I grew up in a remote village in Ha Tinh, central Vietnam. I left as a child to follow my uncle to the coffee highlands of Tây Nguyên. I put myself through university in Ho Chi Minh City. I moved to Singapore alone in my late twenties with a job offer and not much else. I now have two children, a permanent residency, and a career I’m proud of.

None of that is in my GitHub profile.

This section of the blog is where that story lives — the human context behind the code, the career, and the years of learning.

What I Write About Here

My Journey — A multi-part series tracing the full arc: from a poor village in Ha Tinh, to the coffee plantations of the Central Highlands, to university in Saigon, to building a life and a career in Singapore. It’s the story I wish I’d written down sooner.

Family — My wife, my daughter and son, the chaos and the love of raising children in a country that isn’t yours, and what it means to build a home far from where you started.

Panic, Resilience, and Self-Understanding — I experienced panic attacks during COVID, alone in Singapore while my family was in Vietnam. Working through that — through books, through reflection — changed how I understand myself. I write about that honestly.

Tennis — I play regularly. Sport, at its best, is a compression of everything that matters: discipline, patience, handling pressure, recovering from mistakes. I find it clarifying in a way that most things aren’t.

Books and Ideas — What I’m reading, what’s shaping how I think, and the occasional essay on something that deserves more than a passing thought.

Vietnam and Singapore — Two very different countries that have each made me who I am. I write about both with affection and without nostalgia.

Why This Matters to Me

I’ve met engineers who are technically brilliant but hard to know — people who exist entirely in the professional register, who never let you see the path they took or the struggles they carried. I understand the instinct. Vulnerability has costs.

But I’ve also found that the most meaningful connections — with colleagues, with mentors, with readers — come from the moments when someone recognises themselves in your story. The kid from a difficult background who wasn’t sure they were good enough. The person who moved abroad and spent years building a sense of belonging. The parent trying to be present while also building something in their career.

If any of that resonates, this section is for you.

Start with Part 1 of My Journey — a village in Ha Tinh, and the beginning of everything.

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