What is outdoor coding?

October 6th, 2014

Here’s my definition: The act of engaging in software writing activity outside, so not inside a building. I think sometimes in the future more and more work and school activity will take place outside. There’s something incredibly beautiful about nature.

I love risk

September 3rd, 2014

I’ve been asked multiple times if I was nervous about leaving everything behind, quitting my salary job and starting my own business, selling most of my possessions and venturing on such a long trip. “What about your stable income, Piero? How are you going to support yourself (and your wife)? What if you get stranded somewhere? Are you bringing pepper spray everywhere you go with you?” We are interesting beings, us humans. We pride ourselves of the gift of rationality […]

What society needs is more free time

August 9th, 2014

We go to school for 12 years, then we go to college for another 4 to 8 years. We are already in our mid-20s by the time we can become a productive member of society. On average we die at age 80. We spend almost 1/3 of our life just getting ready, doing nothing but homework. How are we going to spend the rest? We can do what society wants, get a nice paying job, get our 2 weeks of paid vacation a year, buy some expensive toys (we’re making […]

Dealing with the laptop sun glare problem

July 31st, 2014

Many of you have been wondering how the heck I manage to code outdoors for many hours without losing my eyes. Beware of the glare! Truth is, you will never get the same result as being in an indoor office with all the windows shut. Then again, I’d much rather be outdoor and cope with less-than-perfect LCD experience than to be entrenched in a cubicle! So it’s a trade-off. There are however a few things you can do to improve the outdoor […]

First month on the road, pictures and a great story at the end

July 18th, 2014

Today marks the first month my wife and I have been on the road, living in our popup camper and enjoying the small things in life like never before. It’s been full of great experiences, places and people. It wasn’t always all perfect, of course, we went through some bad thunderstorms, one bear encounter, hot weather, a mild back strain injury, losing track of a hiking trail and ending in a swamp. But we managed to get out of the bad situations, making the […]

8 Things You Should Know About Coding On The Road

July 10th, 2014

1. Plan for spotty Internet. As software developers, Internet is our second most important resource (electricity is the first). Mobile networks and WiFi hotspots are not always available and you should plan to be “off the grid” for prolonged periods of time. This brings up the next few tips. 2. Use a source control system that does not rely on connectivity. Git seems to work fairly well for me. I keep a local repository on an external hard drive and […]

Living with less == Living with more

June 25th, 2014

You might have heard the saying: “Enjoy the little things in life!”. This is a passive thought. The fact that you should enjoy things that are small in your life implies that your life already contains such moments, that they may be rare, that you should be on a hunt for them. You might be at the point in your life where all such moments have vanished, caught by the rules and expectations of a heavily industrialized society. I would […]

How I quit my job, took control of my time and started chasing the new American dream

May 8th, 2014

I don’t usually write about life, but today I hope to tell a good story. I was born and raised in Trieste, Italy. I had the great luck and opportunity to study in the United States for an undergraduate program in Computer Science. Most of my knowledge comes from the self-teaching, but I admit that college opened a myriad of opportunities for me. I met my wife while in college and we are now happily married. I was able to find […]