Writing code and life, from Finland.
Notes on technology, migration, family, and the everyday shape of building a life abroad.
Scroll down arrow

About Me

Hi, I'm Mofei Zhu, a Chinese software engineer living in Finland. I write to make sense of the real things happening around work, family, and life abroad.

Over the years, I've worked across frontend, maps, data systems, and AI applications. At the same time, I've been rebuilding daily life through migration, parenting, language, and routine. Many posts start where those threads meet.

Professionally, I've worked inside a few very different systems:

  • Yiban: early Web product work inside China's higher-education digital ecosystem
  • Baidu Maps: map products, frontend engineering, and geospatial visualization
  • Mapbox: map products, large-scale data pipelines, and the work of bringing AI into geospatial workflows

This blog is not only about technology, and not only about life. It is a long-running personal lab where engineering thinking, family life, and concrete problems from migration can sit in the same place.

Work and Life

At work
Engineering PracticeMaps & DataAI Applications
In life
Long-term WritingMigration NotesDad of Two

Technology gives me a way to solve problems. Writing gives me time to see life more clearly.

Expertise

My work is mostly about turning complex systems into usable products: frontend experience, maps and geospatial data, backend platforms, and AI/agent workflows that can fit into real work.

AI & Agents

4 key areas

Agent SystemsMCPPrompt / Tool OrchestrationSkills

Frontend

4 key areas

ReactNext.jsTypeScriptPerformance Optimization

Backend Systems

4 key areas

Node.jsPythonAPI DesignPlatform Engineering

Data, Maps & Pipelines

4 key areas

PySpark / SparkAirflowGeospatial SystemsData Pipelines

The Journey

From Huainan to Shanghai, Beijing, and eventually Helsinki. Over 16 years, the cities changed, and so did the way I build, live with family, and look at the world.

-2008
Huainan

Huainan · The Start

I grew up in a small city, always curious about the wider world and about technology. A lot of what came later started from that curiosity.

2008-2014
Shanghai

Shanghai · Yiban (Campus Social)

I came to Shanghai for university and joined Yiban to help build a campus social product. That was where I slowly moved from being a student to becoming an engineer, and where frontend work became serious for me.

2014-2018
Beijing

Beijing · Baidu (Data Visualization)

At a large internet company, I kept sharpening my frontend and interaction skills, and started thinking more seriously about data, visualization, and product experience as one whole.

2018-2023
Shanghai

Shanghai · Mapbox (Maps and Data Platform)

I joined a global team at Mapbox, working on map data processing and platform engineering. That was where geospatial systems, large-scale data, and cross-region collaboration became part of my daily work.

2023-Now
Helsinki

Helsinki · Data, Maps, and AI

After moving to Finland, I continued going deep on map data work while spending more energy on AI and agents, thinking about how they can actually enter geospatial systems and daily workflows.

Places along the way

Beyond technology and writing, I also keep a quiet map of cities, landscapes, and what migration feels like along the way.

Coding, and living with intention.

Subscribe
© 2012–2026 Mofei·Privacy·Terms
Life compiled in code