I code, therefore I am

Christian Ricotti
• Tech Lead
• Full-Stack (PHP) Developer

Portfolio in Italy (1998 - 2013)

From 1998 to March 2001:

I worked as technician at a service and repair computers shop.

From March 2001 to September 2003:

I began my career as a programmer as "Sorcerer's Apprentice Programmer" at CoST - Computers Services and Technologies s.r.l. (employed from March 2001 to September 2010).
Knowing quite well VB, I became involved in a Web project in VBScript (ASP 2.0) for a company of Rivoli (Turin).
Supervised and directed by a Lead Programmer, we created the current management software from scratch.
The work was originally created in ASP 2.0 on IIS 5, based on a Microsoft SQL Server 2000 DB.
As you could read later, from May 2005 I became the project manager.

From September 2003 to May 2004:

As the years went by, I began to follow projects around north Italy.
I joined in a new project: supervise processing lines in a glass multinational company.
I had business trips (5 days per week) in Dego (SV), Carcare (SV) and Villapoma (MT).
The team was composed by 4 people and my duty was to get data in the field with the technology SCADA/OPC by the software iFIX from GE Intelligent Platforms, using the GUI software and VBA.
It was a life experience in all aspects: travel and "in the field" work is completely different from what you do in an office behind your desk, but I think the most important thing was to understand that when you work you have always to empathize with customers.

From 3rd October 2003 to the summer of 2009 in private:

I started my own web community Eternity.it.
It was immediately a success reaching 10,000 members.

From May 2004 to June 2005:

The three glassmaker establishments startup ended, the monitoring process operated 24 hours a day and then I went back at the headquarters where I continued to follow the software evolution and the following remote implementations, execpt few days a year when I had to come back at the processing line.
I started a new to program, but the company needs pushed me to redirect my knowledge on OpenSource languages.
Along this lines the adventure in the LAMP: GNU/Linux, Apache, MySQL and PHP world begins.
It was not easy, but I could always count on patient and available colleagues / friends (I will always be grateful to them).
I started several web projects developed in PHP, but always as a junior programmer.

From June 2005 to September 2010:

I could say that 2005 was my career turning point.
In few months I lost (due to their resignation) my two mentors.
I became the manager of the Rivoli (Turin) project and thanks to my new role success, I began to gain my own projects.
I started to follow customers from the beginning until the final project invoicing.
Sometimes I followed projects that took me in business trip, such as a project for "Cucina Appretti", a multinational company in Cuvio (Va), where I dealt with all the web parts and SCADA / Wonderware.
Or a project for a brazilian industrial company in Riva presso Chieri (Turin).
Despite spending time in factories and on industrial lines, I realized that my passion was the web and so I leapt forward again.
Business needs and my passion for my work and the web, brought me towards independence.

I began, in addition to programming, to:

  • create the first templates drafts, icons, etc... with some programs such as (formerly Macromedia) Adobe Fireworks and Adobe Photoshop;
  • editing configuration infrastructure server and cluster server Windows Server and GNU/Linux CentOS;
  • deal with proper use of xHTML, CSS and JavaScript language;
  • study and knowledge of SEO Google, MSN, Yahoo and Live;
Over the years, the web has continued to "evolve" faster and faster.
Names like Ajax, JQuery, Smarty and many more... arose
If you didn't know them , you weren't updated.
Result? You have to study and testing.
An excellent test for each idea was my website Eternity.it
Members were excited to be a tester and I could not be happier to "take advantage of them".

Until September 2010, at CoST - Computers Services and Technologies Ltd., I've been a developer / project manager (I would be delighted to explain you my projects in an interview).
Unfortunately, for privacy reasons, I could not write customers names.

From October 2010 to February 2013:

After almost 9 years I decided that it was time for a change! I had to see the world...
I started working in Assicurazione.it Ltd., a startup opened one year before my arrival, as Senior PHP Developer.
Under the expert training of a very good IT Manager and a fantastic group of colleagues, I discovered the world of insurance.

Every month that passed... the company grew and grew and grew...
From Assicurazione.it Ltd., the company became Assicurazione.it spa and then it changed the name in Facile.it spa.
I've been one of the developers who created, and saw the beginning of the website Facile.it.
I'm not going to write the classic "shopping list" of activities in Facile.it, I just say that I had another opportunity to contribuite to the huge success of the website and the company.

I hope that the references (you can find them in the references section) of friends and colleagues (oops, former colleagues) could express more than what I've been able to write.
Thanks Facile.it

After more than two years and a lot of sadness, I resign from Facile.it to change life!

On 5 February 2013, I left my country to move to Australia...

More info about Australia... here in Portfolio in Australia