With Flask handling routing, MongoDB as the database, Jinja templates rendered HTML serverside, and Jquery for frontend interactivity, Chest was built piece by piece. I chose these technologies because they were all I knew at the time. Given that I was building a tool that I hoped other people would use, along with the hype in my group behind the project, I did not want to potentially compromise on quality and ease-of-tweaking by using something I was unfamiliar with. The backend was written with KISS heavily in mind. Routes that required authentication had a Python decorator that I wrote that would only execute the route if a valid user was logged in. The Jinja templates also feature several macros for commonly used blocks of HTML, and utilized template inheritance for the same skeletal HTML common among every page.

Upon completion, the project was hosted on my personal DigitalOcean server. Gunicorn was used as the WSGI server for it's better performance than Werkzeug that was the default. Finally, I set up a reverse proxy with Nginx to forward all requests to chest.moodyrahman.com to the Gunicorn instance, and Certbot to generate the HTTPS certificates so all of my users can use it worry-free.

When the pandemic began, my friends and I threw ourselves into Dungeons and Dragons to maintain our sanity. In reaction to the lack of homebrew-centric and lightweight online inventory mangers for TRPG's, I built Chest. It's been a mainstay in our campaigns since then and has greatly alleviated the hassle of playing D&D online.

Given that I am now familiar with a plethora of tech stacks, I would rewrite Chest in ReactJS for streamlined interactive elements and more concise frontend code. The backend would also be rewritten in Express, given that middleware functions are much more concise than decorators to achieve the same effect.

I want to work in a fast-paced, more intimate environment that is afforded by being involved with a startup, and gain exposure to that environment. The idea of building a project that will have an immediate impact on the world around me is also greatly appealing.

I have very strong foundational knowledge in computer science and programming, especially when it comes to working in Linux and quickly parsing documentation. Thanks to that, I can pick up new technologies and libraries very quickly. I strongly consider myself to be language agnostic, and that it's important to select the proper language for the task at hand. As such, I can remain on the cutting edge of what's new in technology and quickly integrate myself into the stack of any startup- regardless of their language.

As a result of systematic inequalities in our society, there are several groups from impoverished areas who have no exposure to careers in technology and had no chance to attain the education for such a career. Impoverished is a very broad word, and I'm choosing to encompass both groups that live in the US in redlined neighborhoods, as well as people living in underdeveloped regions of the world. I would want to be a part of a social impact project that would encourage tech literacy among all communities and enable more people to be successful software engineers.

A bright neon sign blaring "Matto" cuts through the thick Upper East Side fog. I'm walking towards it, like a moth drawn towards a caffeinated flame. As I near the entrance I hear a familiar voice laughing. I take a step back, in disbelief of the situation I'm in. I double-check my surroundings, confirming that I'm still in New York City. The rush of cars past me on Second Avenue and the late afternoon bustle is the same as any Wednesday.

I gingerly push the door open, as a quiet bell announces my entrance. Lo and behold, the gentle whirring of robotic joints and capricious laughter belonging to none other than Cayde, the Hunter Vanguard from the Destiny franchise. I'm standing there slack jawed, utterly cowed by the hyper-advanced robot housing a consciousness. Cayde grins at me as if I'm overreacting in this situation. The barista shoots me a mirthful look, their disbelief clearly suspended long ago. I stand at the counter searching for words.

"How does some coffee and a chopped cheese sound for a little bit of your time?" "Time's something I have a little too much of, and you prehistorians seem nice enough. Tell me more of this chopped cheese though"

We walk a few blocks down as I slowly grow more comfortable with the Exo walking past me. Cayde explains that he was shooting down a transfer gate in the Vault of Glass and the resultant explosion sent him here. "I'm hoping that the people back in the Last City can find me though, it's odd that the Vex are running a simulation of this era”.

I'm taken aback at this fact, “You're telling me that this is all a simulation right now?”

“Sure, but Vex simulations have it accurate down to the last atom: the illusion of the perception of self is the same for you and for anyone else here- at least that's what someone smarter than me told me to say”

I'm thinking to myself, this really is Cayde-6, all of their wit and humor. It's clear that he wants to leave soon, but he knows that there isn't much he can do in this situation aside from waiting for his comrades to pull him out.

A waft of fragrant steam hits us in the face as we walk into the bodega. The buy behind the counter wipes the grease off the spatula on his apron while staring at the robot clunking into the store.

“You know, I actually admire you quite a bit, underneath all the joking you do, you're actually quite diligent about being the leader of the Hunters, no?”

“And who are you to know about me being the Vanguard?”

“Funnily enough, you're actually quite beloved in this world- everyone was hurt when we witnessed your death”

“Oh? I'm quite belo- wait, run that by me one more time? Witnessed my death?”

I smirk and reply without missing a beat, “Listen, I'm just a simulation, what do I know?”