Hi, I’m Sai.

I’m a SWE. I like to write colorful letters on a computer screen.

I’m a software engineer. But the honest version is simpler than that: I love software, I like building things, and I like it even more when the thing I built makes someone’s day a little better. That’s most of what drives me. The rest is just, well, colorful lettering.

See what I’m building↓Or just say hi →

How I got here

I didn’t start in software. I was a Chemistry major, pre-med, fully pointed at medical school. Then came my senior year, when I realized this wasn’t it. I wasn’t excited.

So I took a leap of faith and switched to Computer Science. It remains one of the best decisions I’ve ever made.

The moment it clicked is embarrassingly specific: an intro class (ITSC-1212, to be exact) had us write “Hello, World” in Java. That was all it took. I had no idea what I was doing or how any of it actually worked under the hood, but I knew, immediately, that this was what I wanted to do with my time. Since then, I’ve dove head first into the world of coding & computing. I’ve been chasing that same feeling ever since.

HelloWorld.java

1public class HelloWorld {
2  public static void main(String[] args) {
3    System.out.println("Hello, World");
4    // Yup, that's all it took
5  }
6}

I currently work at SAS as a software developer.

Where I’m headed

That “Hello, World” jolt is still the thing that keeps me motivated to continue building — continue shipping software that reaches real people and makes their lives meaningfully better.

About me

If I’m not clacking away at the keyboard, it’s probably because I’m engaged in one of my other hobbies. I’ve always loved video games. Fundamentally, that derives itself from a love of stories and storytelling, but the interactive nature of video games lends itself to handcrafting a character, a story, into endless unique possibilities. I love any and all sorts of games (because each one is an opportunity to tell a new story) but mainly love Action RPG/Open World, FPS, and Arena Fighters/Fighters. I’m currently playing HellDivers 2 and Dragon Ball Sparking Zero!

Speaking of Dragon Ball, I’m a huge Dragon Ball fan. My introduction to it was Budokai Tenkaichi 2 on the PlayStation 2. Since then (much like with computer science) I dove head first into the realm of Dragon Ball. I’ve read the manga, seen the anime, all of the non-canon movies, all of the canon movies (shoutout the DBS: Broly movie - highly recommend, absolute fire), collect figures/figurines, play the video games, and also collect the cards…suffice to say, I’m a huge nerd about Dragon Ball. No matter what I say, it’d be an understatement to the impact Dragon Ball has made on my life. One significant impact is health and fitness.

While there were many influential factors to me stepping foot inside of a gym for the first time, Dragon Ball was certainly one of them. But this is an “About Me” section, not a “How much I love Dragon Ball” section, so I’ll stop talking about Dragon Ball and instead end by listing a couple of my favorite things…a small insight into my personality.

Coding
Learning
Video games
Lifting
Basketball
Football
MMA
Muay Thai
Dragon Ball
Naruto
Dark Souls / Elden Ring
Warhammer 40K
Suits (both the TV show and the apparel category)
How I Met Your Mother
Reading
The Name of the Wind (great read)
The Lies of Locke Lamora (another great read)

Things I’m building

YeetCode

In progress

A supplementary playground for LeetCode and NeetCode that cares about exactly one thing: the Hards. No easies, no mediums to pad your streak. Just the problems that actually humble you.

If you want to test your coding chops, step into the coding crucible. And when a problem wins (because some of them will), there’ll be written walkthroughs and video explanations, so you leave having learned it rather than just rage-quitting. Remember: Yeet it.

Live site coming soon.

const idea = brainstorm({ caffeine: "plenty", scope: "unknown" });

function cook(idea: Idea) {
  const ingredients = [curiosity, freeTime, colorfulLetters];
  preheat(brain);
  while (!idea.isReady()) {
    idea.simmer();
    idea.tasteTest(); // needs more features
    scope.creep(); // deal with that later
  }
  return somethingGreat; // eventually
}

// current status: preheating
// TODO: figure out what "it" actually is
// ETA: soon(ish)

export default NextProject; // name pending

const idea = brainstorm({ caffeine: "plenty", scope: "unknown" });

function cook(idea: Idea) {
  const ingredients = [curiosity, freeTime, colorfulLetters];
  preheat(brain);
  while (!idea.isReady()) {
    idea.simmer();
    idea.tasteTest(); // needs more features
    scope.creep(); // deal with that later
  }
  return somethingGreat; // eventually
}

// current status: preheating
// TODO: figure out what "it" actually is
// ETA: soon(ish)

export default NextProject; // name pending

Don’t know yet, but will cook up something soon.

Say hi

Hi, I’m Sai.

YeetCode

The internet’s a big place, but I’m not that hard to find.