Hello, worms! ✨

I’m Retno.

Peanut butter snob, aspiring Renaissance woman, wannabe raconteur.

Powered by soy magics, groovy jams and runner’s high. I’m an iOS engineer in Naarm, collector of hobbies, and appreciator of beautifully made things: the chew of freshly made sourdough, the small ceremony of putting a CD into my player and listening to an album start to finish, long dinners and captivating stories.

That same obsession with craft, feeling and coherence tends to find its way into the products I build.

cropped portrait of retno sitting on a couch and smiling at the camera

Work

The short version

Software engineer specialising in iOS, currently at Medibank, with an MEng in Electrical & Electronics Engineering and 8 years across health insurance, fintech, retail, and consulting - including 5 years at Block working on Cash App and Afterpay. I care about design-led software, clear systems, readable documentation, and the kind of engineering that makes complex products feel simple on the surface and well-considered underneath.

See the work page

Hobbies

The hobby collection

The non-work corners of the internet that probably explain me better than a neat professional summary ever could.

Running

Strava

Maps, splits, runner’s high, and the occasional exercise in stubbornness

Give me kudos

Peanut Butter

How good is peanut butter?

An extremely important public research archive for a peanut butter snob

Taste test

Books

Goodreads

Books I’ve loved, books I’m midway through, and future rabbit holes

Browse the shelf

Inspiration

A few of my favourite things

a.k.a. Retno's recs

Movies

  • In the Mood for Love
  • Mean Girls
  • 風立ちぬ (The Wind Rises)
  • Les Parapluies de Cherbourg (The Umbrellas of Cherbourg)

Albums

  • Rumours - Fleetwood Mac
  • Old World Underground, Where Are You Now? - Metric
  • In Colour - Jamie xx
  • Since I Left You - The Avalanches

Books

  • Sophie's World - Jostein Gaarder
  • When We Cease to Understand the World - Benjamín Labatut
  • Piranesi - Susanna Clarke
  • Never Let Me Go - Kazuo Ishiguro

Objects

  • Kikkerland Rechargable Booklight
  • MUJI Gel ink ballpoint pen 0.38mm
  • KitchenAid Artisan Tilt-head stand mixer

Recipes

Non-vegetarian

  • Rendang Daging - Eleanor Ford, Fire Islands
  • Ayam Betutu - Lara Lee
  • All Day Meat Lasagne - J. Kenji Lopez-Alt

Vegetarian

  • Lasagna With Spinach and Roasted Zucchini - Martha Rose Shulman
  • Tempeh Manis (Sweet Soy Tempeh) - Lara Lee
  • Miso Oats With Egg and Avocado - Hetty McKinnon