/portrait/about
Hi, I'm Vishnu.
Software Engineer III at FactSet, working on data-intensive systems financial professionals lean on to do their actual jobs. Three years in: intern to III, each rung earned, not gifted. The work pays the rent. The obsession — the version that gets shipped on weekends — is the part that doesn't.
I build the version of the system I can still defend a year later, when the constraints have changed and the alternative looks tempting. The unglamorous part of engineering, judgment, doesn't fit on a resume but it decides everything that does.
Outside of code: long walks, slow reading, coffee that takes too long to make. In another life I'd have taught, and I think the best engineers secretly do.
§01 · the stack
Tools I reach for —
and the opinion behind each.
Amber-bordered chips are tools I use daily. The rest are tools I've shipped real work with — not ones I've heard of.
languages
02- TypeScriptdaily
Strict mode from day one. `any` is a smell, not an escape hatch.
- Pythonshipped
When the problem is data-shaped, not request-shaped.
frontend
03- Reactdaily
Components as functions. State as the last resort, not the first.
- Next.jsdaily
Server components by default. Client ones earn their keep.
- Tailwinddaily
Utility-first. Extract a component the second the classes repeat.
backend
02- Node.jsdaily
The runtime, not the framework. Bun and Deno when it earns it.
- Expressshipped
Thin router, fat services. Middleware is a contract.
data & ai
02- Postgresshipped
The default. NoSQL earns its place; it doesn't assume it.
- LangChainshipped
Chains for glue, not for thinking. Prompts are still code.
infra
02- Dockershipped
For parity with prod, not for kubernetes cosplay.
- Gitdaily
Small commits. Honest messages. Rebase before review, merge after.
§02 · the practice
The obsession,
in numbers.
Daily reps. For a year. Unbroken. Algorithms aren't the work — but a year of uninterrupted daily practice is the kind of evidence I can't fake. It shows up in the work that is.
§03 · how i read code
A short list of
load-bearing beliefs.
§04 · the path
Three years, four titles,
one practice.
- 2023intern → engineer i
Joined FactSet as an intern. Cared less about being right than about being honest about what I didn't know yet. Converted to full-time within six months.
- 2024engineer i → engineer ii
Took ownership of a critical pipeline. Cut a recurring on-call page by chasing the actual root cause instead of papering it over. Learned that the boring fix is usually the right one.
- 2026engineer ii → engineer iii
Promoted. Starting to lead architecture conversations rather than just executing on them. Mentoring engineers who joined after me.
§05 · open to
What I'm
looking for.
- software engineering at product-based companies
- senior IC roles at AI-first companies
- infra / devtools companies
- early-stage startups (series A–B) building real systems
- remote-first or bay area teams
contact
Short emails get short replies fast.
Best way to reach me — email gets a reply within a day. Use the form for a longer pitch.