Hello internet!

Welcome to my personal website. My website consists of two things: my web directory, and also the content that I make (just random bits of writing, maybe some semi-working apps, and also some blog posts).

I was reminded one day that the internet didn't have any search engines at one point - everyone would use a thing called "web directories". This struck me as similar to the "bookmarks" system on all modern web browsers, and a thought had entered my mind: I reckon that some of the links I have here might be helpful to some of my colleages. Often the links in my bookmarks (other than work) come from someone else telling me about it or sending me something from that website. I also think that the things that I choose to keep, and to discard, are a reflection of who I am as a person in terms of my values, thoughts, beliefs, and interests. So I consider this site as an artistic expression of myself in an unconventional way, and to also provide a repository of great things you should totally go and look at!

As for my professional career, I am a full-stack software engineer with 5 years of commercial experience. My favourite back-end language is Python, and for front-end I am most experienced in ReactJS/Typescript and NextJS.

I have a really keen interest in infrastructure and computer networking. I just love figuring out how computers communicate with each other and how apps are deployed/run because it's often where things go wrong in ways that require you to think outside the box, and try some truly inventive things to figure out what's going on.

Working with big, complicated systems like cloud providers and IaaS/PaaS are like a siren's call for me. These systems are built from rigorous principles and require the collaboration between hundreds and thousands of people from around the world so that people like me can play with them like massive kids toys! Being able to meticulously apply these systems to real problems from an understanding of root principles is by far the most thrilling thing in the world for me.

Currently I have a deep interest in the sub-atomic - particle physics, quantum computers, photonics, chip fabrication, etc. The things that we've had to build to get to this point in each of these fields are truly immense. Consider for example how huge the LHC is. It's a machine that spans across multiple nations, and takes thousands of people to operate and maintain. Think for a moment that the circumference of this machine is 27km (17mi), and for the whole ring, you need to keep a bunch of super-conducting magnets at close to absolute zero with liquid helium. The fact that this was possible in 2008 is unbelievable. Like my explanation on cloud providers, there is a certain allure to working with systems and models like these, and I study them in my spare time.

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I run this on a VPS that runs a few other things, so this is all the requests to this site and all my other services.