About me

Welcome to my personal website. My name is Michal Vanko and I'm a programmer . I am developing software for more than half of my life and I love it! Sometimes I stream working on my side projects and building a community of like minded people. Here you can find blogs of my thoughts and journeys, as well as links to my socials where you can see other content.

Web development

Extensive expertise in creating performant, live web applications and websites.

Game development

Creating games with passion. Capable of producing each aspect of a good game with profesional sound and creative mechanics. I consider games as multidisciplinary art.

Mentoring & Consulting

I offer consulting sessions to assist you in developing higher-quality software and share insights from crafting robust, professional web applications. Schedule a session with me and elevate your projects together.

Blog

  • Week with my-pi-agent

    Last week I’ve set a goal for myself to go 100% without writing a single line of code manually. I’ve been trying agentic workflows for a year now. My first agentic tool I’ve tried was aider and it was pretty cool experience at that time. For the last few months I’ve been using OpenCode but I haven’t been able to let it control 100% of my results. Mainly because it hasn’t been able to earn my trust. I’ve been watching different tools for a long time and decided that it was time to try out something minimal. Something that I can make work for me. Make it work with my workflows and tools I use during work. Pi is a bare bones CLI agent similar to Claude Code, Codex CLI and OpenCode.

  • My first published Cargo crate

    I’ve become obsessed with cameras, during our Tenerife trip, where I got to use a borrowed mirrorless camera for the first time. After that, I researched which camera I’d buy for myself for five months. While watching all the reviews, I was interested in the exposure settings for each picture presented. I’ve displayed many photographs in our Tenerife vlog with my wife. I’ve decided that I’d like to show those exposure settings in my other videos as they might inspire other photographers. I’ve tried many image editors and tools, but not one was able to fulfill my demands on how I’d like to display those settings underneath each picture. Many tools supported some kind of framing, however it was always in a limited way.

  • I built my 3rd custom keyboard

    When I was young and still had time to play games on a regular basis I got myself an 80% mechanical keyboard from Cooler Master. I didn’t want to waste any space with a useless num-pad. For a very long time, I was very satisfied with the keyboard. It still serves me today. It has cherry brown switches. I got very used to them, but I always wanted to try something different. A few years later I found the r/MechanicalKeyboards subreddit. I was amazed by the collection of custom-made keyboards and the variety of switches and other customization that is available.

  • Transition to Colemak keyboard layout

    So it has been 3 months since I’ve made a full transition to only writing on Colemak keyboard layout. Now that I am in the middle of the adaptation period is time to sum up what was causing the most problems and what went smoothly. Lazy explanation would be that it is something between QWERTY and Dvorak. It keeps the most used shortcuts unchanged and moves the keys that are most frequently used to the middle.

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Socials

Showcase

  • The Expert

    The Expert is a digital platform that connects clients to interior designers around the world. For experts, it allows managing their portfolio and profile and schedule in which they are open for consultations. Clients are able to view their profiles and book consultations.

    Project cover

    Web application

    • Node.js
    • PostgreSQL
    • TypeScript
    • React
    • GraphQL

  • The Grand Escape

    A videogame where you need to steer your boat to avoid obstacles and enemy bullets. The difficulty will be increased after a certain time and new enemies will be spawned to make your escape harder.

    Project cover

    Video game

    • Rust
    • Bevy

  • Renaissance of hypermedia systems

    A presentation about hypermedia systems, HTMX, HyperView, and the HATEOAS principles. 2024

    Project cover

    Presentation

    • Webdev
    • Mobile
    • HTMX
check out more projects

Broadcasts

  • Renaissance of Hypermedia Systems

    My goal for this year was to make a presentation. I’ve told this to my friend Lukáš Orgován and he offered me an opportunity to come present at their workplace with him. This was a great event and I’m so glad I could attend. I’ve chosen a topic very close to my heart and wanted to show a different approach to building mobile and web applications.

  • Keyboards & ergonomics of 21st century

    I’ve finished another custom keyboard build this year. It got me motivated to share my experience with custom keyboards with the community. I’ve got in touch with a friendly community in Poprad by recommendation. I haven’t done any presentations for a few years. My positive keyboard experience re-ignited my passion. Hopefully, it sparked some ideas and someone finds my tips helpful.

  • DevBreak #5 Joys and concerns of Engineering manager with Pavol Dudrík

    In this episode, I’ve invited my friend Pavol Dudrík to talk about what motivates us and makes us happy about the work of the Engineering manager. This job combines two views, and the transition from engineer to manager is often full of pitfalls. We want to share our experience and dispel misconceptions often associated with managerial positions in IT. This episode aired on the 4th of February 2023 and is in the Slovak language.

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