About ApplyKoala
ApplyKoala is built and run by one person: me, Xiang (Arnold) Shang, a software engineer looking for my next job. I made it for my own search, and I use it every day.
Why I built it
I needed a portfolio project, and I was also applying for jobs. The second turned out to be the harder problem: dozens of postings, company research, recruiter chats, versions of my resume and applications at different stages, spread across tabs and notes.
So I built a place to keep it, and then I connected my AI to it. Today I run my search with Claude Code and Codex: they find postings, look into companies and fill in forms, and ApplyKoala keeps everything they find, so the next conversation starts where the last one ended. Almost every feature came from something I needed that week. I still read each application before it goes out.
Why it keeps your data the way it does
A job search tracker holds your resume, phone number, salary expectations and notes about the people you talk to. I would not hand that to an unknown website either. So ApplyKoala works without an account and keeps your data in your browser by default. Sync is optional; when it is on, each account's data is encrypted with its own key. I never sell your data or use it to train AI. The privacy policy lists everything that leaves your browser, and when.
Before ApplyKoala
I have spent more than seven years on computer vision, edge AI platforms and full-stack products.
- 2021–2025, software engineer on an industrial AI platform. I designed how its services ran in containers and built the one-click deployment that cut device setup from about half a day to under ten minutes, and I supported it in production for dozens of enterprise customers.
- 2019–2021, image algorithm engineer. I built computer-vision pipelines for an agricultural robot, from training data to real-time detection on the machine.
- Earlier, I worked as a mechatronics engineer and ran my own small online store.
- Since 2025, I have built my own AI products, including ApplyKoala and Say It Simple, which rewrites workplace English with a language model that runs in your browser.
Get in touch
Questions, bugs or ideas: contact@applykoala.com. I read every email.