John Wilfred
Who I am, what I do, and why I'm building this digital garden.
I’m JW — John Wilfred — a hands-on technical architect who finds joy in that quiet space where technology, culture, and learning overlap. I live in Sydney now, and spend my days at Stripe helping teams weave together systems that are as elegant as they are practical. But the world I move in is larger than code; my curiosity tends to wander beyond the terminal.
What I Do #
At heart, I’m a bridge-builder.
A bridge between ancient Tamil wisdom and modern AI.
A bridge between technical depth and human clarity.
A bridge between what we already know and what we’re still learning.
Professionally, I architect solutions that scale — not just in traffic but in meaning. With nearly three decades across the software landscape — mobile apps, Spring Boot, cloud platforms, AWS, Kotlin/Java ecosystems — I’ve learned that good technical work requires both precision and empathy. I’ve collected certifications along the way, not for the sake of collecting them, but because I genuinely love understanding the tools we use to build the future.
Personally, I’m exploring how artificial intelligence can learn from 2,000-year-old Tamil ethics through my AI-KU Project. And I’m building Arivom.ai, a home for Tamil minds curious about AI — because technology should feel natural in your mother tongue, not like something you translate yourself into.
How I Got Here #
My journey has never been straight — and I’ve come to see that as a blessing.
I studied computer science at Christ College, Bangalore in the early ’90s, back when the web felt like a new universe opening up. Since then, I’ve played many roles: developer, architect, author (I wrote Hibernate 3.2 in Simple Steps), inventor (with a few patents tucked in), and now, a digital gardener tending evolving thoughts in public.
What’s been consistent through all of it is simple:
a love for learning,
a joy in explaining complex things in plain language,
and a belief that technology should honour cultural roots — not erase them.
What Drives Me #
I’m fascinated by the spaces in between.
How a couplet from the Tirukkural can illuminate a technical problem.
How machine learning shifts when cultural context becomes a first-class citizen.
How we might build AI that doesn’t flatten identity but reflects it.
These curiosities shaped this digital garden — a place without pressure, where ideas can remain half-formed, take unexpected shape, or grow in directions I didn’t foresee. A place where Tamil philosophy sits comfortably next to neural networks and prompt engineering notes.
Beyond Code #
When I step away from architecture or from training models on ancient texts, you’ll likely find me:
- learning in public through this garden
- experimenting with Tamil NLP, embeddings, and cultural AI
- exploring how technology can amplify rather than overwrite cultural memory
- writing about identity, intelligence, and the messy beauty of being human in tech
Connect #
This garden is meant to be conversational. If something here resonates with you, sparked a question, or reminded you of a connection I haven’t made yet, I’d love to hear from you.
I’m most active on LinkedIn for professional conversations, and you can always find my latest thinking scattered throughout this garden.
The name “byJW” reflects my belief that the best work is deeply personal — shaped by our backgrounds, curiosities, and the unique lens through which we see the world. This is mine.
