Paul Cooper traces how civilizations rose and collapsed, focusing on the people who lived through their final years and what their experiences reveal about power, survival, and change.
I’m a software engineer and entrepreneur who enjoys figuring things out with people.
I build and maintain software, mostly in fintech, payments, commerce, and SaaS. I like understanding the problem, questioning assumptions, and working out what to build together.
I’m also a co-founder of Inflection Studio, where that work takes me from early conversations and architecture decisions through to writing code and delivery.
01 / Work03 of 13 projects
Selected Work
All projects ↗- 01
Neal Street Technologies
Backend engineering for a platform powering multiple branded coffee apps.
- My role
- Backend engineering
- 02
Click Tenders Africa
Led delivery, backend, and cloud work for a construction tender discovery platform, and managed the client relationship.
- My role
- Project lead · Backend · Cloud · Client management
- 03
PAYO Group Realtors
Led delivery and built backend services for a marketplace connecting property seekers, agents, and service professionals, with cloud and client responsibilities.
- My role
- Project lead · Backend · Cloud · Client management
02 / Off the clock64 entries
A few things I’m into.
Books, a good conversation in my headphones, something to watch, and time to move.
The reading shelfHistory, fiction & the occasional detour
Four friends build their lives in New York, with the story gradually centring on Jude and the childhood trauma he carries into adulthood. A novel about friendship, suffering, and the limits of love.
Barrington Walker, a 74-year-old Antiguan man living in London, considers leaving his marriage for Morris, his lifelong secret lover. A funny, tender story about sexuality, family, and the cost of hiding who you are.
Through Things Fall Apart, Arrow of God, and No Longer at Ease, Achebe follows Nigerian lives across colonial upheaval and the approach of independence, exploring clashes between tradition, authority, and personal ambition.
Farm animals overthrow their owner in pursuit of equality, only for the pigs to build another oppressive regime. Orwell’s political fable shows how propaganda and unchecked power can betray a revolution’s promises.
A guide to the trade-offs behind reliable data systems, from storage and replication to transactions, distributed systems, and batch and stream processing.
An idealistic teacher, Odili, takes on his former mentor, a charismatic but corrupt politician. Achebe’s satire explores power, patronage, and the uneasy boundary between conviction and personal ambition.
A family saga following the rise of the Blackwell dynasty, from South African diamond wealth to an international business empire. At its centre is Kate Blackwell, whose ambition and control shape generations.
Twenty stories about arguments between partners, where everyday disagreements reveal deeper tensions around love, pride, and expectations. Biko finds humor and vulnerability in the things couples fight about.
A sweeping account of human history, from early hunter-gatherers to agriculture, empires, and modern science. Harari examines how shared beliefs and large-scale cooperation helped shape the world we inhabit.
Past reads 09
- , Hanya Yanagihara
- , Bernardine Evaristo
- , Chinua Achebe
- , George Orwell
- , Martin Kleppmann
- , Chinua Achebe
- , Sidney Sheldon
- , Jackson Biko
- , Yuval Noah Harari
Pick a spine to explore · Scroll for more →
In my headphonesEngineering · business · history · wellness
Curiosity, context,
and a better angle.
The lives, ambitions, and abuses of power behind history’s dictators.
Advice on the human side of software: careers, communication, and working with other people.
Global business news and the economic stories shaping everyday life.
Lessons from the biographies of entrepreneurs, exploring how they thought, built, and persevered.
Honest conversations with founders building profitable online businesses.
Python conversations, practical tips, and ideas from the wider developer community.
Inside software engineering at startups and large tech companies, with the people doing the work.
Conversations about programming, developer tools, and the changing work of building software.
Detailed technical interviews on software architecture, tools, and engineering practices.
Candid money stories and conversations that challenge common personal finance assumptions.
Open conversations about wealth, spending, and how money changes the way people live.
Sharp discussion of technology, business, and politics, from industry moves to the people in power.
Stories and behavioral science exploring the unseen patterns behind how we think and act.
Conversations about connection, purpose, and finding optimism in everyday life.
Long conversations with entrepreneurs, experts, and public figures about their work and lives.
Faith-based messages of encouragement, hope, and navigating life’s challenges.
Deep conversations with Jane Street engineers about the systems they build and the choices behind them.
Building a sustainable business through bootstrapping, audience building, and learning in public.
Conversations with founders and finance leaders about the products and ideas changing financial services.
Direct interviews with influential people across technology, politics, business, and culture.
An immersive account of Titanic’s maiden voyage, told through the lives of its passengers and crew.
Neuroscience-backed conversations and practical protocols on sleep, focus, stress, performance, and everyday health.
True-crime cases and forensic medicine stories that look at murder through the lens of evidence, trauma, and the justice system.
Deep dives into internal developer platforms, developer experience, cloud architecture, and the teams shaping how software gets built.
Startup stories, raw founder ideas, and conversations about the habits, bets, and customer insight behind fast-moving businesses.
Big tech talk, product reactions, and the culture behind the biggest launches in consumer electronics and software.
Dark folklore, mythology, and historical stories that turn the eerie corners of human culture into captivating narrative history.
Tales of strange history, oddball folklore, and the unsettling stories that make the past feel a little more haunted.
History episodes exploring how empires, cities, and societies collapsed and what their final chapters reveal about power, error, and survival.
Narrated corporate rivalries and the strategic battles that shaped modern business, from branding to disruption to market domination.
Matirí Ngemi is a podcast discussing, exploring and researching the Agikuyu culture, history and heritage.
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On screenFilms & shows
● NowCurrently watching
MobLand
Recently & previously watched 22
East of Eden
Game of Thrones
David Benioff & D. B. Weiss
House of the Dragon
Ryan Condal
The Lord of the Rings
Peter Jackson
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
David Fincher
Good Will Hunting
Gus Van Sant
The Odyssey
Christopher Nolan
Chernobyl
Craig Mazin
How I Met Your Mother
Carter Bays & Craig Thomas
The Great Gatsby
Baz Luhrmann
Shutter Island
Martin Scorsese
Inception
Christopher Nolan
Dark
Baran bo Odar & Jantje Friese
Predestination
The Spierig Brothers
Ex Machina
Alex Garland
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Michel Gondry
The Truman Show
Peter Weir
Papillon
Franklin J. Schaffner
The Shawshank Redemption
Frank Darabont
Knives Out
Rian Johnson
Mr. Robot
Sam Esmail
The Penguin
Lauren LeFranc
Keeping movingGym · road · trail
Training & time outdoors
Gym sessions and running are part of my week. I keep a log of the hikes and races here, too.
03 / Notebook13 notes
Writing
Browse all writing ↗Let’s talk.
I’m open to engineering roles and consulting work where I can help understand the problem, make technical decisions, and see the work through.