About

I’m a software engineer. For about ten years I’ve shipped software, and for the last few that has meant domains where being wrong is expensive.

I started in frontend: web and mobile apps, then one React Native codebase for three platforms. Then Web3, DeFi front ends and the contracts behind them. Since 2024 I’ve been integrating blockchains into a hardware wallet, which took my work below the UI: talking to device firmware, signing transactions, the kind of correctness where a bug moves real money.

How I work

I don’t start out knowing the domain. I start by modelling it: read the source of truth, a protocol spec or the firmware, write down what is verified and what is only assumed, and build tools so the knowledge can be reused. I’d rather ship an honest “this doesn’t work” than a confident guess.

Since August 2026 most of my code is typed by agents, and I hold them to the same bar: cite the source, never invent a number. I decide what they may merge on their own, and the result is mine to answer for. What I write here is mostly about that: what works, what breaks, and what turned out to be me.

The other half is subtraction. When something works, I ask what can go without losing anything, and keep asking until the answer is “nothing”.

Elsewhere

Based in Kazakhstan (GMT+5), working remotely. The fastest way to see my work is the code on GitHub. Write to ishaba@me.com or @ishaba on Telegram.