About

About

Ciao, I’m Iacopo Ciao! Yes, just like the greeting! 👋

Born and raised in the stunning city of Florence, I studied Computer Science in high school and began my journey as a developer.

I’m a full-stack developer, meaning I build web applications from the database schema to the “send” button in your browser.

Programming is my greatest passion, and I’m constantly exploring new technologies and problem-solving approaches through books, personal GitHub projects, and articles shared on Medium. I’ve also delivered presentations and hands-on workshops on NestJS, Flutter, and Microfrontends within my company.

By day, I’m a programmer, but in my private life, I transform into a party enthusiast, a fantasy fan, and a passionate tabletop and role-playing gamer. Picture a mix between a tavern bard and an eccentric wizard, with the power to write code instead of casting spells 🪄

Where It All Started

How do you know you want to be a programmer? What’s that spark that makes you say, “This is my path”?

My adventure with computers began in eighth grade when my parents gifted me a PC to support my studies.

One day, tired of manually opening the same 3-4 applications, I decided to automate the process with a single click. I found an online guide for MS-DOS and, armed with some CTRL+C and CTRL+V, created a .txt file with basic commands to launch installed applications:

START wmplayer.exe 
START http://www.google.com

I renamed the file with a .bat extension and ran it. IT WORKED! That moment of success was exhilarating.

Inspired, I decided to play a prank on a friend who was doing a school project. I made a similar .bat file but added thousands of “START” commands and a forced PC shutdown for extra chaos. I sent the file via Windows Live Messenger (anyone else feeling nostalgic?) and urged her to open it.

She went offline, only to return 10 minutes later, furious that she’d lost all her work. I’ve never laughed so hard.

To this day, she refuses to open files from me. And honestly, who could blame her? 😅

My studies

I attended the Leonardo da Vinci industrial technical institute in Florence, where I earned my Programmer Analyst diploma. Between Schmitt triggers, C/C++ sketches for Arduino, and web development with Bootstrap and PHP, I built a solid foundation in technology.

Professional Backgrounds

Since 2014, I’ve worked as a full-stack developer, helping companies deliver software that is testable, maintainable, and valuable to their customers.

In 2017, I transitioned to Agile Scrum environments, taking on roles such as frontend maintainer. I’ve managed code reviews, cross-team analyses, and automated development/release pipelines.

Throughout my career, I’ve held various technical roles—software developer, frontend technical manager, solutions architect, trainer, and speaker. These experiences have given me a deep understanding of technical concepts, enabling me to empower my teams to excel.

My Flaws

Picky

I despise unformatted, sloppy, or senseless code. I loathe duplication and meaningless tests. If Sonarqube is the hardest part of your pipeline, you haven’t seen my code reviews yet.

Sincere

I firmly believe lying is the worst professional behavior. Facing a problem? Let’s talk about it. Let’s review the analysis together. Open dialogue fosters collaboration, while fear of speaking up leads only to failure.

Groundbreaking

Saying, “We’ve always done it this way, and it works” is valid—but remember, only the Sith deal in absolutes. Approaches evolve, frameworks improve, and if there’s a better way, why cling to outdated solutions?

My Hobbies

Here’s my list of hobbies, in no particular order:

  • 🏃‍♂️ Running
    Even though I consider myself lazy, I love running. It’s my time to disconnect from everything, clear my mind, and lose myself in the rhythm of the run.

  • 🍹 Making cocktails
    I love great drinks, I appreciate precision, mathematics and I hate paying for mediocre cocktails. Mixing cocktails combines all these passions… not to mention how cool it is to have a professional set of tools and the perfect glasses! 🍸

  • 🍕 Pizza
    Well, what can I say? I’m Italian, and pizza isn’t just a pleasure; it’s a duty. 🤌

  • 🍣 Sushi
    Sure, I’m Italian, but sushi – especially gunkan and sashimi – is a temptation I can’t resist. 😝

  • 📚 Fantasy books
    Diving into fantastical worlds full of epic adventures is one of my favorite pastimes. I thrive on stories that spark the imagination.

  • 👨‍💻 Programming books
    Reading technical books might sound boring to some, but for me, it’s a way to grow, sharpen my skills, and discover new technologies.

  • 🔬 Following science channels
    I’m fascinated by science. I passionately follow science communication channels and get emotional every time humanity takes a small step forward. When we’re not wasting time on wars and conspiracy theories, we can truly be amazing. 🥹

  • 📱 Smart Home
    Being both lazy and a programmer, I spend a lot of time simplifying my home life. Automation and smart technologies save me time on house maintenance… and let me avoid the hassle of getting up to turn on a light. 😌

  • 🧙‍♂️ Role-playing games
    Role-playing is like going back to childhood and saying, “Let’s pretend I’m a huge dragon!”… but without the annoying kid who always shows up and says, “Okay, and I’m Vegeta!” before punching you in the stomach. (If I could go back in time, I’d give him a headbutt. Damn brat!)
    As George Bernard Shaw once said: “We don’t stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing.” I’m a dedicated tabletop role-playing game (TTRPG) player, particularly fond of PbtA. I love immersing myself in fantastic worlds and living epic adventures with my friends in the theater of the mind.