Hey, I'm JM
Solutions Architect by day. Guitarist, drummer, and series binger by night.
Taguig City, Metro Manila, Philippines
The work side
I'm a Solutions Architect — but I spent well over a decade as a software engineer and senior software engineer before getting here, so I still think in code first. I've worked across fintech, banking, and telco building distributed systems, event-driven backends, and the kind of infrastructure that has to stay up no matter what. I'm AWS SAA, CKAD, and KCNA certified.
On the side I enjoy building Serverless projects in Node.js. Nice change of pace from the enterprise Java world.
Music
This is the hobby I've sunk the most money into and have zero regrets about. My main guitars are a PRS SE Silver Sky and a Gretsch Electromatic G5622T — plus a handful of others for different moods. The main board is built around a Line6 HX Stomp; there's also a smaller analog chain for when I want to keep it simple.
I also play drums — nothing fancy, just a Tama Club Mini Kit that fits the apartment — and I pick up a bass whenever I want to think like the rhythm section for a change.
How I unwind
A lot of YouTube — mostly relaxing, low-stakes stuff. Disaster movies and anything Adam Sandler is in also qualify. Long drives too, when I can.
For series I lean heavily on comfort rewatches. When I want something heavier I'll go for the prestige crime dramas. Lately I've been into 9-1-1 and High Potential.
I don't game as much as I used to, but racing games and Pokémon still get time on my phone.