about

Hello, I’m Xavier Chen and I’m an aspiring Software Engineer in Singapore. I am currently in National University of Singapore (NUS) doing a Master of Computing (MComp).

Personally, programming has always been something I enjoyed doing. There’s a peculiar satisfaction in writing code that I’ve never been able to put into words. Perhaps it’s the structure, the syntax, or simply the feeling of watching a few lines of code come together. Whatever it is, I find the process of writing it pleasant in its own right (perhaps that’s why I use NeoVim (btw)) 1.

Despite my programming interests, I did not do too well in my A-Levels, and this has barred me from several University courses that I had found appealing, including Computer Science (CS). I ended up choosing Business instead as it was, at that point in time, something I could get into and something I had somewhat of an interest in. Nevertheless, my interest in CS never faded. Throughout my Business degree, I continued programming in my spare time, using whatever pockets of time I could find to explore the various facets of CS. Now, things have come full circle. I’m finally studying the subject I had hoped to pursue all those years ago :)!

These days, I find myself reading articles and watching videos about just about anything related to Computer Science and Technology. There’s always something new to learn, and I enjoy following whatever happens to pique my curiosity. Sometimes, I even branched out to other topics like Physics and Politics. Like learning that anti-electrons (called positrons) exists, and when they interact with electrons, they annihilate each other. There are even anti-matter and the most bizarre mystery is why our universe contains more matter than anti-matter (think about it … if it’s equal, they will annihilate each other, and we wouldn’t have existed!), which is also called the matter-antimatter asymmetry problem. Or, China’s 5-D chess move on its global oil import and stockpiling strategy during the 2026’s Oil Crisis.

I am currently:

I was previously:

In SMU:

I believe that as humans we should be kind towards one another, and help out whenever we can. Hence,

I love skiing 🏔️⛷️ and these are the places I’ve skied at:

I also enjoy hiking 🏔️🚶‍♂️ (you can probably guessed that I enjoy being in the mountains). These are the places I’ve hiked (hoping to grow this list further in the future):

Other interests:

I like using wooden pencils (over pens). There is a certain satisfaction with writing with a pencil. Part of it comes from the subtle “scratchiness” of graphite against paper, and how the writing experience gradually changes as the pencil tip wears down. Everytime you write, it feels a little different! Here are the pencils that I have used:

Staedtler Norica pencil
Staedtler Norica - First pencil I owned. Kinda rough when writing.
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As a programmer, my “hammer” (tool) is my keyboard. If I am going to spend many hours using it, I should at least treat myself with a good keyboard … right? These are the keyboards I have used:

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  1. Perhaps that’s why I have mixed feelings about agentic AI coding tools. I am not denying their usefulness as they have significantly enhanced my efficiency in completing tasks, especially when it comes to work. However, I can’t help but feel that they’re taking away the fun part of the process - the thinking and writing. Does the end really justify the means when the means were what made it worthwhile in the first place? I don’t know. I should probably write a future article on this … ↩︎