Tales of Hark

Hark works with C#, .NET, Azure, Playwright for automated testing, and Flutter for mobile apps. At SSW he is currently working on EagleEye(opens in a new tab). He also does developer relations for projects including TinaCMS(opens in a new tab), and makes videos with the SSW TV team(opens in a new tab) for the SSW(opens in a new tab) and TinaCMS(opens in a new tab) YouTube channels.

In January 2024 Hark passed the SSW Newcastle office on the tram to uni most mornings, without ever really looking at it. There is a permanent sign on the side wall: "Error 404 - Developer Not Found, we are hiring". He read it properly for the 1st time while waiting for his tram home, had 8 minutes, and went in.

He met Matt Wicks(opens in a new tab) and Seth Daily(opens in a new tab), who explained what SSW does. Hark told them he was a final year student, keen to get hands-on experience in the software engineering world. They pointed him at FireBootCamp, SSW's full-stack training program, and told him to email the hiring manager, Penny Walker(opens in a new tab).

He emailed her from the tram, less than 10 minutes after meeting them.

Penny replied the same day. However, spots were full, and SSW only takes 1 or 2 interns a year. So Hark was persistent in his emailing, roughly every 3 months, for a year. In January 2025 Penny told him to try again in March. He did, and she gave him a chance.

He passed a communication challenge and a coding challenge, and started as an intern in April 2025.

At the end of the internship, 5 months later, he sat another full-day coding challenge. SSW hired him full time as a software engineer.

Hark arrived in January 2022, as pandemic restrictions were easing. He spent his 1st year in Sydney with his uncle Herry, his father's best friend, and Herry's family, who took him in like their own son. He worked with Herry in his pizza shop, and the family played UNO most nights. Those were good days.

In 2023 he moved to Newcastle, transferring his Bachelor of Computer Science from Western Sydney University to King's Own Institute, where the same degree cost about half as much. He was working in an Amazon warehouse at the time, and his 1st trip to Newcastle was on an Amazon truck, as a passenger.

Hark was born in Amritsar(opens in a new tab), India. Both of his parents are teachers, and he got through school without a tutor.

He did a lot of theatre, usually with the same group of friends, and participated in most school activities and sport alongside it. His 1st time on stage was a school play based on Cinderella, in 2009.

From Year 6 to Year 10 he wanted to join the Indian Navy, but later found out he could not, because he wears prescription glasses. He turned to computing after learning through CS50(opens in a new tab).

Hark lives in Newcastle. He plays tabla(opens in a new tab) at the local Newcastle Gurdwara (Sikh temple) on Saturdays and Sundays, and has played since year 5, in Amritsar.

Uncle Iroh from Avatar: The Last Airbender(opens in a new tab) is his favourite character, mostly for the tea. Hark drinks it all day, and he agrees with Iroh that sharing tea with a fascinating stranger is one of life's true delights. He will talk to more or less anyone, and would rather do it over a cuppa.

Hark is 24 and single, and open to applications(opens in a new tab).

Films, shows, books and things worth watching are on the recommendations page.