👋 Hi, I'm Giovanni!
🧑🦯➡️My Journey
I’ve always been on a search for meaning 🤌. At university, I chose to study Modern History because, at the time, it seemed like a great way to ponder the grand mysteries of human civilization while simultaneously ensuring I would never be burdened with excessive wealth. It was as intellectually fulfilling as it was utterly useless in paying the bills.
That was fine — until I accidentally acquired a wife and multiple children.
Back then, being broke wasn’t a problem. As long as I could afford books, pasta, and the occasional coffee, life was good. But then I met Morena, the ❤️ love of my life, and somehow convinced her to keep me. Fast-forward a few years, and we had a wonderful, chaotic, and highly demanding family 👨👩👦👦. Suddenly, my choices weren’t just about which obscure historical rabbit hole to fall into, but also about keeping small humans alive and financially supporting them in their relentless quest for snacks.
I needed a new career that was as intellectually satisfying as history, but with the added benefit of not living exclusively on discount noodles.
Enter Software Engineering. Realizing I could get paid to tinker with complex systems and break things for a living felt like finding a loophole in the Matrix. Instead of being a historian documenting the fall of empires, I could now cause server crashes in real-time. Jackpot 🎰💸. Turns out, breaking things apart to understand them works just as well in tech as it does in history — except now, instead of uncovering the past, I get to accidentally deploy bugs into the future.
And while the universe may be fundamentally meaningless, my search for meaning hasn’t been in vain. I’ve found purpose in craftsmanship, curiosity, and the joy of learning. And if I don’t always know the question, at least I can take comfort in knowing the answer—42 🚀.
💻 My Professional Philosophy
After more than a decade in the field, I’ve come to see software engineering as more than just a job — it’s a craft. 🛠️ I don’t just aim to write working software; I aim to write well-crafted software. This mindset is at the core of Software Craftsmanship, an idea championed by Bob Martin (Uncle Bob) and later formalized in the Software Craftsmanship Manifesto by Sandro Mancuso and others ✍️. It builds upon Agile principles but pushes them further, focusing on professionalism, responsibility, and continuous learning 📚⚡.
Along the way, I also discovered Extreme Programming (XP), a set of technical practices introduced by Kent Beck in the late ’90s. XP emphasizes writing simple, high-quality code through discipline, feedback, and iteration. 🔄 These ideas deeply resonate with how I approach software development 💡✨.
🛠️ Craft Over Code
Software isn’t just about making things work — it’s about making things right. ✅ Good software isn’t brittle, hard to change, or overly complex. Instead, it’s clean, testable, and evolves gracefully over time. I take pride in refining my work, knowing that well-crafted code makes life easier for everyone who touches it.
🎯 Simplicity is Strength
I believe in keeping things simple — not simplistic, but straightforward enough to reduce unnecessary complexity 🤯. Practices like Test-Driven Development (TDD) ✅ and refactoring 🧼 — which Kent Beck and Martin Fowler strongly advocate for — aren’t just buzzwords; they help me write clear, maintainable, and long-lasting code. The less cluttered the code, the more space there is for solving real problems 🧩💡.
💰 Adding Value Beyond Features
A software engineer’s job isn’t just to add features or fix bugs — it’s to steadily add value 🏗. That means improving the structure of the codebase, making systems easier to change, and ensuring that the software remains flexible and maintainable over time. 🏛️ As the Software Craftsmanship Manifesto states, a rewrite should be a last resort, not an inevitability ⚖️.
🤝 A Responsibility to the Craft
Professionalism in software means taking ownership — not just of what I build but how I build it. 🏆 It means keeping up with new ideas, refining my skills, and being intentional about writing quality software. 🧠 It also means treating my employer or client as a customer 🤵, not just someone handing me a spec. My job is to provide solutions, not just code. This mindset is at the core of Software Craftsmanship, which emphasizes that we should be not only well-functioning developers but also reliable partners in building great software 🎨🏗️.
🔄 A Never-Ending Learning Curve
Software development is an ever-changing field, and that’s what makes it exciting. 🚀 I’m always looking for better ways to write code, structure applications, and think about software design. Whether it’s diving into functional programming 🧑💻, exploring domain-driven design (DDD) 🏛️, or improving my ability to communicate technical ideas, I see learning as a core part of my work 🎓.
As Uncle Bob puts it: "Professionalism in software means never stopping learning" 📚.
I lived in 🇮🇹 Italy, 🇭🇷 Croatia, and 🇩🇪 Germany. Currently, I'm located in Berlin, Germany.
You can find me on 🐦 Twitter, 🐙 GitHub, and 🦵 LinkedIn.