Thoughts from a software engineer in Singapore.
Updating Sensible World of Soccer with the Singapore Premier League
I recently treated myself to a Powkiddy RGB30 handheld console. It’s a great little device with an unusual square screen, which is perfect for playing Pico-8 games on (which is something else I’ve been getting into recently - more on that in another blog post!). Anyway, it turns out it’s also really good at running emulators, so after a bit of playing with it I inevitably ended up revisiting probably the favourite game of my childhood: Sensible World of Soccer (or SWOS for short)....
What I Want From My Next Job
As I write this, I’m one week away from leaving my role at Grab and embarking on a career break of (most likely) 6-12 months. Although I’m not looking for employment again yet, I thought it’d be good idea to note down my criteria for a future job now, for future reference. Type of Company My ideal company would be an already-successful startup or medium-sized company. I’ve worked for very large companies before and find earlier-stage companies to be more enjoyable and rewarding, although I have had negative experiences with startups that didn’t do so well....
I'm Leaving My Job
This post is 100% written by a human. (me, obviously.) After just over 8 years at my current job, I’ve decided to leave. I don’t have another job lined up. In this post I’m going to try and put down some of the reasons behind my decision. It’s a personal decision, so if you’re expecting me to go on about my employer or some workplace drama, prepare for disappointment. I will be trying to avoid mentioning my employer here....
Sudden Hearing Loss
Something weird happened to me just over a week ago: I experienced sudden sensorineural hearing loss (SSNHL). I’ve just about fully recovered now, but it was quite scary and very different to what I thought it was going to be like. It started on Monday 20th February. I had just taken a shower and my ear felt strange, quite similar to the pressure from an airplane flight or some kind of blockage....
Discovering New Music Using Spotify and Discogs APIs
Lately I’ve been in the mood for discovering new music. I had mostly been relying on Spotify for this, either looking for new material by bands I already know, or by using the Radio feature, or by searching public playlists. None of these were very satisfactory - I feel like Spotify tends to recommend you the same few bands, even though their library is vast. So I thought, OK, I’ll try searching myself....