Now
Now - 16 Apr 25
Life Updates
What Have I Worked On & Done
I recently discovered that my Now page was last updated on 1 June 2024.
Since June 2024,
- I worked on the Launch School Python Track for a couple of months, completing PY101-109
- In October 2024, I got accepted into foodpanda’s PowerUp SG Traineeship, as a backend software engineer trainee. This traineeship had 3 months of classroom training, followed by 3 months of on-the-job-training with one of the foodpanda teams.
- The classroom training was…. largely meh, with the exception of a couple of instructors who really knew their stuff. For me, the most mindblowing course was the introduction to SQL: I was like “whoa! Dope! why didn’t I get to know this stuff before??” The introduction to docker containers was also quite fun. The quality of instruction on Golang was very, VERY varied across the different instructors… some of my fellow trainees felt that the Udemy courses we were exposed to (foodpanda has a corporate Udemy account) gave better instruction than the Ngee Ann Poly instructors.
- One of the Udemy courses which we really liked was Learn How to Code in Go by Todd McLeod: he’s a really awesome instructor, who also references the documentation a LOT (unlike some of the NP instructors, who sometimes didn’t seem to know the language)
- In end Dec, we had a hackathon, and I worked with teammates Avery, Fiona, Felix and Jeremy, which we won! It was pretty cool watching Avery and Fiona work like machines. I wrote about this in my blogpost here
- The OJT phase was AMAZING.
- In total, I tabulated that I did 25 pull requests in the team repo:
- I was very, very lucky to be in the same team as Viet (my OJT mentor) Ma He and JX. Viet is one of the most technically deep persons I know (he really knows Go), combined with a very strong willingness to help and teach, and who was always willing to answer questions, despite being very busy. Ma He and JX are both extremely strong and fast, and also very warm and helpful to a complete coding noob like me. I will really miss working with them.
- All in all, it was a really eye-opening experience to learn what it is like as a software engineer. I learnt that
- backend engineering, service design and product management are all at the same level of abstraction: all three professions look at a systemic-level of abstraction, focusing on how different subsystems interact. All three professions also deal with similar problems e.g. there are no perfect solutions, only tradeoffs; yesterday’s solutions becomes today’s problems, etc.
- I like working on Jira tickets/pull requests. There is a certain satisfaction from starting a ticket, not knowing exactly what to do, and finishing with “ok I have solved this problem!”
- while I do like solving technical stuff, my fundamentals of coding/programming are still VERY weak… and I need to strengthen those.
- The nature of coding in a mature, large coding organization is quite different from creating something from scratch: the nature of the work at foodpanda is more like trying to craft a single jigsaw puzzle piece, making sure that the piece fits with existing “solved” parts of the larger puzzle. Whereas creating something from scratch is more like creating an entirely new jigsaw puzzle. My experience makes me wonder about the DOGE coders who are just breaking stuff…
- Many times, I would try to come up with something “clever”, and would jump into a call with Viet, only to be told “actually, it’s ok to just do the straightforward thing”. Simpler is often much better, because it reduces complexity and is easier to maintain over time.
- Maintainability and readability are both underrated.
- In total, I tabulated that I did 25 pull requests in the team repo:
- During the traineeship, I also travelled & did other stuff:
- I went to support the October Bodhinyana Jhana Grove retreat
- I also went to visit my sister’s family in the Netherlands for slightly more than a week
- In Jan, I attended my first ever GopherCon SG, and got to hear and meet some very interesting folks
- In March this year, I also went to support Ajahn Brahm’s Executive retreat in Hoi An, Vietnam.
-
After I returned from Vietnam, and found out I wasn’t going to be converted into a permanent position, I then left for CIID’s Impact Minds event, which was a reunion for my IDP class, while also a design event of the CIID community.
- I started out wanting to give a lightning talk (based on my observations), but changed my mind after seeing the line-up. I changed my mind after listening to some of the speakers, and ended up giving this talk, which was a provocation to the larger CIID community.
- The classroom training was…. largely meh, with the exception of a couple of instructors who really knew their stuff. For me, the most mindblowing course was the introduction to SQL: I was like “whoa! Dope! why didn’t I get to know this stuff before??” The introduction to docker containers was also quite fun. The quality of instruction on Golang was very, VERY varied across the different instructors… some of my fellow trainees felt that the Udemy courses we were exposed to (foodpanda has a corporate Udemy account) gave better instruction than the Ngee Ann Poly instructors.
What I’ve done for Spiritual Practice
- I continue meditating at least 1.5-2hrs daily, with a 30 min guided meditation with my wife in the mornings.
- I’m also adding a journal entry practice, to do at the end of the day, to reflect on how my mind has been the whole day. This is now just one line a day.
What I’ve done for my Workouts & Health
- I work out with kettlebells these days, as they are more convenient. My strength workout consists of 3 supersets of
- clean and press (24kg)
- snatch (same weight & reps as above)
- asymmetrical weighted carry up flights of stairs (24kg + 20kg, switching sides with each flight)
- I also use kettlebells to do an endurance workout of kettlebell swings, followed by pushups.
What I’ll be doing next
Moving forward,
- it is clear to me that I want to continue learning to code.
- Right now, though, I am a bit torn between learning the fundamentals, vs. learning to vibe code and bringing the ideas I have/had to life. I think there is probably scope for both.
- it’s a bit messy in my mind, as I have all these possibilities to explore
- go back to Launch School, pick up Python again, and work through the Core Curriculum
- work through the Go Udemy courses which I wanted to but never found the time to do so at foodpanda
- work through full-stack open
- work through the Grace Huang Mac OS apps book
- work through John Gallagher iOS course on Youtube
- work through Elixir
- work through SICP
- All these different options have different tradeoffs… maybe what I need to do is to figure out which larger problem I want to focus on.
- coding fundamentals, including OOP and algorithmic thinking, then later SICP
- this will strengthen the weak foundations which I felt during the OJT period
- strong fundamentals will also allow using AI tools while knowing WHEN the AI tools are hallucinating
- making stuff on web
- making stuff on mobile (which has always drawn me, esp. iOS apps)
- learning computer science
- coding fundamentals, including OOP and algorithmic thinking, then later SICP
- so based on the above criteria, this is my stackranking:
- work through the Go Udemy courses which I wanted to but never found the time to do so at foodpanda: the two are Todd MacLeod’s Learn Programming with Go, and Web Development with Go
- go back to Launch School, pick up Python again, and work through the Core Curriculum
- work through the Grace Huang Mac OS apps book
- work through full-stack open
- work through Elixir
- work through SICP
- work through John Gallagher iOS course on Youtube
Updated as of 16 Apr 25