About me
Nischal Khanal
Software Engineer exploring systems, market infrastructure, and performance engineering
I’m a software engineer with 3+ years of experience building and supporting backend systems, cloud infrastructure and production applications. My work at ZK Frames has given me hands-on experience with low-latency trading systems, real-time market data, AWS infrastructure, TimescaleDB and production monitoring across multiple cryptocurrency exchanges. I enjoy understanding how systems behave in real-world conditions, especially when they face high workloads, performance constraints and failures. Alongside my professional work, I build projects around cloud infrastructure, DevOps, distributed systems and low-level programming. I also write about cloud and DevOps topics as a way to document what I learn and share practical knowledge with others. I’m currently interested in Cloud, DevOps, Platform and Infrastructure Engineering, while continuing to explore the deeper relationship between software, infrastructure, performance and financial systems.
What I Aim to be
Understanding Systems
- How machines communicate across networks.
- How operating systems manage resources and workloads.
- How distributed systems behave under scale, failure, and load.
- How bottlenecks emerge and how they can be measured.
Understanding Performance
- Where latency originates inside a system.
- The tradeoffs between throughput, reliability, and speed.
- How hardware, software, and network decisions affect outcomes.
- Why performance optimization is often about removing constraints rather than adding complexity.
Understanding Markets
- How exchanges process and match orders.
- How market data is generated and distributed.
- How liquidity, spreads, and execution influence trading outcomes.
- How infrastructure creates advantages in competitive environments.
Building Technical Depth
- Developing strong foundations in C++, Python, Linux, and networking.
- Building projects that move beyond tutorials and expose real engineering challenges.
- Learning through experimentation, measurement, debugging, and iteration.
- Understanding systems from implementation details to architectural decisions.
Becoming a Better Engineer
- Thinking in systems rather than isolated technologies.
- Approaching problems with curiosity instead of assumptions.
- Becoming comfortable with ambiguity and difficult problems.
- Building the habit of continuous learning and independent exploration.