My full name is Bhagaskara Rafael Leonida, but most people just call me Fael. On GitHub, Minecraft, YouTube, and Discord, I still go by burnblazter. Honestly I’ve forgotten why I picked that name in the first place, but at this point it’s stuck for so long that I can’t be bothered migrating to something new.

Why it’s called fael.d

This site is called fael.d, inspired by the .d directory convention in Linux, things like conf.d or cron.d. Those folders are made up of small pieces that together form one system. I felt like that fit this site pretty well. It’s not meant to be a stiff, formal portfolio, it’s more of a place where I keep projects, stories, and whatever random thing happens to be catching my attention, from technical write ups to a sudden obsession with caracals.

A bit about me

Right now I’m studying at TRIK (Instrumentation and Control Engineering Technology) at UGM’s Vocational School. I’m originally from Balikpapan, and moved to Jogja for college.

As for why TRIK, the reason is pretty simple. I deliberately avoided majors that are mostly software, not because I dislike it, but because I wanted to get closer to something more physical. AI is getting better at coding fast, but instrumentation, control systems, electronics, and physical systems in general come with a different kind of challenge since you’re always dealing directly with the real world. That said, I don’t want to stay purely in hardware either, what actually excites me is the overlap between hardware and software.

My interest in tech goes back to 5th grade, right around when internet cafes were at their peak.

What I actually work on

If you ask what I do, the honest answer is a bit of everything. There’s web development (this site itself, built with Hugo and hosted on Cloudflare, including a Last.fm widget I ported myself into a Cloudflare Worker). There’s embedded systems too, like PourPay, an automated beverage dispenser built on ESP32 that I made back in 11th grade and still one of the projects I’m proudest of. Then there’s PresenSI, an attendance system I built with its own AI chat assistant. More recently I’ve been messing around with a monitoring setup involving dozens of ESP32s at once, still early stage, but figuring out the architecture has been fun.

Some projects are already written up here, others are just sitting on my laptop waiting for me to find the time to clean them up into proper posts.

One thing that matters a lot to me is that I’d rather build something that actually works than a prototype that only looks good in a screenshot.

Outside of the technical stuff

I like traveling, I like cats, and every once in a while I like cracking jokes even if they’re not particularly funny. I’m also a Minecraft enjoyer and a fairly active Google Maps Local Guide. My taste in music is pretty random, but pop, eurobeat, and electronic music (DROELOE being one of my favorites) tend to be on repeat.

Beyond that I’m the type of person who gets chronically curious about things. Once something new catches my attention, I’ll dig into it until I’m satisfied, no matter the topic.

How I work

I’m hands on by nature, I’d rather just start doing something and learn through trial and error than spend too much time on theory before actually beginning. I’m also a bit of a perfectionist about details, especially when it comes to design, wording, or how something looks and feels, so if anything feels “almost right” I’ll usually keep refining it until it actually is. My decisions in general tend to be thought through with data and logic, not just following whatever’s trending.

If you want to talk about any of the projects above, or just want to debate why caracals are underrated, reach out through the contact page.