2027

MSc Informatics, major in Software Systems

University of Zurich

Sep 2019 – Feb 2024

BSc Computer Science

Sabancı University, Istanbul. Certificate in Decision and Behaviour.

Programming
Python, Java, C++, C, SQL, JavaScript
Backend and data
Spring Boot, Spring Batch, Node.js, Oracle SQL, PL/SQL, MongoDB, MySQL
Frontend
React, HTML, CSS
AI and ML
PyTorch, TensorFlow, Scikit-learn, NumPy, Pandas
Tools
Git, Docker, Jira, Agile and Scrum
Languages
Turkish (native), English (professional), German (learning)

Community

Oct 2025 – now

Communications Officer, WiNZ

Women in Informatics Network Zurich, University of Zurich

Runs communications for the university's women-in-computing network: the LinkedIn, Instagram and WhatsApp channels (content planning, captions and post design) and external announcements to newspapers and partners. Also helps organise panels, talks, networking events and hackathons.

Contact

The best way to reach me is email or LinkedIn. I am happy to talk about graduate roles, thesis topics in HCI and human-AI collaboration, and WiNZ events.