I'm a software engineer from Indonesia.
Computers have changed my life more than almost anything else. I started programming as a teenager, studied computer science at the University of Indonesia, and somehow ended up working at Google, Stripe, and Speechify. I couldn't have imagined any of that when I was younger.
For years, I measured progress through school and work. There was always another skill to learn, job to get, or thing to build.
That mindset got me far, and I don't regret it.
I'm now a husband and a dad to a daughter. I think more carefully about how much time work takes away from them.
I still love building software. I still get far too excited about a good interface, a clean abstraction, or spending hours on a problem that probably didn't need them.
These days I want to get better at work I care about, support my family, stay healthy, and still have time to tinker with things that may go nowhere.
Now
These days I live in Kupang, East Nusa Tenggara, with my family. I work remotely at Speechify and build an AI personal finance project on the side.
Outside work, you'll usually find me lifting weights, running, messing with computers, making pour-over coffee, watching anime or Japanese dramas, occasionally playing games, or thinking far too much about where we should live next.
Why I write
I usually understand an idea better after I write it down. This site gives me somewhere to keep the parts I may want to return to.
I write about software, building products, career and money, family, ambition, and whatever else is on my mind.
The old posts stay as they were. Some will age badly or contradict what I think now. That seems better than quietly rewriting who I used to be.