About Me

Hey, I'm Syed Muhammad Maaz, a freelance software & AI engineer with 6+ years of shipping production systems. I go by maazaowski online.

After 5 years at Astera Software where I grew from associate to senior, led teams, and built everything from microservices to AI-powered workflows. Then I went independent. Now I help clients build web applications and deploy AI agents that actually solve problems.

This blog is where I write about what I'm building, what I'm learning, and what I think about the tech industry. No fluff, no filler. Just real stories from the work.

What I Do Now

Available for projects

I'm freelancing, currently working with two clients on projects ranging from web applications to deploying AI agents for their business workflows. If you need software built or AI integrated into your stack, let's talk.

Education

Bachelor of Science

Institute of Business Administration (IBA) · Karachi, Pakistan

2016 – 2020·CGPA: 3.63 / 4.00

Experience

Freelance Software & AI Engineer

Independent · Pakistan

2025 – Present
  • Building web applications and deploying AI agents for client workflows
  • Currently onboarded with two clients on projects ranging from full-stack web apps to AI-powered automation
  • End-to-end ownership: architecture, development, deployment, and iteration

Senior Software Engineer

Astera Software · Karachi, Pakistan

Jan 2025 – May 2025
  • Automated installer pipelines with Anthropic API (Claude) for PR review, reducing QA blocker issues by 80%
  • Led backend transition from WinForms to WPF and microservices architecture using .NET Core 8
  • Implemented gRPC services with bidirectional streaming and RabbitMQ/MassTransit message queues
  • Migrated installer pipelines from InstallShield to WiX, saving $10,000/year
  • Led Cross-Platform team for macOS compatibility via Avalonia XPF

Software Engineer II

Astera Software

Jan 2023 – Jan 2025
  • Built the LLM Workbench for orchestrating AI requests and visualizations
  • Improved software performance by 86% through backend refactoring and query optimization
  • Established CI/CD pipelines in Azure DevOps with unit and integration test coverage
  • Directed monthly SonarQube audits over 12 sprints, reducing critical vulnerabilities by 67%

Software Engineer I

Astera Software

Jun 2021 – Jan 2023
  • Led Visualization department in the Data Prep team for real-time data insights
  • Pioneered the Analytics Workbench architecture for data analysis in C# .NET
  • Built Installation Manager using Builder/Factory/Singleton patterns, cutting install time by 92%
  • Reduced latency by 40% through targeted C# .NET module refactoring over 6 months

Associate Software Engineer

Astera Software

Jul 2020 – Jun 2021
  • Integrated statistical and ML models into Centerprise, boosting predictive accuracy by 20%
  • Created diagnostic tools reducing manual troubleshooting time by 30%
  • Designed data pipelines for model training

Skills

Languages

C#JavaPythonJavaScriptTypeScriptPHP

Frameworks

.NET Core 8ASP.NET CoreNext.jsReactLaravelAvalonia XPF

Architecture

MicroservicesgRPCRabbitMQRESTDocker

Cloud & DevOps

Azure DevOpsAWSGCPCI/CDVercel

Databases

PostgreSQLMongoDBSQL ServerRedis

AI & Agents

ClaudeCursorGPTLLM OrchestrationAI Agents

Connect

Got a project in mind? Want to collaborate? Or just want to talk tech? I'm one message away.