Our Residency Program offers immersive, hands-on industry-level training to emerging tech professionals. In the past five months, we've welcomed 13 new participants from diverse backgrounds, all passionate about launching their careers in technology.
We’re also building a stronger sense of community through fun group events. Recently, we hosted a Happy Hour for the Residency Program where we played Two Truths and a Lie — an hour full of laughter and great conversations that brought us closer together!
Our interns and full-time engineers have been working hard on developing a custom Discord Bot exclusively for the Shudong Community, designed to enhance member interaction and foster a safer, more engaging, and inclusive communication space. Since its launch in April, the community has grown to include 1.86k verified usersand features19 dedicated company channels.
Smart Verification
To maintain an authentic and inclusive community environment, new members must verify their work or educational email address through the bot upon joining the server. Access is granted only to users with approved email domains. We now support all major big tech companies and are working on adding more!
Anonymous Confessions ("Shudong树洞")
Users can anonymously send their thoughts, troubles, or secrets to a dedicated channel via the bot. They can also reply anonymously to any message without fear of their identity being exposed. Each post features 'like' and 'dislike' buttons for community feedback. As of now, the community has generated over5,000 posts — and counting!
Serious Dating (严肃交友)
Users can create detailed personal profiles and specify their dating preferences. Our system then uses AI to suggest potential matches. For mutually interested pairs, the bot facilitates initial contact and helps them coordinate a time to meet. This feature has already attracted over 150 user registrations and facilitated more than 580 successful matches to date.
Matching in Test Environment
Serious Buddy Finder (严肃搭子)
Users can fill out a basic profile and specify their preferences for an activity partner to create a "buddy invite". The system will automatically suggest compatible invitations/buddies. If no immediate match is found, other users can manually claim the invite, and the system will verify if they meet the original poster's criteria.
Purrf is an open-sourced web application designed to provide CircleCat members with a comprehensive summary of their activities and performance (purrformance) across various platforms. Currently, it aggregates data from JIRA, Google Meet, Google Chat, Microsoft Teams, and Gerrit to deliver insightful metrics on individual contributions—such as the number of meetings one participated in and code changes (CLs) submitted. Purrf empowers teams and organizations to effortlessly track progress and evaluate contributions.
Want to work on projects like these with us? Check out our Residency Program and start your journey!
We’re pleased to announce the successful conclusion of our Mentorship Summer Round of 2025 featuring 37 mentor-mentee pairs!
Now our Mentorship Fall Round of 2025 (September - November)is actively recruiting, featuring at least 5 1:1 sessions with a dedicated mentor. Applications are now open, come and join us!
Apply by August 25, 2025, 11:59 PM PST
Mic Drop Moments:
What Our Mentees Are Saying
“My mentors are incredibly professional. They provide tailored guidance based on my specific situation and challenges. When I was struggling through my job search, they shared their own past experiences and insights. After getting to know me, they helped me identify my weaknesses and chart a clearer path forward. On top of their expert advice, they’ve also been incredibly supportive—offering constant encouragement and motivation!”
“Through the Mentorship Program, I gained invaluable learning opportunities and experienced tremendous growth. In my interactions with my mentor, I solidified my understanding of core technical concepts like object-oriented design, design patterns, unit testing, task scheduling, and exception handling. More importantly, my mentor shared practical workplace insights on teamwork, teaching me how to boost efficiency and optimize workflows in a professional setting.
This program not only strengthened my technical skills but also provided essential guidance for my career development. If similar opportunities arise in the future, I would be thrilled to participate in the Mentorship Program again.”
“I found the mentorship program to be both flexible and highly rewarding. I was fortunate to be paired with a volunteer and AI/ML expert—a perfect match for my learning goals. My primary goal was to deepen my understanding of artificial intelligence and gain practical experience on a relevant project. My mentor was an excellent guide, effectively introducing me to state-of-the-art concepts and leading me through the development of a complete AI project. We began by exploring potential topics, such as model fine-tuning and LLM applications, discussing the scope to ensure it was manageable. Throughout the project, my mentor provided critical high-level design advice and detailed code reviews, which were invaluable to my technical development.”
A Big Thank You to Our Volunteers!
A huge thank you to our dedicated volunteers! Your contributions make a significant impact on our community.
We’d also like to extend a special thanks to our amazing mentors for their participation in this mentorship round. Your guidance and support are helping shape the future of aspiring professionals, and we are incredibly thankful for your dedication.
March 2025 Dear CircleCat Community, As we kick off 2025, we’re excited to share the latest updates and milestones from CircleCat! Here’s what’s happening recently: Featured Programs Residency Program, Mentorship Program, Seminars, and more. Seminars Are you looking to land your dream internship and break into the tech industry? Join us on March 24 at 8 PM EST for an insightful seminar with Selina Li, Software Engineer at Google Ads. Selina will share her journey from securing her first...
OCTOBER 2024 Dear CircleCat Community, We’re excited to bring you the latest updates and highlights from CircleCat! Here’s what’s happening recently: Featured Programs Residency Program, Mentorship Program, Seminars, and more. Residency Program Apply Now Our Residency Program is in full swing! This initiative empowers emerging tech professionals through immersive experiences and hands-on training. If you're interested in jump-starting your tech career as a Software Engineer Intern, don’t miss...
