> hello, world_

Cyrus David Pastelero

What I cannot build, I do not understand.

I ship a lot, and I can explain all of it. 19 projects written up here, 11 of them live. Some I built twice to find out what actually mattered. Currently trying to survive in Singapore.

Fun fact: I grew up playing Minecraft, which taught me that even the most complex structures start with a single block.

How I work

I pick boring technology when it wins. JustCar needed search, so I tried Postgres trigram indexes before reaching for Elasticsearch. Postgres handled 49,000 records fine, so Elasticsearch never got added.

I ask what the worst outcome is before I start. That is why I can move fast. The AWS talk I gave in Cebu was mostly about this: build the MVP, bound the bill at zero.

And I write down what I got wrong. 13 of these case studies have a section on what I would do differently.

About

When I'm not shipping features at 2am, you'll find me chasing a new hobby: currently hiking, previously Muay Thai, cycling, and running. I'm the type who dives deep into something, then moves on to the next obsession. Still think Minecraft is one of the best games ever made.

Come argue with me about this.

I write up what I build, including the parts I got wrong. If something here is worth disagreeing with, I want to hear it.

© 2026 Cyrus David Pastelero. All rights reserved.

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