I am Toby Kurien, an electronics engineer in his 30′s who does software development for fun (and hopefully profit). I am a South African citizen of Indian origin. I’ve lived in Tanzania, India, Lesotho, Ciskei, East London, Durban, Middelburg, and Johannesburg. My main interests are computers and software development, electronics, automotive engineering, cars (in particular, the Nissan 200SX S13), heavy metal music (especially power metal and neoclassical metal), sci-fi and fantasy movies. I also sometimes play the guitar (I have a Jackson Rhodes guitar and a classical guitar). I am fanatical about racing (both sim racing on the PC and real racing on a track like motorsports and track days). I play a lot of rFactor, GTR, Live For Speed, and NFS Shift. I’ve even built myself a racing rig.
The most difficult question I get asked these days is: “What do you do?”. Well, the simple answer is that I create Android applications as a freelancer, do some web/Android development for NGO’s, blog/tweet about technology, and host software development workshops or presentations.
The long answer regarding what I do is that I am experimenting with an alternate lifestyle. In late 2009 I decided to live a more anti-consumerist lifestyle. So I left the rat race, sold my shares in the company I co-founded, and started working on potentially fulfilling ventures that may generate passive income in time. This is how I started creating web startups and Android applications – two technologies that I am really passionate about. Android finally gives me the chance to play in the consumer electronics space, which I really enjoy. It also helps me in my quest to use first-world technology to solve third-world problems – hence my focus on working with NGO’s and the like.
I try to meet like-minded people through social media, so I end up getting involved in many projects and activities. I am trying to live the “four hour work week” lifestyle as described in the book by Timothy Ferriss.
Feel free to peruse my blog, social networks, see some of the projects I’ve built, and get in touch with me if any of it interests you!
