Rsoemardja (Rama's) Dev Diary

How I’m navigating this brutal job hunt, the unspoken grind of being self-taught, and why soft skills and survival experience do matter. Let me not sugarcoat this:Applying for jobs sucks. There’s nothing romantic about it.No inspiring montage, no quick success story.Just spreadsheets, cover letters, silence, and if you’re lucky — rejections. I’ve applied to somewhere between 600 to 800 jobs,…

A Journey Through Struggle, Survival, and Finally — A Glimmer of Hope For months, I’ve been grinding through chaos. Financial instability, erratic shift work, endless applications — all without knowing if any of it would amount to something. But now, after 2-3 exhausting months of trying to break into something more permanent, I’ve made it past the interview process for a role that feels like a…

How Regret and Rage Spark the Desire for Achievement and Validation Lately, I’ve been reflecting on a lot of things. It started this morning when I saw a post from someone, and it was all about their accolades—degrees, certifications, honors. And for some reason, it hit me harder than I expected. I felt this rush of emotions: regret, a deep tinge of spite, and, strangely enough, hope. I can’t…

A reflection on how completing the things that weigh you down brings momentum, clarity, and confidence. We all have a list. Not just the one on paper or in your task manager—but the mental list. The backlog of unfinished tasks, paused projects, and deferred priorities that live quietly in your mind. The ones you think about when you’re trying to focus on something else. The ones that, no matter…

A moment of clarity, a challenge from my brother, and a turning point I couldn’t ignore. There are moments in life that hit harder than expected—not because they’re loud or dramatic, but because of who says them and how true they feel when they land. Recently, I had one of those moments during a conversation with my brother.He and I are very different. He’s someone who thinks on his feet,…

It’s been a tough journey, but I’m choosing to keep going—and to believe that better days are still ahead. It’s been a struggle lately. For months, I’ve been obsessing over landing the perfect job in tech, worrying about my future, and stressing over debt. Things have been difficult, and I’ve been stuck in a loop of frustration and doubt. But recently, I’ve come to realize something important.…

From a Blank Slate to 1400+ Connections As I navigate my career journey in my 30s, I find myself back at square one, still looking for work and trying to build meaningful connections in my field. But what I’ve come to realize is that every step forward, no matter how small, is a victory. When I first started building my network, I had just a handful of connections. Today, I’ve grown that number…

Soldiering On Through Burnout, Budgeting, and the Dream You Still Believe In Today, I overslept. I didn’t mean to. I had plans. But my body wasn’t onboard. And in that moment of forced rest, I realized just how real everything has become. It’s Been Three Months. The Pressure’s Mounting. The job search. The uncertainty. The financials. The calendar doesn’t lie—rent is coming. My savings are…

In this phase of chasing my software dreams, here’s what I’m learning the hard way: Adaptability is survival. Taking a temp gig or tech-adjacent job isn’t failure. It’s a strategy to stay in the game. Digital presence matters. A visible developer has better odds in the invisible job market. Build in public. Networking is about real relationships. Forget surface-level “connections.” Find…

From Placeholder Text to a Fully Iterative Portfolio and Blog — My Journey Toward a Better Online Presence For the past year, my personal website has been, well, a bit of a placeholder. I’ve been so focused on other projects, especially career transitions and skill-building, that I didn’t give my own online portfolio and blog the attention it truly deserves. But it’s finally time to change…

Clearing the Mental Clutter and Reclaiming Momentum It’s a strange feeling, isn’t it? That overwhelming rush of thoughts and tasks, each one competing for attention, until they all blur into a frantic jumble. That’s exactly where I am right now. There’s a lot on my mind—too much. And if I’m being honest, it’s been hard to get a proper flow going in my life when the weight of all these…

How Balance Between Work and Rest is Essential for Longevity in Your Ambitions In the world of constant hustle, where success is often measured by how many hours we can pour into our work or ambitions, we forget the most vital ingredient for sustainable progress: giving yourself space. Space isn’t just about physical boundaries—it’s the mental, emotional, and personal room you create to allow…

From Guilty Glances to Purposeful Patterns—How April is Quietly Shaping My Future We often overestimate what we can achieve in a day and underestimate what we can build in a month. That’s something I’ve slowly come to internalize—especially this April. I started the month feeling like I had to “catch up” on a million things: skilling up, job hunting, staying visible in the tech space, and just…

From Tutorial Hell to a Ritual of Growth: How I Plan to Make Every Lesson Count in 2025 Let me start with a confession. I have a problem. A digital hoarding problem. No, not NFTs. Not eBooks. Not even free game assets. Courses.Endless amounts of them. From Zenva to Lynda (or LinkedIn Learning, whatever rebrand they’re rolling with now), Udemy to YouTube rabbit holes, to my beloved Gamedev.tv,…

How pressure reveals our capacity to adapt, evolve, and survive—if we let it. Urgency is a strange force. It’s both the hammer and the forge. It doesn’t care who you are, where you come from, or what you’ve planned. It levels the playing field by imposing an invisible timer that pushes everyone—willing or not—toward action or inaction. For some, urgency leads to great leaps. For others, it…

A personal reflection from an everyday AI user, creative advocate, and believer who’s also a little lost (like the rest of us) I use AI every single day. Not in the way the average person assumes—like letting it take over my job or build my dream app while I sip coffee in a hammock—but more like a companion, a second brain, a sometimes-wise counselor, and yeah, a productivity tool too. It…

Reflections During Ramadan on Burnout, Perseverance, and the Silent Importance of Looking After Yourself in Tech There’s a certain paradox that comes with chasing your dreams—especially in tech. On one hand, you’re encouraged to give it your all, to hustle, to stay on the grind. On the other hand, no one really teaches you how to take care of yourself while you’re sprinting toward a moving…