Hey there — I'm Leo Adhemar Tan (ltan.dev)!
I am a Head of Strategic Engineering and systems leader with over a decade of experience focused on solving complex, real-world problems in the aviation technology sector.
I lead a multi-disciplinary department overseeing engineering, software testing, and systems delivery teams. My professional expertise centers on strategic engineering initiatives, systems reliability, and information management, with core technical knowledge spanning critical aviation systems like AMHS, AFTN, SWIM, ROBEX, and MET.
Beyond technical delivery, my primary focus is cultivating strong teams, implementing governance standards, driving continuous improvement, and ensuring projects align seamlessly with broader business goals. I spend a good chunk of my time making sure my teams have what they need to succeed—whether that's tools, direction, or just someone to bounce ideas off of.
Side Quests
While my primary role is strategic leadership, I actively take on freelance and consulting work to keep my hands on the keyboard and ensure I maintain a technical edge. Since 2012, this "side quest" work has involved:
- Web Development and Optimization (especially WordPress and full-stack projects using PHP/Laravel and Vue.js).
- Server Deployment, Maintenance and Hardening
- Process Automation using Python and Bash scripting.
This constant tinkering and delivering side projects ensures I stay sharp with hard technical work and keeps the problem-solving mindset fresh. With recent tools like Github Copilot, I've had the opportunity to further experiment with ideas that I've written down years ago but never had the time to try it.
A major shift in my technical work has been incorporating AI development assistants like GitHub Copilot. It truly feels like having an always-on coding buddy, making prototyping and tackling complex frameworks much faster.
However, it's a learning curve with its own challenges:
- The Upsides: Massive acceleration for boilerplate code and exploring new languages. It makes those "maybe someday" projects feel way more doable.
- The Downsides: It requires constant vigilance on security, performance, and best practices. The human developer remains critical for architecture, quality assurance, and catching the subtle errors a model can generate. Learning to prompt correctly and validate the output is a whole new skill set.
Outside of Work...
I have way too many hobbies. I've been trying to learn guitar for years (progress is slow but steady!), recently picked up the piano, and occasionally get lost in a game of Magic: The Gathering. When somebody recommends a good book to queue up on my Kobo, I would lose myself in the written word and forget about the other hobbies.
This site is my little corner of the web — a space to share ideas, experiments, and things I'm working on. Thanks for dropping by!