👨💻 What I'm Working On
The big news first: I'm leaving Xendit. Last day is May 12, 2026. Four years, three roles, a lot of payment infrastructure shipped, and now I'm in the handover phase. I wrote about it more honestly in a separate post at later date. I'd rather people hear the real story than guess.
So right now my "work" is two things in parallel: handing over NEX cleanly so the people who inherit it aren't cursing my name in six months, and looking for my next role openly and quickly. I'm targeting Staff / Lead / Senior backend or full-stack positions. Remote is the priority because I want to be home for Kiara, but I'm flexible on hybrid. If you're hiring or know someone who is, please reach out.
On the side projects front, this blog is still my favorite playground. I keep finding small things to improve. Writing technical posts (especially the LeetCode breakdowns) has been a good way to keep my brain warm during a stressful stretch. There's something grounding about explaining a sliding window solution when the rest of life feels like it's sliding around too.
With a few friends I'm trying to stand up something like an IT consultancy in Surabaya. The shape of it is still loose, more intent than a deck at this point, but I want to see if we can build a real shop here.
👨👩👧 Family Life
Kiara is walking and running now, and I cannot keep up. Last month she was wobbling between the couch and the coffee table. This month she is sprinting through the house with the confidence of a person who has never met gravity. My back, which was already complaining, has filed a formal grievance.
Honestly, even with everything happening at work, coming home to her makes the rest of it shrink. Toddlers don't care about your performance review tier. They want you to chase them around the living room making dinosaur sounds. It's the best kind of recalibration.
My wife has been the rock through all of this. The Xendit news landed hard for both of us, and she's been holding things together while I focus on the handover and the job search. I owe her, big time.
🎮 Gaming
Not much new since January. Football Manager and FIFA still in the rotation when I need to switch my brain off. Three Kingdoms has gone on the shelf for now. Hard to commit to a 200-hour campaign when you're not sure where you'll be working in three months.
Still following Dota 2 esports as a spectator. The International is still the only sports event I plan my schedule around.
🎵 Music
Mostly the same rotation as January, with one big change. Gracia from JKT48 is graduating. I am taking it harder than I should. There's a strange poetry to both of us "graduating" at the same time. I'm going to miss her.
K-pop, Avenged Sevenfold, Linkin Park, Dewa 19 still on heavy rotation. When the job hunt anxiety hits, "Numb" still does the job 20 years later. Some songs just age into being more relevant.
📚 What I'm Reading
Re-reading Naruto for what is now genuinely embarrassing the number of times. The arc about losing the people you trained with and having to figure out who you are without them is hitting differently this month, for reasons I'll let the reader figure out.
Jujutsu Kaisen Modulo is finished. Yuji is so goated. My Hero Academia I keep losing the thread on which chapter I left off. The manga's been done for ages and I'm still picking at it in the wrong order. Dandadan and Sakamoto Days stay in the rotation.
On the technical side I'm prepping for interviews. So lots of system design refreshers, distributed systems, some payments-specific reading. If anyone has good staff-level system design resources I haven't seen, I'd love recommendations.
📺 What I'm Watching
UFC is still in the rotation. There's something cathartic about watching two people resolve their differences in a cage right now.
Mostly though, I'm not watching much. Hard to relax into a series when half your brain is composing a cover letter.
Sidenote: If you've made it this far and you're hiring, or you know someone who is: fajarmaulanafirdaus29 at gmail dot com. I'd love to talk.
This is a "now page", inspired by nownownow.com. If you have your own site, you should make one too.