# Coco Zhang

> SWE @ Roblox

Location: San Francisco Bay Area, United States
Profile: https://flows.cv/cocozhang

Hi! I’m Coco, a multidisciplinary creator with a passion for game design and gameplay programming, and a love for all things wacky and chaotic.

I just completed my degree in Computer Science Games (B.S.) and Computer Science (M.S.) at the University of Southern California. I’ve dreamed of working on games ever since I played a little too much Zelda as a kid, and I hope that one day I’ll be able to use what I’ve learned to increase empathy and understanding among all of us.

## Work Experience
### Software Engineer @ Roblox
Jan 2026 – Present | San Mateo, CA

### Software Engineer @ Niantic, Inc.
Jan 2024 – Jan 2026 | Palo Alto, CA

### Lead Engineer - Sorelle @ USC Games
Jan 2023 – Jan 2024 | Los Angeles, California, United States
- Led a team of 7 engineers on an 3rd person streaming world Unreal project, provided technical guidance and debugging support for both C++ and blueprint systems
- Collaboratively designed and implemented several core features in C++ including a progression and hint system, tutorials, level streaming, dynamic UI elements, puzzle systems, and a navigation trail
- Coordinated with design and art to ensure priority features were implemented and to provide sufficient tool support

### Creative Director - Birds Aren't Real @ USC Games
Jan 2022 – Jan 2023 | Los Angeles, California, United States
- Best Student Game (Honorable Mention), Independent Games Festival 2024
- Led a group of 30+ students to create a 3D sandbox game, creating a healthy team environment and managing team logistics
- Developed core design goals in order to effectively communicate the creative vision to team members
- Created a town layout designed to reward exploration, and implemented from prototype to polished final experience

### Lead Producer - Sorelle @ USC Games
Jan 2023 – Jan 2023 | Los Angeles, California, United States
- Set up our team task management pipelines, as well as supporting the director in planning and running meetings and creating documentation and an onboarding process for new team members
- Created a roust Notion database with various different hubs to support individuals manage tasks, team leads manage springs, and producers to maintain a high level of the game state

### Learning Assistant @ University of Southern California
Jan 2021 – Jan 2024 | Los Angeles, California, United States
Head Learning Assistant – ITP 380 (Video Game Programming): August 2023 – present
Learning Assistant – ITP 380 (Video Game Programming): August 2021 – May 2023
Learning Assistant – ITP 438 (Advanced Gameplay Programming): August – December 2022

- As Head LA, manage extensions requests and help train new LAs to conduct code reviews
- Assist in running labs and hold weekly office hours for students, helping with debugging C++ or C++ Unreal code
- Grading ~10 students weekly including a comprehensive code review with detailed feedback

### Course Producer @ University of Southern California
Jan 2020 – Jan 2022 | Los Angeles, California, United States
- Undergraduate Course Producer for CSCI 102, Fundamentals of Computation
- Managed lab attendance and grading for 19 lab sections and over 200 students
- Coordinated social events for the students outside of class hours (movie screenings and game nights)

### Intern, Incubator Developer @ Genies
Jan 2023 – Jan 2023 | Los Angeles, California, United States
- Working as a solo developer to develop a game for a mega-app using Unity’s visual scripting system
- Designing and implementing a real-time farming simulator for the Genies app ecosystem 
- Developing documentation to assist with future incubator cohorts and providing feedback for existing documentation


## Education
### Bachelor of Arts - BA in Near and Middle Eastern Studies
University of Southern California

### Bachelor of Science - BS in Computer Science (Games)
University of Southern California


## Contact & Social
- LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/cocomzhang
- Portfolio: http://bit.ly/cmzhang

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Source: https://flows.cv/cocozhang
JSON Resume: https://flows.cv/cocozhang/resume.json
Last updated: 2026-04-11