***Developer of the Week is a new weekly series we're doing featuring ultra-talented developers. Suggest a developer here.***
After a recent Startup Grind with Zaarly CEO and co-founder Bo Fishback, I asked him to tell me about someone he knew that I needed to write about. Without hesitiation he said, "The world needs to know Giovanni Vatieri." And so they shall.
Born and raised in Italy, Giovanni got his Masters in Computer Science at Università degli Studi di Salerno outside of Naples Italy. After working as an engineer in Milan for an online Italian Bank, he worked for Jobrapido which grew from 20 to 120 empolyees in his first year. It was his first experience seeing rapid growth. Being a developer in Italy is not easy Giovanni told me. "There are awesome talents in Italy when it comes to computer science, but companies look at developers as the last part of the company. The least important part. Compared to Silicon Valley you feel much more appreciated and it's motivating. That's also why there is a steady stream of Italian talent coming to Silicon Valley."
He traveled to the US a few years ago not knowing anyone, but determined to learn English on his short trip. During the day he studied and at night he attended tech meetups. "I loved San Francisco. I built a small network and when I had the opportunity to live for longer term I immediately jumped on it." Bo said, "We joke that Giovanni has to be the single hardest working Italian on the planet."
Giovanni is as big an Android fanboy as I've met. He's had great success on the Platform having co-founded the company behind Best Apps Market after realizing how hard it was for users to find great apps on the store. They worked on it on the side and launched the first version in 10-days. They launched the product in December 2010 and by June 2011 they had 1MM users.
"iPhone is the hottest platform in terms of revenue, but in terms of growth it's Android. Instagram's Android version had 1MM downloads in the first 24-hours. That's a pretty good indicator. I love Google. I have a lot of really smart friends working at Google. They're doing some really cool things with Android."
In December 2011 Giovanni joined Zaarly as the Android team lead. As Bo puts it, "He's quickly become one of the most well-liked guys on the team at Zaarly and is just naturally one of the most helpful and pleasant guys I've ever worked with. He's been in the US less that two years and has already worked on multiple Android apps with millions of downloads... and that's from a guy who didn't speak english 18 months ago. He's just hugely impressive all around and we are incredibly fortunate that he's part of the team at Zaarly."
Giovanni's passion for his new job at Zaarly might lead you to believe that he's been working there for a very long time. "The atmosphere at Zaarly is awesome. I love the product and hope we grow it to 1 billion users." As the Android team lead they're looking to hire some "very cool" Android developers. "Cool" developers need not apply as you'll see in the video below. You can reach Giovanni and follow him on Twitter.