A bit about me!
i'm chalu, and i'm a 24 year old full-stack software developer based in auckland, new zealand.
i grew up in the philippines, finished high school in malaysia, and moved to new zealand for university. i love bouldering, running, listening to podcasts, drawing, playing guitar, reading books, making and drinking coffee, and binge watching tv shows. the x files is my favorite show, and i kind of believe in aliens.
PS: this website is super old and i'm planning to rewrite this in react when i have the time!
my experienceExperience
Academic
I graduated with a BS in Computer Science and Statistics from the University of Auckland. I also completed the Software Development and Data Analysis modules. I studied most of high school in the Philippines and left with Bronze Honours, and a major highlight was being selected for the Tokyo Tech Exchange Program. In 2019, I graduated from the International Bacclaureatte Program in Malaysia with a Group 4 Graduate Award in the Arts. I joined the Startmate Student Fellowship in the summer of 2021 where I learned a lot about the startup ecosystem.
Work
I currently work at an NZ tech company that provides custom solutions to clients. Mostly working in React, C#, and SQL (SMSS), I have worked on several different projects ranging from mobile apps for drivers carrying shipments, to web applications for prisoner transport. In university, I worked as a Resident Advisor and my internship experience include being a creative intern at MullenLowe, a summer intern at KPMG Lighthouse, and a Connected Devices Software Engineering Intern at an NZ startup called Rfider. Non-tech-related skills include making coffee and drinking lots of coffee.
My art
i share a lot of my art on my instagram, but here are a few pieces i particularly like!
A vintage-style comic influenced by a poster I saw while in Portugal: “All feelings are valid. Every single one.” It delivers the message that being emotional is not a negative trait and we should not be afraid to express our feelings. The text aspect of comic strips as well as my literal interpretation of each part of the saying allowed me to create artwork that directly states its own message.
A faux music record cover project inspired by my visit to a vinyl record store where I noticed how much a cover design can say about an album, and how much meaning the lyrics in that album can convey. I chose real songs for the back of the cover with titles I felt described the symptoms and manifestations of each disorder. The playful designs and bright colors eliminate the stigma that is normally attached to mental disorders.
A triptych with hands that I worked on to practice drawing hands and shadows. Inspired by celestial and mystical aesthetics, each hand has a different "theme" with different surroundings in each illustration.
A clothing/pose study I did to work on illustrationg how clothes fall on bodies. Two of the three are slightly heavily influenced by Mulder and Scully from the X-Files in a modern-day setting (hence, the FBI jackets)
My projects
Spill The Beans
Django
Bootstrap 5
HTML/CSS
A Django social networking site for Coffee enthusiasts. Users can create profiles to share their daily grind, review coffee drinks/beans/machines to spill the beans regarding their latest finds and new favorites.
Meal Planner
JavaScript
HTML/CSS
A kanban board inspired meal planner that I made when I moved into a flat and needed to cook for myself for the first time. I had a hard time visualising my weekly meals and made this to help me stay organised.
Get Vaxxed ⧉
Swift
Simple space-invader-type game, with a twist! In line with the COVID vaccination campaign, I made a simple game where you need to move the syringe and shoot doses of COVID vaccines at the many Mr. Ronas coming your way!
GoodBooks ⧉
Python Flask
Jinja2
HTML/CSS
A Flask app made for COMPSCI 235: Software Development Methodologies. Uses Jinja2 for templating. This is a web app that pretty much emulates GoodReads. Users can register, login, save books to a personal library, and leave reviews.
Ball Jump ⧉
Python
PyGame
A simple Flappy Bird immitation game, because it is long gone from the app store and something needs to fill the void. Tap the ball to make it jump and avoid the pipes to stay alive and earn points. All assets were made by yours truly. The first game I attempted making in the summer after my first year of computer science.
X-Files Command Line Episode Recommendation App ⧉
Python
The very first personal project I made in my first year of my CS degree. The program reads files of all the X-Files episodes. It runs on the command line and the user simply needs to follow the steps to get an episode of your choice in return. Terribly written first-month-of-uni code, but no more spending hours to decide which X-Files episode to watch tonight :)