I'll use this space to be as honest as possible since nobodys going to read this shit anyways.

Who am I? My name is Arnav Chevula. I am originally from Montgomery, New Jersey (Pike run gang ifykyk). When I'm not masquerading as software engineer, I am masquerading as a semi professional musician. So really I'm just a fraud who has too much to say about things I know even less about.

I love all things music ranging from jazz, r&b, neo-soul, trap, boom bap, post hardcore, midwest emo, math rock, post punk and ocassionally the percolator.

I L L - I N I

I've always been insecure of my abilities as a developer & a professional. I never wanted to major in CS (shout out UIUC ECE, that was such a challenge) but you know how it goes as a second gen kid (or first gen? I can never be to sure about the nomenclature).

I basically failed out of school and ended up finishing after a glorified gap year as a mega super senior. During said gap year I got to play a ton of shows in the New Brunswick DIY scene with my homies in Chico Romano (fka Professor Caveman), Cola and Picnic.

Somehow I managed to return to Champaign, graduate and finesse an internship & full time SWE work for a while until the ZIRP era came to a grinding halt. In hindsight, I hadn't quite taken my work very seriously and just assumed I could coast forever so I never quite leveled up to senior SWE levels and was still riding the post grad high for longer than I should have. I had managers and co workers softly tell me this too but I didn't listen and I was subsequently bewildered when I couldn't find a new gig in 2023.

Flop Era

I ended up on unemployment for a bit and when that ran out I had to pivot back into my backup profession: education. More specifically tutoring as I didn't actually have the foresight to get a job at an actual school which would have been a much smarter thing to do as they have decent benefits and salary compared to making 18$/hour plus some private sessions. That job sucked but shoutout to Mathnasium of Kenilworth for having me, working with kids is very rewarding even if they are rich North shore kids. I also was fortunate enough to play a series of shows with the ever so talented jommis across the city which so fun and rewarding.

I ended up working at a startup for a bit after that but it was a harsh and unforgiving environment. While it wasn't an amazing place to work I also wasn't equipped to work as a competitive engineer with my current set of skills. At the same time I was dealing with a scary medical diagnosis (End Stage Kidney Disease), a world shattering breakup so I ended up subleasing my room and going back home to Jersey.

Am I Cooked?

So this project really is my last ditch attempt to justify a messy decade of my life.

In between all of that music has been my one true love but I haven't dedicated enough time to it. I have played some high level DIY and other shows and am in community with a ton of extremely hardworking and talented artists but I've been half stepping between two different worlds for far too long with not much to show for it.

Currently i'm back home in NJ figuring out my next steps which will involve a kidney transplant, which is super scary but its really the only way for me to live a normal life.

So I guess we'll see where the chips fall.

This is my love letter to the city, such a beautiful place with beautiful people and a beautiful scene.