Nice to meet you all! I’m Agostino, currently finishing my BSc in Computer Engineering while working full-time as a full-stack (full of coffee) software engineer.
So, you might ask: “Hey, do you really have time to ALSO write a blog about your thoughts and your crazy ideas?” Well, let’s say this is the ultimate crazy idea. But I want to keep track of my journey as my exams are coming to an end and I’m writing my thesis.
I’m from Italy, and I’ve always had a passion for tech in general. Like everyone born in the 90s, my first introduction to it was through video games and my dad’s big, “grown-man” ThinkPad. I always felt pretty natural when it came to using tech devices—not sure if it was because I was born in a very fortunate environment (my parents always pushed me to study, I just wasn’t always eager to listen), but eventually, I became the person you call when the printer isn’t working or a PDF isn’t PDF-ing.
My passion for coding really kicked off in high school. In my 3rd year, a sudden new course appeared: Programming and Automatic Systems.
It was combined into two parts:
- Programming in C++ (VERY INTERESTING)
- Automatic systems (a very unstructured mix of circuit theory, Boolean algebra, and automation without much of a logical path, but okay…)
Well, my grades stayed safe because I always got the maximum in programming and the bare minimum in the automatic systems part. But eventually, I made it out of high school!
Out of high school, I said to myself: I will work my way through as an adult and earn money to pay for my studies! My parents were going through a tough time back then and couldn’t afford to support my studies, so I decided the best thing I could do was take the hard road and pay for it myself.
The bad thing? I was way too optimistic about having the maturity and the right approach to handle a full-time job alongside a full-time study path in a public university in Italy. Somehow, I also chose the wrong path: Economics. It sounded interesting because I heard it brought in a lot of money and opportunities… too bad I quickly realized I had zero real interest in it!
So eventually, my attempts at public university ended in failure, and I focused on my career in the video game retail industry. But something was missing, and I was stuck—without enough money to sustain myself or help my parents out.
Then COVID hit. I was part of a major wave of layoffs in the Italian retail industry and found myself unemployed. Fortunately, with social support in Italy, I was able to help my parents and start studying again. This time, I chose an online university, Uninettuno, majoring in Computer Engineering. It was the right choice for me because I thought: “When this crazy period ends, I’ll start working and studying again.”
COVID passed, and as I started studying, it felt great. Finally, I was passing exams and having time to enjoy what I was learning. But not every story has an immediate happy ending—I eventually lost both of my parents during the pandemic.
That was a lot to handle, and I completely lost my motivation to study. The only thing I managed to do was participate in a specific course (Java Backend Developer) offered by a university partner for the unemployed in Italy. After finishing that course, I got the opportunity to have my first interview with a software house. Even though that interview felt terrible to me—because I was literally mourning and faking smiles—it went well. I started working as a backend web developer at this software house (where I still work today!).
Maybe that was a sign, whether you believe in that kind of thing or not. Even though I had to move to another region, I felt this was an opportunity I had to take. So I went, and it worked out!
In the meantime, university was put on hold for a while. I just wasn’t in the mood to study anything outside of work. Over the years, I learned Java, Spring, WildFly, and databases, and then expanded into frontend development with JavaScript, HTML, CSS, and frameworks like React and Angular (which I’m currently getting a certification in!). I realized that this was truly what I loved doing.
Then AI arrived.
And I felt like: “Yeah, everything I do can be automated now. What do I do?”
Well, I decided to jump back into my BSc (which I’m wrapping up now—4 exams to go!) and start studying and building things related to AI. My goal is to learn how to use AI to improve my job as a software engineer, rather than just delegating everything to it.
So, if you’re interested in software engineering and AI, let’s hang out here! I’ll be writing about the things I do and study to keep myself accountable and to share my findings with you.
Hope I didn’t bore you too much.
See you online,
Ago
Italian Version here: Hello World!