Head of Engineering · Italy
I started out writing software. Now I build the conditions for doing it well.
I became a programmer because I liked building things people could use. I’ve developed products, founded a startup and led teams. Today my work is people, technology and the decisions that hold them together.
My work has changed along with the questions I ask myself. What is worth building? What does the team need to get there? Where do we put our time and energy?
Experience
I built a product. I learned how much more it takes.
At one point in my career I founded a startup. I spent months developing the product without managing to sell it, until the money ran out and I closed it. I was focused on what I did best, and I had put off facing the market for too long.
That experience changed the way I look at software. Now I ask first who needs what we’re building, how we can check, and how much we need to invest to find out.
Choices
Changing things while everything keeps running.
I’ve worked on products that had to be brought to life and on systems that had to evolve. With a system that already exists, every change has to reckon with the people who use it, the habits of the people who work on it and the commitments already made. You have to work out what to keep, what to change and in what order.
I like exploring new possibilities and working out where they can be useful. AI belongs here too: I experiment with it, use it, and bring it into projects when it helps solve a problem or test an idea faster.
People
From building to building together.
When I started leading other people, I had to learn to make room: share the context, explain the priorities and accept solutions different from the ones I would have chosen.
Today a large part of my job is helping people grow into their roles and take on new responsibilities. I try to give a clear direction, be there when things get hard, and leave teams the room to find their own way.
Writing
I write about technology, people and what I learn on the job.
The Ultimate Open Source LLM Stack
What it actually costs, in engineering time, to run models yourself instead of paying per token.
Secure Microservices: Implementing High-Security mTLS (ECC P-384) Between NestJS and Express.js
Service-to-service authentication when an API gateway isn’t enough.
How do you manage the secrets in your projects?
Env files nobody backs up, GitHub secrets nobody can read back: a Saturday spent with Infisical.
S3 + cloudfront + terraform
A static front-end on S3 behind CloudFront, written once as Terraform.
Get in touch
I enjoy talking with people who build a company, run one or choose to invest in one. If you want to talk about a project, a technology choice or an experience we share, write to me.