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Many people ask me, “Franco, why should I hire you onto our engineering team? Why should I read and purchase your book? And why should I buy your product?” Quite frankly, these are all great questions and I thought it was time I shared my story.

Before I begin, I would just like to acknowledge that at the time of writing, I have not yet published my novel, nor have I officially launched ClientCaptain — my IAM software solution for Developers and SMBs. Now, I completely understand that these are incredibly challenging and time-consuming ambitions but I’m not scared. I mean, I haven’t even completed a single internship in my field of study, computer science. Nonetheless, I still push forward and I will continue to do so every single day.

Me in a nutshell

Currently, I am a third-year computer science student at Lakehead University in Orillia, Ontario. In high school, I worked as a pharmacy assistant for many years and actually ended up graduating a year early (big shout out to online classes during COVID-19). I accepted an offer of admission to the University of Toronto’s Life Sciences program where I absolutely hated every moment, quickly transferred to Lakehead for computer science, and I have been working part-time as a bank teller ever since. That just about brings us up to date.

Okay, so I’m not going to run through my entire CV here but I will give you a brief background of my experiences and accomplishments during my time on this planet. Besides those mentioned above, I volunteered with the Canadian Blood Services for about a year, I co-founded UTM NextGen Lifeline (at the University of Toronto Mississauga), and I was a member of the UTM Italian Student Association. More recently, I completed the Further Faster business development program in downtown Barrie and won one of the top three local prizes at the NASA International Space Apps Challenge — no I did not win the entire challenge, my team won a ‘local pitch competition’ hosted by Lakehead in October 2024.

In my free time, I do enjoy reading — mainly self-help, non-fiction novels — and going to the gym regularly. I also try to improve my competency in Canada’s second official language, le Français, when I have time. Other than that, I try to go out with friends as often as possible because I am constantly stuck between (1) Grinding to become successful and to change the world, and (2) Living life to the fullest because you’re only young once. It’s a struggle.

What I want to accomplish

Have you ever heard of the adage: dress for the job you want, not the job you have. Well, not only is there a lot of truth to that but I also believe that you should act like the person you want to become, not just the person you are today. It’s a principle that I live by every single day and that keeps me motivated to continue to do what I do which is build, build, build. And what do I mean by “build”? I like to build software, I like to build businesses (no matter how many times I’ve failed), and I like to build dreams. I want to do as much good as possible during my lifetime, with my biggest role model being Daniel Lubetzky (learn more about Daniel here).

I like to believe that if I were someone like Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg, or Bill Gates, that I would do as much as possible to tackle the world’s toughest problems given my vast wealth. I’m not saying that all of these guys aren’t doing that per se, but I feel like I would want to have a lasting impact that continues beyond my years. This is what drives me. I strongly believe in good over evil, and I have sacrificed a lot to get to where I am today, even though it may not seem too crazy to some people. But I do hope that all the stress, anxiety and sacrifice are worth it all one day. And if not, well I try not to think about that too much.

“If you spend time worrying about whatever everybody else is doing, you’ll never get done what you need to do.”

— Francesco Coniglione, Author of The Definition of Normal

The quote above is also featured on the home page of my portfolio and is an excerpt from my soon-to-be-published novel, The Definition of Normal. In this book, I plan to explore society’s definition (or lack thereof) of the word “normal.” I’ve always struggled with fitting in — wondering what to say, what not to say. Life is becoming increasingly more difficult to navigate, especially in the digital era. With this, I hope to spark conversation around the topic of what it means to be normal nowadays.

Wrap up

In the end, I hope you were able to learn a little bit more about me when reading this article. I feel like I should have touched a bit more on the technical side of things, but really, I wanted to share a deeper, more personal perspective first. Technical skills are important, but at the core of everything I do — whether it’s software engineering, writing, or building products — is a mindset of curiosity, resilience, and passion for change. That being said, please feel free to reach out to me on LinkedIn if you have any questions or want to stay in touch.