I am a programmer and entrepreneur based in Manhattan, New York. You can reach me by email
at
aaronsmith.dev@gmail.com.
Professional Journey
I have worked at businesses of all sizes, including several early
stage startups, two of which exited. I sold my own company, Virtual
Field, in early 2023. I currently work as a Software Engineer at
Meta in the Wearables org.
Books
I enjoy reading in my spare time. Here is a list of books that I have recently finished,
along with whether I strongly
, mildly
, or do not
recommend them.
October 2024
The Player of Games by Iain Banks
Unusual, disturbing, and very entertaining. Worth a read.
September 2024
The Odyssey by Homer (translated by Emily Wilson)
An exciting, if at times morally unsettling, jaunt from islands to Hades to home.
System Design Interview by Alex Xu
A decent starting point for interview prep. Not enough to prepare you on its own.
August 2024
The Return of the King by J.R.R. Tolkien
A timeless, touching story of friendship overcoming the forces of evil.
The Two Towers by J.R.R. Tolkien
Unlike the movie, Frodo and Sam's journey is even more exciting than Helm's Deep.
July 2024
The Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien
A moving study of human nature filled with lovely poetry that I totally skipped as a kid.
The Staff Engineer's Path by Tanya Reilly
Wise advice and practical anecdotes held back by repetitive writing and kitschy footnotes.
Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass by Frederick Douglass
Devastating yet hopeful, he captures the wounded heart of U.S. history in only 106 pages.
The Gulag Archipelago (Volume 1) by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
A harrowing description of the Soviet justice system by a political prisoner who lived it.
June 2024
Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World by Cal Newport
Awful book. A two part blog post spread out over 304 pages. Don't waste your time.
May 2024
No Rules Rules: Netflix and the Culture of Reinvention by Reed Hastings & Erin Meyer
Both corrected and reinforced what I learned after five years of running a business.
Dominion: The Making of the Western Mind by Tom Holland
A convincing argument for Christianity's deep and abiding influence on modernity.
The Early Chinese Empires: Qin and Han by Mark Edward Lewis
Confusing due to a total lack of chronological organization or grounding. Good otherwise.
April 2024
Death's End by Liu Cixin
Awesome ideas about technology, alien civilizations, and the nature of humans in space.
The Iliad by Homer (translated by Emily Wilson)
An exciting translation of a timeless classic. It will always stay with me.
March 2024
The Dark Forest by Liu Cixin
Mind blowing ideas interspersed with a long, bizarre, love story. Still awesome!