About Matthew Joseph Martin

Matthew Joseph Martin shares two decades of experience with software (good and bad) as well as insights (profound and obvious) to help others succeed, whether as business owners or software engineers.

I've been working in and around software for about two decades. I'm sharing my experiences (good and bad) as well as insights (profound and obvious) to help others succeed, whether as business owners or software engineers.

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What's "Matmar10" mean? It's my name, pronounced: "Matt Martin"

I love building things that customers love – and make businesses money.

Software Engineering

I've been building using full-stack JavaScript – especially Typescript. Prior to that I was doing a lot of JS work (I've been writing JS for more than 18 years, now).

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For full details about my Engineering career, take a peek at my resume

These days I'm interested in AI (who isn't?) and nocode. I still love building with full stack Typescript, though. My favorite framework is Nest.js

I'm particularly fond of Retool and Notion. I've just started playing with CAMP CMS (upon which this site is built).

I used to love Webflow, but the spark has faded from that relationship (Builder.io is a better replacement). I've also previously built with Strapi & Contentful.

My hot take / unpopular opinion? Angular is better than React. 🤭

Islamic Finance

I stumbled into the finance industry in the early days of Bitcoin. I built BlossomFinance.com - a halal investment platform connecting global investors with Indonesian microfinance.

Along the way I learned way more than the average Software Engineer about capital markets, finance, banking, and everything in-between.

Speaking about Islamic Finance at Malaysia Malaysian Institute of Accountants

Microfinance

My startup Blossom Finance helped connect investors with global capital to small micro-banks in Indonesia that finance the working poor. I learned a lot about microfinance along the way.

Blockchain

I got into the space VERY early. As in, we had to meet up in person in San Francisco and buy Bitcoin with hard cash. I launched a business in 2012 that sold bitcoin instantly by charging the purchase to a mobile phone.

But as the years have gone on, I've seen more and more grift and scams enter the space. I've become somewhat disillusioned.

I'm not actively in involved in anything crypto or bitcoin related at the moment. I'm cautiously optimistic about the future of Bitcoin.

AI / Chat-GPT

I'm actively playing around with these. In generally I'm optimistic about Chat-GPT's ability to safe time and costs. It does a much better job of programming BASH scripts that me (given the right prompts!)

Personal Life

I like traveling and learning languages. I'm mostly self-taught as languages tend to come easily to me. These days the only language I'm quite good at (apart from my native English) is Indonesia.

Religion

I'm a practicing Muslim. That means I definetely won't meet you at the bar for happy hour, but I will gladly buy you a coffee.

Traditional Indonesian batik (hand-drawn) sarung (skirt), koko (shirt), and kopia (hat).

Motorcycles

I love riding motorcycles, especially over long distances with a hint of adventure. Semi offroad stuff up in the mountains is the best.