About Me
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.
My Job
Right now I'm a Data Analyst and IoT Specialist for Porini (I started working there in 2016).
Porini is one the leading International Microsoft Partners supporting customers worldwide in designing and delivering state of the art solutions that can accompany all corporate functions towards the new digital transformation. Established in Como in 1968 as a company specialized in ERP solutions and consulting services specific to fashion, clothing, textiles and retail companies, over the years Porini expanded its expertise becoming a Microsoft Global ISV enlarging its solution portfolio with Social CRM, Business Analytics, Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, IoT, Performance Management, Collaboration and Knowledge Management targeted to medium to large companies in many other industry sectors, like Manufacturing, Financial Services, Travel & Transportation and HealthCare.
The Numbers
Years
For the past 6 years, I have been honing my skills as a data professional in Porini. This journey has been an adventure, with each day bringing new challenges and opportunities to learn. I've worked on a diverse range of projects, collaborating with talented people and expanding my skills and knowledge. I had the opportunity to wear different hats, such as a Data Scientist, a Data Analyst, an IoT Specialist, and a Teacher.
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.
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.
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.
My Passions
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.
My Passions
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.
Coding
I mainly code in Python, but I can also "speak" other languages. I've also made this website!
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.
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.
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.
My Projects
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.
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.
My Medium Blog
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.
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.
My Stable Diffusion 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.
Minor Projects
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
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.
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.