RICCARDO SAMBATARO

Identity

Computer Science student at Hunter College (Daedalus Honors Scholar, Class of 2029), born in Italy and based in New York. Backend and systems engineer.

Summer 2026: Founding Backend Engineer at HiringCafe in Cupertino, building the distributed scraping infrastructure behind an AI job search engine used by over a million people a month.

I like systems programming, network protocols, reverse engineering, and bringing dead games back to life.

PYTHON NODE.JS RUST C#/.NET C++ JAVA FLUTTER GOOGLE CLOUD POSTGRESQL THREE.JS

Timeline

SUMMER 2026 · CUPERTINO, CA

HiringCafe — Founding Backend Engineer

Node.js + Python + Google Cloud + PostgreSQL + Elasticsearch

Internship on the founding team of an AI job search engine with 1M+ monthly users. Built Topdown, a control plane running 49 GCP VMs across four U.S. regions to inventory, triage, and repair 7,000+ production job-board scrapers; a U.S. company registry consolidating 63M+ public-source identities into ~6M website-backed companies; and 11 reusable ATS integrations plus 250+ company-specific ingestion adapters.

2026 · SIDE PROJECT

HiringCafe+

JavaScript · Chrome & Firefox extension (Manifest V3)

Browser extension that supercharges hiring.cafe: cross-check badges, company ratings and intel, ATS info, recent-layoff flags, smart filters and sort, application tracking with account write-back, alerts, and a command palette. Built on the site's own job data, no build step.

2026 · COLLEGE

RickyNet

Rust + Swift + C#

Uses an iPhone's cellular data as a Windows PC's internet over USB, without Personal Hotspot. A Rust userspace TCP/IP stack on the phone terminates every flow and re-originates it as a real cellular socket; a Wintun bridge on Windows ships raw IP packets over usbmux. Unsigned IPA built entirely in GitHub Actions.

2026 · COLLEGE

Kawairun2 Server

C# + Java + Node.js

Full-stack reimplementation of Kawairun 2 multiplayer Flash game. Features .NET launcher, Java/SmartFoxServer backend for multiplayer, Node.js web server, MySQL persistence, and live deployment at kawairun2.puzzlebest.tech.

2026 · COLLEGE

Revolt Ultimate

Unified achievement tracking platform for 9+ gaming services (Steam, GOG, Xbox, Epic, EA, RetroAchievements). Real-time notifications with customizable visual designs and a progression system with leveling mechanics. Supports both legitimate and offline game monitoring.

WINTER 2025 · HACKATHON

Snowball Thrower

JavaScript + Phaser3 + MediaPipe

Multiplayer snowball throwing game built with Phaser3 physics engine. Features optional hand-tracking via MediaPipe for gesture recognition, directional sprite animations, AI opponent, networked multiplayer, and dynamic difficulty mechanics.

2025 · COLLEGE

CometOffline

Rust

Open-source GOG Galaxy Communication Service implementation in Rust. Enables offline game functionality, achievement tracking, and leaderboard management. Works seamlessly with Heroic, Lutris, and other game launchers on Linux/Steam Deck.

2024 · HIGH SCHOOL

NHS Location

Dart + JavaScript + Firebase

Cross-platform sign-in application for NHS members featuring location-based tracking with geospatial analysis. Built with Flutter for mobile and Firebase Firestore for real-time data synchronization and authentication management.

MIDDLE SCHOOL

College Admissions Simulator

Java

Simulates the NY college application process for Stuyvesant students. Calculates weighted GPA, demographic scores, and admission probabilities. Supports Early Decision (ED), Restrictive Early Action (REA), and Early Action (EA) applications with real acceptance rates.

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RICCARDO SAMBATARO

Identity

Timeline

HiringCafe — Founding Backend Engineer

HiringCafe+

RickyNet

Kawairun2 Server

Revolt Ultimate

Snowball Thrower

CometOffline

NHS Location

College Admissions Simulator

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