Jeremiah Chienda is an AI Engineer building production agent systems, RAG pipelines, and LLM-powered products. Currently AI Engineering Lead at Irembo.https://chienda.comhttps://chienda.com/ai-for-12-million-citizenshttps://chienda.com/ai-for-12-million-citizensBuilding a national AI assistant for 12 million citizens broke most of the software playbook I'd spent years learning. Here are the 6 lessons that survived contact with real users.Sun, 28 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://chienda.com/the-rise-of-forward-deployed-engineershttps://chienda.com/the-rise-of-forward-deployed-engineersThe Forward Deployed Engineer has gone from curiosity to one of the most talked-about titles in tech. Where it came from, what's actually new, and why it's good news for experienced engineers.Mon, 22 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://chienda.com/why-your-ai-code-fails-to-scale-pt2https://chienda.com/why-your-ai-code-fails-to-scale-pt2I shipped a fintech SaaS in 16 days. 38 commits, 304K lines, 24 entities. Seriously. Here's what that looks like in practice.Tue, 03 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://chienda.com/why-your-ai-code-fails-to-scalehttps://chienda.com/why-your-ai-code-fails-to-scaleThe gap between AI coding hype and reality isn't about the models. It's about what you build around them. A look at the spectrum from vibe coding to harness engineering.Sun, 01 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://chienda.com/the-machine-minderhttps://chienda.com/the-machine-minderFrom printing presses to large language models - a reflection on how the role of the machine minder has evolved across generations, and how I've become my father.Tue, 27 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://chienda.com/the-power-platform-awakeninghttps://chienda.com/the-power-platform-awakeningI recently started work with a Microsoft shop, and now that I'm in, I realize how many boring enterprise organizations run on Microsoft. Here's why Code Apps at Build 2025 changes everything for developers targeting enterprise contracts.Fri, 22 Aug 2025 00:00:00 GMThttps://chienda.com/ai-agents-use-caseshttps://chienda.com/ai-agents-use-casesWhile the term "AI agent" has become something of a buzzword in recent times, understanding its practical applications can unlock significant value for African businesses.Wed, 22 Jan 2025 00:00:00 GMThttps://chienda.com/the-telala-effecthttps://chienda.com/the-telala-effectA story of craftsmanship, promises, and perpetual deadlines - from a Malawian perspective. What similarities exist, and what opportunities are there?Sat, 04 Jan 2025 00:00:00 GMThttps://chienda.com/the-new-electricityhttps://chienda.com/the-new-electricityAndrew Ng famously said that AI is the new electricity. But what does that mean if you are a business or policy stakeholder in Africa? I discuss my understanding of this analogy at a deeper level.Sat, 23 Nov 2024 00:00:00 GMThttps://chienda.com/accidental-ai-engineerhttps://chienda.com/accidental-ai-engineerImagine being an AI Engineer and not knowing it! In this post, I share my my experience building LLM-based applications, and how I got here in the first place.Sun, 03 Nov 2024 00:00:00 GMThttps://chienda.com/48-hours-of-pure-innovationhttps://chienda.com/48-hours-of-pure-innovationYou know that feeling when you're about to launch something big, and your stomach is doing backflips? That was me before our first-ever AI hackathon at Irembo campus.Tue, 01 Oct 2024 00:00:00 GMThttps://chienda.com/rag-is-all-you-need-2https://chienda.com/rag-is-all-you-need-2How do AI models actually understand what we're saying? How does ChatGPT know that "chair" is closer to "table" than "basketball"? The answer is vector search, and once you get it, a lot of things about modern AI just click.Wed, 11 Sep 2024 00:00:00 GMThttps://chienda.com/rag-is-all-you-needhttps://chienda.com/rag-is-all-you-needEver wondered how to get ChatGPT to accurately answer questions about your private information? Whether it's bank statements, passport records, or personal journals, large language models (LLMs) like ChatGPT typically can't help you with this specific data.Thu, 09 May 2024 00:00:00 GMThttps://chienda.com/algorithm-within-e1s1https://chienda.com/algorithm-within-e1s1The morning sun slices through the tall windows of the presidential palace like a hot knife, creating patterns on the marble floors that remind Amara of her mother's favorite kitenge. The workers - all foreign, all white, all wearing those identical blue corporate T-shirts with silver logos - move with the precise choreography of soldier ants, installing sleek black panels that pulse with a gentle blue light.Mon, 15 Jan 2024 00:00:00 GMThttps://chienda.com/evs-in-malawihttps://chienda.com/evs-in-malawiNo lining up on the fuel queue. No buying expensive spare parts every two months. The only things you have to maintain are you braking, suspension, body and electronics!Tue, 28 Nov 2023 00:00:00 GMThttps://chienda.com/the-day-the-dollar-diehttps://chienda.com/the-day-the-dollar-dieThe year is 2026. A few years ago, what had started as seemingly simple economic mismanagement in Sri-Lancashire turned out to be a precursor to yet another worldwide financial meltdown. Soon, many more developing and developed countries suffered similar fates.Fri, 11 Mar 2022 00:00:00 GMThttps://chienda.com/7-javascript-alternatives-2021https://chienda.com/7-javascript-alternatives-2021Developers have a love-hate relationship with Javascript. On the one hand, it is a vibrant community that is always evolving in its quest to quench an ever-parching thirst for users to do magic in web browsers.Wed, 14 Jul 2021 00:00:00 GMThttps://chienda.com/nosql-data-modellinghttps://chienda.com/nosql-data-modellingIf you're like me, you probably started building Web Apps during the WAMP era; adapting to this new world of Document Databases feels very weird. For me, it oddly felt like moving from an automatic to a stick shift car. Wait, that should be the other way round I believe...Sun, 07 Feb 2021 00:00:00 GMThttps://chienda.com/learn-code-in-2021https://chienda.com/learn-code-in-2021I get a log of people asking me if it's too late to learn coding. The answer is always unequivocally no. Here are five reasons why.Thu, 14 Jan 2021 00:00:00 GMThttps://chienda.com/top-5-tech-2021https://chienda.com/top-5-tech-20212021 is already off to a flying start, and if you are a Software Developer, you probably have set some goals to upgrade your programming stack this year.Mon, 04 Jan 2021 00:00:00 GMThttps://chienda.com/stop-undercharginghttps://chienda.com/stop-underchargingAh, the life of a freelancer! Not a week goes by without a fellow developer sliding into my inbox with the million-dollar question - "How much should I charge for this app?"Sun, 08 Dec 2019 00:00:00 GMThttps://chienda.com/ssr-vs-csrhttps://chienda.com/ssr-vs-csrBuilding Web Apps in 2019 feels like you're navigating through an episode of "Black Mirror," doesn't it? What the heck is even Webpack? You've got buzzwords like "Bundling" and "Tree shaking" flying around, not to mention the labyrinth of rendering techniques. I mean, it's like trying to understand the plot twists in "Inception" on your first watch.Thu, 29 Aug 2019 00:00:00 GMThttps://chienda.com/6-accessibility-hackshttps://chienda.com/6-accessibility-hacksWhile accessibility is a broad topic on its own, the good news is that by adhering to Semantic HTML, you can start being accessible today. Here's a few heuristic I use everyday that help me write more semantic HTMLWed, 07 Aug 2019 00:00:00 GMThttps://chienda.com/health-interoperability-in-malawihttps://chienda.com/health-interoperability-in-malawiThanks to the newly implemented Malawi Digital Health Interoperability Layer, the doctor treating Blessings was able to securely access his medical history from Chinsansu, ensuring smooth diagnosis and continuum of care.Wed, 31 Jul 2019 00:00:00 GMT