About_
I'm Nicola, an Italian AI Engineer and freelance consultant running nicode. since 2019. I hold a BSc in Data Science & AI from Maastricht University and have 8+ years of experience across AI/ML engineering and backend development.
I work with businesses to build AI-powered applications, computer vision systems, and scalable backend infrastructure — turning complex technical challenges into reliable, production-grade solutions.
Focus Areas_
AI & Machine Learning
Building intelligent systems with foundation models, custom ML pipelines, and RAG architectures.
From energy prediction models to digital twin chatbots, turning AI research into production systems that solve real business problems.
Software Engineering
Designing scalable backend systems, APIs, and infrastructure that power modern applications.
Years of building payment integrations, queue systems, and high-throughput backends across travel, blockchain, and AI platforms.
Computer Vision
Extracting actionable insights from images and video using deep learning.
From fine-tuning YOLO for waste detection to deep learning research on image recognition — building systems that see and understand visual data.
Data Engineering
Building the pipelines and tooling that turn raw data into reliable, actionable inputs.
Designing data flows that keep systems fed with clean, structured data — from multi-source ingestion to analytics.
Experience_
AI Engineer @ nicode.
Remote
Key projects include ML models for home automation energy prediction, a YOLO-based computer vision solution for waste detection, and a RAG application as part of a digital twin solution for buildings.
Backend Developer @ Sportit (Snowit, Bikeit, Discovera, Tribala)
Remote (IT)
Built and maintained scalable backend systems across Sportit's portfolio of sports and travel platforms — REST & GraphQL APIs, payment provider integrations, background task processing, and a modular email pipeline.
Software Engineer @ SteelTrace B.V.
Maastricht (NL)
Worked on backend architecture for a material certification platform that traces steel supply chain data on private Ethereum blockchain. Optimized performance for data-intensive operations and managed a team of junior developers.
Backend Developer @ CX Company (now cm.com)
Maastricht (NL)
Developed backend features for a conversational AI platform powering virtual assistants and chatbots for enterprise clients. Built REST APIs and ETL pipelines for multi-source data integration.
Software Engineer @ Consense Data Exchange
Heerlen (NL)
Developed a blockchain-based informed consent system for medical research, automating consent management for clinical trials. Fullstack development across multiple modules.
AI Engineer @ WildFire Learning
Brighton (UK)
Built NLP models to automatically generate multiple-choice and fill-in-the-blank questions from documents, served via Node.js backend services for an e-learning platform.