With years of vast experience in software development and system administration, Riccardo Tempesta is one of the most experienced and twice-certified Magento developer. He is an active member of Magento Italian community. Ricardo recently spoke at Meet Magento Italy 2016.
Currently, he is the Co-founder and CTO of Idealia Group S.R.L. In this interview, he has shared his views in detail about Magento 2, Magento Development, and his career with Magento. He shared with our readers how he started working with Magento. According to Ricardo: “We tried a lot of other solutions, but Magento is the only one that allows you to say ‘Yes, we can do it’ to your customers. Its flexibility is the most important feature in our job.”
I hope the readers will love this interview because Ricardo is a very experienced developer of Magento.
Cloudways: Riccardo, you are the CTO and Co-Founder of Idealia Group S.R.L. For the last 14 years, you have achieved tremendous success. You are an entrepreneur in your own right. How would you define success? What challenges did you face during all these years? What was the motivating factor that kept you going all these years?
Riccardo: Most of the people think success as a point of arrival, whereas I think success is just a consequence of what you do.
Gustave Flaubert once said: “Success is a consequence and must not be a goal”.
I faced a lot of challenges, but the most important thing is to be always updated and motivated in your job because the real challenge is when you face a problem you do not know how to solve and you need to have knowledge and energy to face it.
Cloudways: Why did you choose Magento and when did you realize that you had a passion for programming? How has Idealia Group fared during the last year? Where do you see the company in the next 5 years? What’s your suggestion for amateurs who are looking to become entrepreneurs?
Riccardo: Magento was just the obvious choice for a company based on ecommerce development. We tried a lot of other solutions, but Magento is the only one that allows you to say “Yes, we can do it” to your customers. Its flexibility is the most important feature in our job.
I really do not know where my company will be in the next 5 years. Let’s say I never imagined to be here 5 years ago. 🙂
My suggestion for aspiring entrepreneurs is to never think like an entrepreneur. Keep loving your job.
Cloudways: Riccardo, how do you connect yourself with Magento? You chose the Mage life or did the Mage life chose you? Share some of your interesting experiences from the Magento community with our readers.
Riccardo: I do not know if the Magento choice was really mine or it was just luck, but I’m happy it happened. 🙂
I just remember that the very first time I tried Magento I said: “What is that? I will never work with it.” Now, 8 years later, it is my main business. 🙂
Cloudways: As a Magento Solution Specialist, what are the most common queries you encounter with Magento store owners?
Riccardo: The main query is: Integration, Integration, Integration.
There are only 3 keywords when we speak about performances on Magento: Good development, Cache, and Money.
Cloudways: What are your thoughts about Magento 2? What features of Magento 2 made you work on it? What are your expectations of Magento 2 in 2016 and onwards?
Riccardo: Magento 2 is just amazing! I think Magento 2 is rewriting the programming concepts in a very new way!
It is a very complex framework. It requires a lot of work to understand how it works, but its programming approach is really visionary.
I think companies will be more interested in Magento 2.
Cloudways: Riccardo, you were an attendee and speaker at MM16IT (Meet Magento Italy 2016). In your opinion, what are the advantages of attending the Meet Magento conferences for amateurs who want to involve themselves in the Magento Community and other Magento conferences? Share your experience from MM16IT with our readers. Have you attended Magento Imagine?
Riccardo: Attending a Meet Magento event is very important as it gives you the opportunity to catch up with the latest updates in Magento. Meet Magento provides a great opportunity for Magento users to interact and develop relationships with different partners, clients, and potential employees working in different ecommerce platform based organizations. One can find the best Magento developers and best Magento project managers at such events.
However, observing it from a developer’s point-of-view, it can be said that Magento is a space for effective networking and sharing knowledge where aspiring talents can meet their next employers.
Cloudways: Let’s put Magento aside and talk about your personal interests. What are some of your hobbies or things that you like the most? Which sport you like most? How you manage your personal life with work? 🙂
Riccardo: I have a lot of interest and hobbies mainly based on computer science and electronic. I love watching TV series and movies.
I practice trekking and skating when I have free time, but I have no free time. 🙂
Cloudways: We all have some influencers, who inspire us with their work or their quotes. Name some of the people from the Magento community who have inspired you the most?
Riccardo: Few names, but big names: Marius, Alan Storm, Alan Kent, and Ben Marks.
