About Pradeep
👋 Hi, I'm Pradeep, and welcome to my blog!
Everywhere on the Internet, I describe myself as an indie maker and solopreneur.
Most of the time, you will find me hunched over my laptop, reading a book, or taking a walk. If I am walking alone, chances are, I'm thinking about a problem that I'm trying to solve or listening to a podcast.
Reading
I used to be a big fiction guy back in school, and had my name on the library card for most books that fit my age. I dropped off on reading towards the end of school, though.
Most of my reading these days is done online, and it's been a while since I picked up a physical book. I now find myself almost exclusively reading about new tech, AI, or business. I do pick up the occasional non-fiction or business book, but they are few and far between. I also find that I'm increasingly using YouTube to consume this sort of content.
You can find me on Goodreads if that's your jam, but it has been a while since I updated it. This is what I'm reading now.
Podcasts
I started listening to podcasts very late (2019), partly because I didn't know they existed (🙈). The main value I get from them over books, is that I can listen to them when doing other things like walking or commuting.
I started with the Seeking Wisdom podcast (my manager was a big fan, and introduced me to podcasts with this). I loved it so much that I ended up listening to every episode from start to finish. I still go back and listen to a few episodes from time to time. If you want to get started, this is an excellent podcast to start with! Start with the oldest episode.
These days, I prefer stories of products and people, and listen to podcasts like How I Built This and Side Hustle Show. I switch them up with whatever is on Blinkist that day, if it sounds interesting.
Setup
I work with / on computers for a living. My personal machine used to be a clunky Lenovo G510 that saw much wear and tear. After I quit my job, I upgraded to a 14-inch Macbook Pro M1 Max with 32 gigs of RAM and 1TB of storage. And the thing I love most about it? I can do whatever I want on it, and it doesn't even begin to break a sweat! It does scream when I run AI models locally, but doesn't make a sound when I'm just coding web apps.
I don't have a special desk setup. Most of the time, I use an old table and a plastic chair, but I hope to upgrade some day. I do have a 27-inch 4K LG monitor that I got recently, and I love it. It only does 60Hz, but that's quite alright because I mostly stare at code or text, and my Macbook outputs only 60Hz anyway.
My mobile phone is a Samsung M14 5G. I got it because it was the cheapest 5G phone I could find (around $120), and it has held up remarkably well so far. I don't game at all these days, and I don't take very many photos, so it's adequate for my needs.
One mindset shift that came with owning a cheap phone was that I don't have to care about it at all. I did put on a cheap tempered glass screen protector and a silicone back case (< $5 combined), but that's about it. I don't manage the battery all that well, I don't mind if I drop it, and I don't care about scratches or dents. I do have theft-protection enabled, but I don't think anyone would even bother to try and steal it.
Languages
I am a native Tamil speaker, but have near-native proficiency in English as well. I can understand a bit of Malayalam and Hindi. I'm trying to learn Hindi so that I'll be able to speak it some day.
Python is my go-to computer language for fun and work. I picked up some Javascript (React, NextJS) along the way, and I do build full-stack web applications now (Django + React). This site is built with NextJS.