Portrait of Umberto Grando
Creative technologist · Data professional · Musician

Hello, I’m Umberto.

Hello World! I'm Umberto Grando, and I am a multi-talented creator, who's always looking for new and exciting ways to explore and express my passions for music, programming, and gaming.

I believe that my combination of skills is what sets me apart, as I strive to create something new and interesting by blending the digital and creative aspects.

I'm always looking for new projects and opportunities, and I'd love for you to join me on my journey of exploration and self-expression.

01 / Work

One company. Three fields.

DGS Porini logo
Data · IoT · AI · Since 2016

My Job at Porini

I've worked at Porini since 2016, growing across three connected areas of technology. Porini is an international Microsoft partner that helps organizations design and deliver solutions for digital transformation.

01

Data

I worked on developing data platforms and reporting solutions that make information easier to access, understand, and act on.

Learn more
02

IoT

I worked on developing cloud solutions that bring data from edge devices into the cloud for centralized processing and analysis.

Learn more
03

AI

I worked on developing generative AI solutions, exploring how modern models can support practical business scenarios.

Learn more

My job

Customers

    Technologies

      Skills

        02 / Proof

        The Numbers

        10+

        Years

        For over 10 years at Porini, I have been continuously evolving across the data and artificial intelligence landscape. Over the past 4 years, I have served as an AI Tech Lead, leading technical strategy and hands-on development for innovative generative AI projects and enterprise solutions. Throughout this decade-long journey, I've worn multiple hats—such as Data Scientist, Data Analyst, IoT Specialist, and Teacher—collaborating with talented teams across a diverse range of projects to turn complex technical challenges into real-world business value.

        500+

        Teaching Hours

        As a seasoned teacher, I have invested more than 500 hours of time imparting knowledge of essential tools and concepts to my colleagues and students, such as Power BI, SQL, SSAS, and Azure. I spent time creating engaging and interactive learning materials, with real-world examples that make complex concepts easy to understand. Not only have I honed my skills in these tools, but also honed my ability to connect with multiple individuals, teaching in a direct and effective way to ensure a comprehensive understanding for all.

        50+

        Projects

        With a wealth of experience under my belt, I've spent the past 6 years immersing myself in a wide range of projects, from traditional business analytics to cutting-edge AI in healthcare and big data collection for real-time analysis. Throughout this time, I've been dedicated to mastering the tools of the trade, honing my skills to become an expert at tackling any project that comes my way.

        6+

        Programming Languages

        During my career I've built a lot of experience working with various languages, with a particular focus on Python. Even when I've encountered new technologies and languages, I've always been able to quickly adapt and master them to effectively achieve the goals of the project, delivering results on time and without any issues. I believe in using the right tool for the job and am always eager to learn new skills and technologies to expand my capabilities.

        03 / Stack & Tools

        Worked, Learned & Used

        Worked
        Learned
        Used
        Python Generative AI LLMs Power BI Microsoft Azure OpenAI API PyTorch Stable Diffusion LangChain RAG Architecture Prompt Engineering Scikit-Learn Python Generative AI LLMs Power BI Microsoft Azure OpenAI API PyTorch Stable Diffusion LangChain RAG Architecture Prompt Engineering Scikit-Learn
        SQL SSAS DAX Power Query (M) Azure Data Factory JavaScript HTML5 / CSS3 C# R Bash Pandas & NumPy ETL / ELT REST APIs SQL SSAS DAX Power Query (M) Azure Data Factory JavaScript HTML5 / CSS3 C# R Bash Pandas & NumPy ETL / ELT REST APIs
        Ableton Live Eurorack Modular Synthesizers Sound Design ComfyUI LoRA Fine-Tuning Git & GitHub Docker Linux VS Code Jupyter DaVinci Resolve Web Scraping Tampermonkey Ableton Live Eurorack Modular Synthesizers Sound Design ComfyUI LoRA Fine-Tuning Git & GitHub Docker Linux VS Code Jupyter DaVinci Resolve Web Scraping Tampermonkey
        04 / Off-hours

        My Passions

        Collage representing gaming, programming, and music
        Play · Build · Listen

        Curiosity after hours

        When I'm not working, I find myself fully immersing in my favorite hobbies, which include gaming, programming, and music. These activities not only provide a great source of entertainment and relaxation, but they also serve as a means of honing my skills in problem-solving, logical thinking, and creativity.

        As a gamer, I enjoy testing my strategic thinking and quick reflexes, while programming allows me to flex my problem-solving muscles and challenge myself to find new solutions. And finally, music provides an outlet for my creative side, allowing me to produce my own compositions and experiment with different sounds and styles.

        These hobbies not only bring joy and balance in my life but also contribute to my professional development as they keep my mind sharp and constantly engaged.

        HOVER TO PLAY 🕹️

        Gaming

        Gaming has always been an important piece of my life and it is really exciting seeing it getting bigger every year. Lately you'll find me playing mainly on Steam, Xbox, and my Steam Deck.

        SCORE0000
        MOVE MOUSE • CLICK TO LAUNCH
        HI-SCORE0000
        HOVER TO RUN 💻

        Coding

        I mainly code in Python, but I can also "speak" other languages. I've also made this website!

        deep_thought.py — Python RUNNING
        HOVER FOR DAW 🎧

        Music

        I love listening to every music genre. From ambient to hip-hop, from psychedelic rock to dungeonsynth, I love to explore every music genre available. When I'm not listening to music (or playing) you'll find me producing on my eurorack.

        EURORACK MINI-DAW
        SYNTH
        HAT
        SNARE
        KICK
        CLUSTER TELEMETRY 📊

        Technology

        I'm always updated on the latest technological trend and hardware. I love experimenting with different technologies and when I can I prefer going open-source.

        CLUSTER MONITOR v2.4
        NODE-01 14%
        NODE-02 28%
        NODE-03 19%
        NODE-04 32%
        CPU REALTIME LOAD 24%
        MEM LOAD42%
        NET TRAFFIC1.2 GB/s
        DIFFUSION AI ✦

        Generative Art

        With the release of Stable Diffusion to the public I've started experimenting with generative art. As of now I've released 60+ custom models and hundreds of pictures.

        DIFFUSION_SAMPLER v1.5
        PROMPT: "retro crimson cyberpunk dither" READY (20/20)
        BLOG FEED ✍️

        Blogging

        I enjoy documenting what I learn through articles and practical guides, sharing my experiments and making technical topics easier for others to explore.

        TYPEWRITER_FEED v1.0
        ARTICLE 01/03 • TECH & SHADERS ⏱ 4 MIN

        Building Procedural Dither Shaders in WebGL

        DAILY RADAR ✦

        Generative AI

        I spend at least one hour every day studying the latest news, trends, and tools in the Generative AI space.

        GENAI_DAILY_RADAR
        60+ MIN / DAY
        SCANNING: MODELS New model releases READ · TEST · COMPARE
        MATCH CENTER 🏟️

        Sports

        I follow Football and American Football, from the build-up and tactics to every decisive play.

        LIVE_MATCH_CENTER
        ● LIVE
        SECOND HALF · 72:14
        HOME2
        1AWAY
        ATTACK BUILDING ON THE LEFT WING
        POSSESSION58%
        SHOTS12
        PASSES487
        05 / Selected

        My Projects

        Illustration representing learning through creative projects
        Always in progress

        Learning by making

        In my free time, I am always striving to keep my mind active and push my limits through a variety of side projects. I find inspiration for these projects in my passions, current trends and emerging technologies. From building my own applications, creating music compositions to experimenting with new programming languages and frameworks. Keeping myself challenged in this way, not only keeps me engaged but also makes it easy for me to approach my job with enthusiasm and a hunger for knowledge. I believe in the power of lifelong learning, and I make sure to never stop exploring and growing.

        Retro-styled illustration of the C0D3TR4P robot
        Go · Bubble Tea · Coding agents

        Codetrap

        A coding agent in your terminal

        Codetrap is a Claptrap-themed terminal coding agent inspired by Claude Code. I built it in Go as a fast, focused environment where an AI agent can inspect a codebase, edit files, run commands, search the web and work through larger tasks with specialized subagents.

        It connects to OpenAI-compatible providers such as OpenRouter, Ollama, LM Studio and Azure OpenAI, while also supporting OpenAI Codex and GitHub Copilot subscriptions. Its terminal interface includes multiple themes, plan and ask modes, configurable tools and a persistent goal mode for longer-running work.

        View on GitHub ↗
        Odissey music exploration website
        Python · APIs · Music data

        Odissey

        A musical exploration website

        Odissey is my very own personal music journey, a website I crafted to keep track of all the music I listen to and discover new gems. It's like having a virtual music librarian at your fingertips. It taps into the vast resources of Spotify, LastFM, Musicbrainz, and Tidal to fetch most of the information for the frontend. It also delves into the depths of music-related websites like RateYourMusic, AlbumOfTheYear and Allmusic using web scraping to retrieve additional information such as reviews, artist summaries and albums summaries. The website runs on my server machine, powered by the Python Bottle web framework, making it a fully-fledged and easily accessible music companion.

        Umberto's Medium blog
        50+ articles · 100k+ views

        Medium

        Sharing what I learn

        In February 2022, I embarked on a journey to share my knowledge and experience with the world through my blog on Medium. I started it as a way to share tips and examples of the things I work on in my daily job and to keep myself motivated to learn new things. I never thought it would reach so many readers and get so much attention. As I wrote more and more articles, I've had over 50+ articles and more than 100k visualizations on the platform.

        Today, my blog is not just a way for me to share my knowledge and experiences but also an outlet for me to express myself and connect with others who share the same interests. I'm humbled and grateful for the response and I look forward to continue sharing my insights with the community.

        Go to Medium ↗
        Cover art for Stasi, Umberto's first album
        Ambient album · 2022

        Stasi

        My first album

        In 2022, I set out to explore my passion for music production by releasing my first ambient album on major music platforms. Though my journey with electronic music began in 2019, it was only through experimenting with various genres that I found my calling with the ambient genre. I took a deep dive into understanding its origins and meanings, and learning the tools of the trade like Ableton and DaVinci Resolve. Along the way, I discovered new artists and albums that have inspired me and used music as a tool for self-reflection.

        The result of my journey is my album "Stasi", a collection of tracks that I am humbly proud of, as it represents not just my artistic growth but also my personal journey.

        Listen ↗
        Gallery of Umberto's Stable Diffusion artwork
        60+ models · 10k+ followers

        Stable Diffusion

        My generative art journey

        With the release of Stable Diffusion I've started learning and experimenting with the process of art generation using diffusion models

        In a few months, I've released over 60 custom models and hundred of pictures on my Deviant Art account with over 10k followers.

        Discover ↗
        06 / Small tools

        Minor Projects

        Py

        Taskobra

        Taskobra is a Python package I've built to help people schedule Windows jobs programmatically using the Task Scheduler. This is a simple package that can be downloaded on my Github

        D

        Discord Bot

        I've also coded the bot on my Discord server. With this bot I have access to text generation using a custom model, image generation using Stable Diffusion v1.5 and a lot of meme functionalities.

        >_

        GameCli

        GameCli is an incredibly useful tool for any gaming enthusiast. It's a Python console application that simplifies the process of discovering, tracking and finding new games. With just a few commands, it retrieves a wealth of information such as prices, reviews, number of players, playtime and much more by tapping into multiple APIs and scouring the web.

        JS

        Javascript Snippets

        I usually find myself writing Javascript snippets to improve my experience on the web (mainly using the browser extension named Tampermonkey). These help me with things like removing ads, changing the layout of a website, adding new functionalities and much more.

        Have a project, idea, or strange experiment?

        Get in touch.

        Contact me ↗