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Impossible List

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This is my impossible list. Instead of a bucket list, this is a list of things that I am actively working towards. I will be updating this list as I complete things and add new things to it.

This page is inspired by Thomas Frank's Impossible List

Likewise, this page is very personal, and I don't expect anyone to read it. It's more of a public declaration of my goals and dreams. Whilst these goals may not be impressive to some, they are important to me, and I hope to achieve them.

What I'm Doing Now

  • Working as a Software Engineer II at Nine Entertainment Co.
  • Working on a side project called makeread.me, an open-source README generator
  • Improving my health and fitness by going to the gym 3 times a week and losing weight - 15 kg to go

Current Focuses

  • Hit the gym consistently for 6 months
  • Be self-sufficient and location-independent, being able to work from anywhere in the world

Last 3 Completed Goals

  1. Graduate from university
  2. Lose 35 kg
  3. Lose 30 kg

Fitness Goals

  • Lose weight, overcome life-long obesity from 130 kg to 80 kg
    • Begin a weight loss journey (Started on the 14th of September 2022)
    • Lose 5 kg
    • Lose 10 kg
    • Lose 15 kg
    • Lose 20 kg
    • Lose 25 kg
    • Lose 30 kg
    • Lose 35 kg
    • Lose 40 kg
    • Lose 45 kg
    • Lose 50 kg
  • Run a 5K
    • Do it in less than 30 minutes
  • Run a 10K
    • Do it in less than 1 hour
  • Run a half-marathon
    • Do it in less than 2 hours
  • Run a marathon
    • Do it in less than 4 hours
  • Learn to swim

Financial Goals

  • Pay off my student loans when I graduate (Paid off $30,753.32 in student loans on the 14th of May 2024)
  • Build up a 3-month emergency fund
  • Finances in order
    • Have a positive net worth
    • Have a positive net worth of $5,000
    • Have a positive net worth of $10,000
    • Have a positive net worth of $25,000
    • Have a positive net worth of $50,000
    • Have a positive net worth of $75,000
    • Have a positive net worth of $100,000

Professional Goals

Career Progression

  • Become an Intern Software Engineer
    • Achieved on the 1st of August 2022, when I started my internship at SkyCiv
  • Become a Software Engineer I (Junior Software Engineer)
    • Achieved the 1st of July 2022, when I started my new role at NAB
  • Become a Software Engineer II (Software Engineer)
    • Achieved on the 1st of July 2023, when I got promoted at NAB
  • Become a Software Engineer III (Senior Software Engineer)
    • Half-way there, rejected a promotion at NAB to Software Engineer III to instead join Nine Entertainment Co. as a Software Engineer II
    • Higher pay, better work-life balance, and more interesting work

Industry Leadership

  • Write a book on software engineering
  • Get a book published
  • Give a TEDx Talk
  • Do a talk for a small audience
    • Presented at the UTS Programmers' Society multiple times, with audiences ranging from 20-60 people
  • Do a talk for a large audience (100+ people)

Entrepreneurship

  • Launch a commercial product, that aims to make revenue (Launched steamprofiles.design in January 2023, a website that allows you to create custom Steam profiles using templated designs based off Adobe After Effects)
    • More information on the project can be found here
  • Launch a product that creates $100 in revenue

Open Source

  • Contribute to an open-source project
  • Create an open-source project
    • Create 5 open-source projects
    • Create 10 open-source projects
    • Create 15 open-source projects
    • Create 20 open-source projects
    • Create 25 open-source projects
    • Create 50 open-source projects
    • Now at 50 open-source projects, I will focus on creating more meaningful projects and contributing to existing projects (current count: 64 projects)
  • Get 5 stars on an open-source project
    • Get 10 stars on an open-source project
      • Achieved by Pomodoro Timer, a productivity tool made in 2019
      • Pomodoro Timer
    • Get 25 stars on an open-source project
      • Achieved by Sectrics, a structural engineering piece of software, made in 2019
      • Sectrics
    • Get 50 stars on an open-source project
      • Achieved by makeread.me, an open-source README generator, made in 2022
      • makeread.me
    • Get 75 stars on an open-source project
    • Get 100 stars on an open-source project
    • Get 150 stars on an open-source project
    • Get 200 stars on an open-source project
    • Get 250 stars on an open-source project

Academic and University Involvement

Academic Achievements

  • Graduated with a Bachelor of Information Technology
  • Graduated with a WAM of 87.96 and a GPA of 6.58 / 7.0
  • Graduated with a High Distinction average

University Roles

  • Mentor in Programming Fundamentals
  • Mentor in Data Structures and Algorithms
  • UTS Peer Mentor, helping first-year students transition into university
  • Moderator in UTS FEIT Discord server 5,000+ members
  • Owner of Applications Programming Discord server with 230+ members

Society Roles

  • Liaison for the UTS Programming Society (2020)
  • Events Coordinator for the UTS Programming Society (2021)
    • Web stack Modernization Spearheaded web stack migration, enhancing accessibility and collaboration for 150+ paying students and 2,000 non-paying students
    • Event Roadmap & Execution Orchestrated, planned and executed the 2021 roadmap, successfully executing 17+ events, fostering skill & and development for members and the executive team alike
    • Smooth Transition Eliminated bus factor, and implemented knowledge transfer procedures, derisking leadership transitions
  • Vice President of the UTS Programming Society (2022)
    • Membership Growth Grew paying members from 150 - 600, a 300% increase, showcasing effective community engagement
    • Industry Sponsorship & Funding Secured sponsorships from industry giants (e.g. WiseTech Global, Deloitte), raising over 5k in funding in FY22
    • Governance & Team Growth Pioneered constitutional amendments, forming the General Committee and expanding the team from 7 core executives, to 25+ staffing members
    • University Collaboration Established collaborations with the university, organizing facility-funded events, and securing subsidised, university funded memberships
  • Vice President and Co-Founder of the UTS Cloud Computing Society (2022)
    • Society Establishment Co-founded the UTS Cloud Computing Society, a first of its kind at UTS, fostering cloud computing knowledge and skills
    • Industry Engagement Secured sponsorships from industry giants (e.g. AWS, Google Cloud), raising over 5k in funding in FY22
    • Unfortunate Disbandment Due to unforeseen circumstances, the society was disbanded, and the executive team was dissolved

Competitions and Hackathons

Hackathons

  • Syncs Hackathon 2021
  • SkyCiv Hackathon 2021 - First Place
  • Syncs Hackathon 2022 - Finalist
  • UTS Big Project 2022

Capture The Flag Competitions

  • Down Under CTF 2020
  • Down Under CTF 2021
  • AtlassianCTF by Melbourne Information Security Club 2021 - Fifth Place
  • HeroCTF 2021
  • UNSW Security Society CTF 2021 - First Place
  • WPICTF 2021
  • BSides Canberra CTF 2021

Programming Competitions

  • UTS Programming Competition 2021 - (1st Place in Undergraduate Category)
  • Google Kickstart 2021

Case Competitions

  • NSW Police Force Cybercrime Think Tank 2021

Research Papers & Publications

  • Wrote a research paper on the topic of Wave Function Collapse, "Paper 1 - A Survey of Programmatic Procedural Content Generation Using Wave Collapse Functions for Game Development"

  • Wrote a research paper on the topic of Wave Function Collapse, "Paper 2 - Programmatic Procedural Map Generation Using Wave Collapse Functions (WFC) For Game Development In Top-Down 2D Games"

  • Wrote a research paper on the topic of Wave Function Collapse, "Paper 3 - Implementing Procedural Dungeon Generation In Top-Down Games Using Wave Function Collapse (WFC) & Binary Space Partitioning (BSP)"

  • Wrote a research paper proposal on the topic of Abstractive Text Summarization

  • Wrote a research paper on the topic of creating a declarative programming language to consolidate web systems and architectures into one unified language, "A more declarative approach to developing web systems using a higher level programming language"

Misc

  • Show up on UTS websites / marketing materials
    • Featured on the UTS Programming Society website and social media, as well as the ActivateUTS website

Travel Goals

  • Travel overseas

    • Visited Japan in 2024 for 4 weeks, and I caught the travel bug. I can't wait to go back

  • Visit Japan

    • Visit Japan twice

  • Visit South Korea

  • Visit the United States

  • Visit Rome

  • Visit France

  • Visit Singapore

  • Visit China

  • Visit Turkey

Language Goals

  • Become fluent in Japanese (learn Hiragana, Katakana, and Kanji)

Creative Goals

  • Learn to dance
  • Record a rap song
  • Release a full album of original music
  • Do graphic design and make something I'd be proud of selling

Insane Goals

  • Skydive
    • Become a certified solo skydiver
    • HALO jump
  • Bungee jump
  • Climb a mountain

Miscellaneous Goals

  • Get a driver's license
    • Bruh I'm 22 and still don't have my license
  • Show up on the News for something positive (Featured on the news for the NSW Police Force Cybercrime Think Tank 2021)