Arun Arivanandam — Full-stack engineer
I build the parts of the web that have to keep working when nobody is watching.
I spent four years managing engineering projects before writing production code, so I think about scope, deadlines and failure modes before I open the editor. I build with TypeScript, Node, React and MongoDB, and I care deeply about security and performance: I build to Core Web Vitals targets, and I treat caching, indexing, input validation and safe defaults as part of the feature, not an afterthought.
- Now
- Building an AI-powered distribution platform that helps indie SaaS founders discover, prioritize, and execute growth strategies.
- Working in
- Node 22, React 19, MongoDB 8, TypeScript everywhere
- Based in
- Chennai, India — UTC+5:30, happy across timezones
- Open to
- Full-time, Part-time and Contract opportunities
Selected work
Three projects demonstrate my range: one is deployed with active users, and two more will launch shortly.
-
Recall-Board
Founding engineer
2026 — present
Ongoing focus
Spaced repetition for time-bound study. Questions live in subjects, every subject has a deadline, and the scheduler bends SM-2 to fit the time that is actually left. Each question is a coloured square on a board — red means it hasn't stuck, green means it has. The job is to turn the whole board green before the date.
- Recall time bound spaced repetion questions with feeback loop
- Anzlize visual representation of recall-strength for every questions
- Generate category based report for instant review
- Node.js
- Express
- MongoDB
- Redis
- React
- TypeScript
-
Dialy Ascend
Founding engineer
2025 — 2026
Ongoing focus
Daily goals as a mountain ascent. You add the day's goals, subtract the distractions you're dropping, divide each goal into pitches, and consistency multiplies over thirty days. Your climber moves up a route topo as you tick pitches; thirty ascents make one expedition to 8,848 m.
- Move the avatar up mountain while you complete the designated tasks
- Generate trail stats for every successful climb
- Generate 30-day ascent report for pattern analysis
- React
- Express
- Node.js
- MongoDB
- TypeScript
-
MockTest App
Founding engineer
2023 — present
A Mock Test platform for Civil Service aspirants. A leader board driven mock test platform for competitive exams.
- Achive testing goals with streaks, badges and leaderboard
- Generate section wise result analysis for every test
- TypeScript
- NextJS
- Convex
- AzureVM
Experience
Multiple roles, one core drive: engineering the mechanics beneath the surface.
-
Sri G Engineering Services
2020 - 2024
Chennai
Project Manager
- Managed end-to-end project lifecycle from cost estimation to delivery.
- Coordinated with clients and cross-functional teams to ensure timely execution.
- Developed strong planning, communication, and problem-solving skills transferable to software development.
-
Exel Rubbers
2019 — 2020
Hyderabad
Quality Assurance Engineer
- Maintain and enforce quality management systems in alignment with industry-specific standards such as IATF 16949, ISO 9001, and global regulatory requirements.
- Lead internal quality audits and assist in external customer or regulatory inspections on the production floor.
- Implement statistical process control (SPC) to track production consistency, reduce scrap rates, and minimize variance.
Tools
Grouped by the problem they solve, because a flat list of logos tells you nothing.
Data
Schema design, aggregation pipelines, index tuning, change streams.
- MongoDB
- Mongoose
- Redis
- PostgreSQL
Server
REST and event-driven services, plus the boring reliability work around them.
- Node.js
- Express
- TypeScript
- Zod
- Vitest
Client
Data-heavy interfaces that stay responsive when the network is not.
- React
- TanStack Query
- Astro
- Tailwind CSS
- Playwright
Delivery
Getting it shipped, watching it in production, fixing it before anyone files a ticket.
- Docker
- GitHub Actions
- Azure
- cdn
Writing
Notes on the problems that cost me a weekend, written up so they cost you an afternoon.
-
13 min read
React State from first principles
Learn react useState hook from first principles. Use states with confidence.
-
4 min read
What MongoDB change streams actually cost you
Change streams removed a polling loop and a whole class of duplicate-payout bugs. They also introduced three failure modes I had not budgeted for.
-
3 min read
Stop putting business logic in Express middleware
Middleware that mutates the request object reads like dependency injection and behaves like a global variable. Here is the refactor that finally stuck.
Got something that needs to stay up?
Tell me what you are building and where it hurts. I read every message and reply within a couple of days, even when the answer is that I am not the right person for it.