Tobias is a designer/developer and a Magento enthusiast. He is currently working as a Magento Front-end developer at Sitewards. In this interview, Tobias shared his valuable insights regarding Magento and development practices. On a casual note, he even told us about the best places he has visited and shared his passion about hiking and trekking. So, let’s get to know him more and start with the interview:

Arpatech:  Tobias, you are a front end developer of Magento. What is the best thing about front end development of Magento 2 version when compared with version 1?

Tobias: I would see myself as a front end developer who is currently working with Magento. For me, this is because I’m more into CSS, SASS, LESS, HTML, JavaScript and not so into XML and other Magento specific templating.

The best thing about Magento 2 Frontend… well, that’s a hard question, and we should see it from different angles. If we see it as the Magento System, compared to Magento 1, Magento 2 made the Framework very complete by adding “modern” front-end techniques like LESS processing, RequireJs, a Grunt workflow and some more interesting additions. By that, we could say the way how Magento 2 works with LESS is a quite interesting approach, and by integrating RequireJs and Jquery in the framework they did a great job. For the Magento ecosystem, a complete framework or environment can also be considered as a very good thing, I guess.

If we now see it as a front end developer who already worked with the newest technology like SASS, post CSS, etc., maybe within Magento 1 and had an established framework like foundation or bootstrap, there is no such best thing. Magento 2 kind of reinvented the wheel by building its own complex framework, using older technology like LESS and added additional complexity on top of the common workflows.

For me, what I also discussed in my talk on Meet Magento Netherlands this year, the Magento 2 framework is a very interesting one with all that additional complexity. But it seems not ready yet, not shaped enough to become a framework people love to work with. There are a lot of smart ideas behind its complex workflows and with the power of the community, this could become a very very powerful.

The only Problem, in my opinion, the community will most likely not go deeper into it, since we frontend devs already have a lot of complex things running and particularly want to get rid of them if you see nowadays discussions on tooling and the front end workflows.

Means, the one “best thing” is not yet there but together, the community and Magento, could build a more attractive, modern tool chain for front-end developers.

Arpatech: Magento happens to be the most popular ecommerce platform. What guidelines will you give to a newbie of Magento about front end development?

Tobias: Can I say, try something different then Magento? Ok, just kidding. 🙂

The power of Magento, in my opinion, comes with its awesome community of smart people. So what I did and would do again is, first get your hands dirty by hacking into the system and make everything wrong you can, then take one of the Magento trainings to learn how to do it right and third, register in the slack channels, visit Magento Unconferences, find the people on twitter and start to communicate. Be a part of the Magento world and you’ll have superpowers for your work with Magento and for yourself as a developer.

Arpatech: What is the best project you have been engaged with so far? What motivated you to choose Magento as a career?

Tobias: I don’t have a single “best project” but a couple have stood out to me. To me these were the most interesting and helped me to learn a lot about coding for e-commerce and Magento and were mind blowing.

One of these was a configurator for a scooter, based on Magento. The first challenge was how we were going to realize this since the product types within Magento did not reflect everything that we needed. There were core parts to the scooter but also additional parts, colors, sticker and insurance. So we made a plan on how to fit all these into the Magento available products.

After we sorted the product type the decision was made to use a complete javascript configurator front end. We wrapped our minds on how to build a flexible but performant API from Magento to the javascript configurator  and a fast and animated front end. This consisted of Requirejs, Backbonejs and Marionettejs. For me this was a great combination of interesting techniques with a nice and flexible result.

Can we choose Magento as a career? I didn’t do so, I have chosen e-commerce, frontend development and public speaking as career and Magento as the framework I stick to. But thinking about, what would make me choosing Magento as the career, I would say the community. The community of a framework is such a big motivation driver.

Within the Magento community, there is a lot of potential for frontend developers. What I really enjoy is that it is a very open minded friendly community with a lot of very great people. I might repeat myself on that topic over and over again but a community is one of the most important parts, it decides if a framework will stay alive or will die and it is by far, in my opinion, one of the biggest motivators for a developer to stay with a certain technology or framework.

Arpatech: You have a vast experience in Magento development.Can you recommend the top 5 free themes and extension available for Magento 2 and Magento 1.9 respectively to our newbie developer?

Tobias: As we did not play that much with Magento 2 I can’t point you to extensions but what I really like is the SASS Theme from Snowdog (https://github.com/SnowdogApps/magento2-theme-blank-sass). So if you start with Magento 2 either take that SASS Theme in the beginning or take some time to investigate deeply how Magento 2 frontend framework works.

For Magento 1 there are a lot of cool and helpful extensions out there, so I give less direct extensions but more of an advice where to search.

For building a bootstrap based boilerplate theme I recommend the Webcomm Bootstrap Boilerplate. A lot of good and helpful extensions are from firegento, so check their GitHub repositories. People involved in the firegento group also have a lot useful extension, which you should check. It is also very beneficial to check out some Agencies with love for Magento, for example, IntegerNet who developed a Solr extension as an example, or AOE and Firebear Studio, who do a lot of extensions and have helpful Articles. And for sure you should check out Lizards & Pumpkins for the catalog.

Arpatech: We all have some mentors and inspirations in our lives. Can you name some people in Magento community who inspired you or whom you admire?

Tobias: Yeah, let’s start with Ben Marks, I really like to hear him talking on stage and I think he’s a very great and inspiring speaker. Since I started now with talks as a topic, I want to name David Manners too, who gives, the funniest and impressing talks also, he is a great developer with a very nice pragmatism on how to solve problems. So if you want interesting talks which drive you crazy (in a good way) and keeps you thinking, then you should talk to David. I also gain a lot of motivation and inspiration from Fabian Blechschmidt, who counts for me to all those great persons on Stage, too.

Since the Magento community mostly consists of PHP developers, don’t judge me on that, I can’t tell names about inspiration on coding. Here I have to go out of the Magento community and name people like Harry Roberts for CSS coding, Gregor Martynus for JS-Coding and community work; I just realize that I can name a lot of people here because there are so many who can inspire in so many different ways.

Just keep your eyes open and you’ll find inspiration and motivation everywhere.

Arpatech: Since you are a front end developer, can you give details of some useful front end features of Magento 2? Please guide our readers about the best practices to follow while working as a front end developer.

Tobias: The Magento 2 framework has a build in living documentation on its stylesheet components, unfortunately, this applies not to changes made within themes, but at least there is something for all the base components and for the base theme.

I don’t know if it is useful in the current state of implementation but also the override less file technique can give a lot of power and flexibility, on the other hand, it makes the standard less process very complex. When It comes to less, the use of guard methods can help a lot, which was a good move to make the components better adjustable. The way we deal with the media queries is also an interesting idea, although, I don’t like the actual implementation. Depending on media queries and guard functions, there are several CSS files created, such a styles-m and styles-l where we have screen size dependent sheets, which should make loading the page a lot better. One of the problems currently is, that all small styles go together with styles marked as common into the mobile stylesheet, so at the end, the mobile stylesheet is the heavy one, which doesn’t make much sense.

But anyway a really nice idea for modularizing things and only load them if necessary.

Since I did not work on a project with Magento 2, and for me, the front end feels not ready, I can’t suggest the best practice yet. I’m watching how the system advances and there are already a lot of changes in it currently, so everything I say might be already too old. The only I could tell is something general, so if you work with a new huge framework like Magento 2, make sure that you know your tools. The best practice is either to use the framework completely and its powers or deactivate it, don’t try to just blindly make override files or try to build a theme, based on the Magento 2 given themes, without knowing what and how to do, there is no such thing then simply changing variables.

Arpatech: Since I follow you on twitter, I have noticed that beside your professional career, you happen to love climbing. What are the best places you have been for climbing expeditions? Also, do you love hiking? What else do you prefer to do in your free time?

Tobias: I love hiking nearly the same as much as climbing because you can explore most beautiful areas which you otherwise never would see. Besides that, there is nearly no way to climb outside without hiking since Mountains are mostly unreachable directly from a street or parking place.

The best places so far were in Mallorca, Austria and Croatia.

Mallorca is so awesome for hiking and climbing, you would never expect that this tourist overcrowded party island can be such a nice place.

For example, pack your things for deep water, solo climbing and head out to Cala Sa Nau. You can hike along the south-east cost to that wonderful place, it is a small beach with great but not very hard climbing routes, starting directly from the beach. In evening hours, there might be a DJ on the beach pub, playing electronic sounds while you climb along the coast. It’s so amazing, especially in the evening hours.

If you’re interested into pictures about those places continue following me on twitter or better on Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/toh_82), a couple of days ago I posted some views from Lake Garda Italy.

My other free time is usually spent on sports like functional and crossfit training, hanging out with friends, chasing the best Beer and Coffee in town or while playing blizzard’s Overwatch. So, if you’re in Frankfurt or I’m near you, just drop me a message, I’m always in for Beer or Coffee.

Being one of the most powerful ecommerce platform in the industry, Magento boasts a stellar reputation because of its fluid functionality and secure infrastructure. And in this article we will discuss about how to configure multiple stores in Magento 2. So, we are all well-aware of the fact that there are many features which are launched by Magento from time to time. Multistore function is one of the features in Magento 2 which is for the merchants and developers. Magento 2 also provides you with the facility to setup multiple stores which you must have used in Magento 1 as well. But since we know that Magento 2 is absolutely different than the previous versions, it is a little difficult to manage features in it for those peoples who have just started doing development in Magento 2. This is because of the advancements that been made in the file system. So, without further ado, I’ll teach you the complete store configuration in Magento 2, so that you can further configure multiple stores in Magento 2 like a boss:

Let’s Begin:  

When you want to create a second store in Magento 2, you have to go to the Admin dashboard of your Magento 2 store and from there follow this path Stores/ Settings / All Stores

• There are three options present under “All Stores” which you can see as “Create Website”, “Create Store View”, “Create Store”. The first thing you have to do is to click on the ‘Create Website’ Button.

• Now you have to enter the name of your second store in the Name field.
• Then enter your second store’s code name in the code field. (Make sure you remember your second store’s code)

• Next, for your second store’s website you have to click on ‘Create Store.’

• Go in the “Web Site” option and select your website for your Magento 2 Store.
• Go in the “Name” field and enter the view name.
• Go in the “Root Category” there select “Default Category” and then click on the “Save Store” button.

• Once you have created your store, you now have to create the store view for your second store for Magento 2. Now Select and click on “Create Store View”

• Go in the“Store” field and Select your Magento 2 store
• Go in the “Name” field and then you have to enter your Store View Name
• Go in the “Code” field and enter the code which you previously entered in “Create Website”

• Once you have done this, now click on “Save Store View” button. After completing this step you can now connect your second store domain with the new store that you have just created. Now follow this path Stores > Settings > Configuration
• In “Configuration” click on your second store by selecting the option in “Store View”, it will be similar to what you can see in the top image.

If you’ve followed the Magento 2 store configuration we’ve mentioned above, you must have successfully created your second store in Magento 2. Next you have to set values for MAGE_RUN_TYPE and MAGE_RUN_CODE which you can do by applying the following code in your index.php entry point:

<?php
$params = $_SERVER;
$params[\Magento\Store\Model\StoreManager::PARAM_RUN_CODE] = 'yourcode.yourdomain.com';
$params[\Magento\Store\Model\StoreManager::PARAM_RUN_TYPE] = 'website';
$bootstrap = \Magento\Framework\App\Bootstrap::create(BP, $params);
$app = $bootstrap->createApplication('Magento\Framework\App\Http');
$bootstrap->run($app);
?>

Now make sure you Save your index.php file. After doing this you have to set the values in .htaccess file. This section here discusses the process through which you can set values for MAGE_RUN_TYPE and MAGE_RUN_CODE for using Apache Server Variables SetEnvIf or RewriteCond. To setup SetEnvIf, you have to add the following in your .htaccess file after “RewriteEngine on” this:

SetEnvIf Host .*example.com.* MAGE_RUN_CODE=yourcode.yourdomain.com
SetEnvIf Host .*example.com.* MAGE_RUN_TYPE=website

To setting up RewriteCond, you should add the following code in your .htaccess file after “RewriteBase /magento/” This:

RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^(.*)example\.com
RewriteRule .* – [E=MAGE_RUN_CODE:yourcode.yourdomain.com]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^(.*)example\.com
RewriteRule .* – [E=MAGE_RUN_TYPE:website]

Now again Save your .htaccess file.

Conclusion

Congratulations! Now you have successfully configured multiple stores in Magento 2 and you can get started with it. I suggest since you’ve worked so hard configuring it, it’s integral that you host it on a secure and best ecommerce hosting platform. So that you get the best security, and your cart’s abandonment ratio remains below the danger zone at all times. So, let us know which hosting platform you are using for your ecommerce business in the comment section below and if you’re satisfied with it.

The E-commerce leader Magento announces partnership with Adobe to transform consumer experience. This partnership was officially announced at Shop.org Retail’s Digital Summit event. This partnership is bringing powerful personalizing tool together with the flexibility of E-commerce suite which will be able to provide the shoppers more freedom and customization.

The comprehensive content Management of Adobe Experience Manager (AEM) is providing solutions to build websites, mobile apps, and forms. This also enables you to manage marketing and content assets. The powerful capabilities of Adobe Experience Manager along with Magento Ecommerce platform will result in high customizations and personalized user experience. It will make buying and selling experience better than ever.

The Partnership Will Provide Merchants With Following Key Highlights:

• Shopping experience:  It will allow transactions anywhere around the globe. The integration fulfillment and customer engagement to the store.

• Enhance Personalizing: It will provide the customer with an enhanced shopping experience. It will increase the personalizing aspect greatly and integration between mobile, web, and your own retail store.

• Innovation and Business Agility: Providing the business, sales, and marketing with real-time information. The data will be more meaningful and will allow staying ahead of consumers demand.

• Command Architecture: It will give the customer more freedom along with enhanced digital experience.

Magento and Adobe are creating a powerful platform to engage the shopper and give them a unique and enhanced shopping experience. The Magento-Adobe Partnership will definitely revolutionize shopping experience for every individual and that is something the e-commerce industry is looking forward to.

Today, we will learn how to display custom category listing block in Magento 1.9. In the end of this tutorial you will be able to create a custom category list and display it in the left panel of your Magento theme.

Create Category.phtml File To Show The Category Listing.

Go to the template/catalog/navigation and create a (.phmtl) file. I have made the process simple for your understanding and created the file with name ‘category.phtml’. You can create a file with your own name. For this tutorial, we will be using ‘category.phtml’ as the file name.

Write the following code in category.phtml:

Today, we will learn how to display custom category listing block in Magento 1.9. In the end of this tutorial you will be able to create a custom category list and display it in the left panel of your Magento theme.

Create Category.phtml File To Show The Category Listing.

Go to the template/catalog/navigation and create a (.phmtl) file. I have made the process simple for your understanding and created the file with name ‘category.phtml’. You can create a file with your own name. For this tutorial, we will be using ‘category.phtml’ as the file name.

Write the following code in category.phtml:

<?php

// get first level categroy children

$cat = Mage::getModel('catalog/category')->load(2)->getChildren();

$catIds = explode(',',$cats);

?>

<ul>

<?php foreach($catIds as $catID): ?>

<li>

<?php

$category = Mage::getModel('catalog/category')->load($catID);

//display category name

echo $category->getName();

//get subcategory

$subcats = Mage::getModel('catalog/category')->load($category->getId())->getChildren();

$subcatIds = explode(',',$subcats);

?>

// only display if sub-category exist

<?php if(count($subcatIds)>= 1 ): ?>

<ul>

<?php foreach($subcatIds as $subcatId): ?>

<li>

<?php

$subCategory = Mage::getModel('catalog/category')->load($subcatId);

//display sub-category name



echo $subCategory->getName();



?>

</li>

<?php endforeach ?>

</ul>

<?php endif  ?>

</li>

<?php endforeach ?>

</ul>

The above code will list the category and subcategory of the catalog if it exists.

Now, we have to call this code somewhere to display it.

Navigate to the layout of your theme. Find the ‘catalog.xml’ file and edit it. Look for the option “Default layout, loads most of the pages”. This acts as a global scope and it is usually displayed in most of the pages.

Find the block <reference name=”left”> [Note: You can add this to any location you want. For this tutorial, we will display it in the left panel. So, just before the block ends </reference> add the following code:

<block type=”catalog/navigation” after=”cart_sidebar” name=”catalog_category” template=”catalog/navigation/category.phtml”/>

Tadaa! you are done. You have created the custom category listing block which will be displayed on the left panel. For any queries feel free to comment below.

The above code will list the category and subcategory of the catalog if it exists.

Now, we have to call this code somewhere to display it.

Navigate to the layout of your theme. Find the ‘catalog.xml’ file and edit it. Look for the option “Default layout, loads most of the pages”. This acts as a global scope and it is usually displayed in most of the pages.

Find the block <reference name=”left”> [Note: You can add this to any location you want. For this tutorial, we will display it in the left panel. So, just before the block ends </reference> add the following code:

<block type=”catalog/navigation” after=”cart_sidebar” name=”catalog_category” template=”catalog/navigation/category.phtml”/>

Tadaa! you are done. You have created the custom category listing block which will be displayed on the left panel. For any queries feel free to comment below.

The most anticipated and awaited Meet Up for the Magento Community is finally here! Get ready for the Very First Magento Meet Up Dubai! Mark the date on your calendars and free up your schedule.

One of the fastest growing business city in the world, Dubai, will be welcoming Magento Experts and E-commerce Community Members on the 29th of October this year at the Emirates Concorde Hotel.

The purpose of the organizers is to gather Magento and e-commerce community members at Dubai and provide a platform which will enable the participants to interact with each other, get a chance to share your experiences and discuss the latest developments which have taken place in Dubai e-commerce Industry.

If you happen to be passionate about Magento and e-commerce being a developer, online store owner or even someone who has just stepped foot in the e-commerce industry, you should be a part of this meetup. Magento Meetup is the place to gather useful insights and tap into a lot of opportunities by meeting other Magento and e-commerce community members in Dubai.

From our prestigious platform of Magento Meetup, we are giving you the opportunity to contribute to the discussion by being a speaker on the topic of your choice related to Magento. It can be a great opportunity for you to let your voice echo through the community and share your learned techniques with the attendees.

We look forward to hosting an awesome meet up while you are onboard with us.

Revive, Discover and Join Magento Meetup Dubai!

Bring in your friends related to Magento and e-commerce community and spread the word around the globe.

Do You Want To Participate As A Speaker?

If you are excited to share your experiences and insights about Magento as a speaker then drop a formal email to us at [email protected]

Sponsorship Opportunity

You have an excellent opportunity to shine as an official sponsor in the very first Magento Meetup Dubai.

For sponsorship details email us at [email protected]. Supported by Magento Inc. Arpatech and Meet Magento Association.

There are limited seats available, so act fast and register now to be the part of building the first Dubai Magento Community!

For Further details subscribe to our Meetup channel.

Arpatech:

Bartek, you are a Front End Developer and specialized in Magento. How did you start your career? How long have you been involved with Magento? What was the reason for choosing this eCommerce platform?

Bartek Igielski:

I started doing Web related stuff in 2008, when I was 16, by doing a simple HTML and CSS page for my family company. Then was few other pages, I was in technical college with IT specialization, so at all a spend a lot of time on solving various issues, working on my web and design skills (yeah, I though about being a designer), getting more and more familiar with programing, often even replacing teachers on their duty 🙂 At second class we have apprenticeships and I spend this time working in my friends company as a guy assembling systems of industrial automation. They were pleased with my job, so I spend whole vacations working. After third class, I tried to catch some freelance web project, but I failed and spend most of the time in the same company. After the fourth year of school and graduation, I have long vacations (4 months) before college start and decided to work in the same company, but… things changed. I started working as a guy in the office, who cares about various IT things. But then raised up a great project – we are going to create SCADA (Supervisory Control And Data Acquisition) based on web technologies and I’m going to be a Web Designer / Developer here! That’s how I created my first RWD project (it still works!) in 2012. Right after that, I start my quick episode with college. I don’t like learning not necessary things, so after a year I quit, so probably I’m never gonna say “Trust me, I’m an engineer” 🙂 In 2013 I started my first full-time job as a front-end developer. I was working on Rails-based web apps and it was my first time with eCommerce solutions, on SpreeCommerce. After 8 months I was forced to change this job, because my boss wasn’t a solid guy. And that’s how in April 2014 I started my work at Snowdog – without PHP, JavaScript or even Magento experience. So unfortunately I didn’t choose Magento, Magento choose me 🙂

Arpatech:

You have worked on several different projects, you are master-mind of Frontools and SASS based Blank theme projects. Can you please tell our readers more about it?

Bartek Igielski: Let me give you a quick history lesson – Magento 1.0 was released in 2008. In 2014 they released 1.9.1 with “RWD” theme, which refreshes state of front-end in Magento, but we thread this just as a temporary solution before releasing Magento 2.

Magento 2 was released at the end of 2015, but unfortunately, it doesn’t fit needs of front-end developers. That’s why we, as a Snowdog, decided to change this on our own, but also release as a free open source modules ready to use. Frontools are set of tools for the front-end developer to based on Gulp.js to simplify and speed up development. SASS Blank theme is a translated form LESS version of build-in Magento 2 “Blank” theme, with some necessary modifications and simplifications. Our actions were noticed by community and Magento executives. They announced us as a community leader of “Moving from LESS to SASS” project and now we are working together trying to find out a way to improve the state of front-end of Magento 2.

Arpatech:

What was your motivation for choosing a career as a Front-end Developer?

Bartek Igielski:

I just like working on the edge of technology and design, being a link between two worlds. A few years ago I found a Saul Bass quote that really well describes my relationship with front-end “I want to make beautiful things, even if nobody cares.”.

Arpatech:

Bartek, you have vast expertise in front end development. Please share some tips to the readers regarding front-end development and choosing a career as a front-end developer.

Bartek Igielski:

Front-end technologies are the one of evolving fastest in IT world. Every year we have a new JavaScript framework, styles processor, some new features in browsers, new screen sizes, new input types… it’s just evolving. If you like constant learning and care at least a bit about design, it’s right place for you.

BTW. JavaScript is future, now even NASA is using it to monitor space missions!

Arpatech:

What is the best project you are engaged with or have done in your entire career? What are the challenges you faced and how you tackled them?

Bartek Igielski:

It’s hard to choose one project. Creating software processes, so everything evolves over time. I’m still believing that *this* project wait for me somewhere in future.

Arpatech:

You have giving presentations in Magento Meet-ups and conferences. Recently you presented on “Moving Magento 2 from LESS to SASS” in Meet Magento 2016. Can you please highlight the key points? Why is SASS more effective than LESS?

Bartek Igielski:

SASS is way more strict language, it will not let you hurt yourself or your teammates writing weird code. Things like the global scope of variables, ability to chain mixins or lack of proper conditional statements and loops hurt. It’s hard, to sum up this topic in few words, so I’d advise you to watch the recording of my talk at #mm16de.

Arpatech:

You are engaged with Magento conferences and meet-ups. What do you gain from these conferences? DO you recommend to attend such conferences? Will you be willing to attend more conferences in the future?

Bartek Igielski:

I like sharing my ideas and knowledge. Preparing to talks is always the best way to push yourself to learn new things.

Attending at conferences is always a great thing, every time you will learn something new or heard for the first time about a cool solution for your problems or just stay updated with current state of Magento development. It’s also a great place to just talk with other devs. For sure, conferences are almost always great 🙂

Arpatech:

You will be presenting on “Improving State of Magento 2 Frontend” in the upcoming Meet Magento 2016. Can you please highlight some key points for the readers? Please tell readers about the best practices involved when working as a front end developer? Please give some suggestions to newbies on front end development.

Bartek Igielski:

I’ll be talking mostly about templates and styles part. We are working on establishing the solid naming methodology because currently is one of most frustrating part of working with styles in Magento, but it’s normal, naming things is always hard.

Advice for newbies? Remember that somebody will read and edit your code in future, so please try to not make them cry 🙂

Arpatech:

You have a goodwill in Magento Community, your contributions have made improvements in Magento World. Who are your inspirations in Magento community? Please tell some names to the readers who they can follow to learn more about Magento front and back end development.

Bartek Igielski:

For me, real open source spirit in Magento Community is still in early phase of development, we can easily count all useful modules on our hand’s fingers, companies still decide to build everything just for own purposes instead of sharing solutions.

State of Magento front-end never was so great, it’s always behind the current state of technology, mostly because of long development cycles, not so frequent releases and complexity of the whole system. That’s why I always try to take inspirations from outside, limiting just to own, well known “neighborhood” isn’t so good when are you looking for improvements.

Arpatech:

Apart from work, you are a technology freak and also likes music. Which technology fascinates you the most? What is the genre you prefer in music? What do you do in your free time?

Bartek Igielski:

Nowadays everything is tech, I just love to track how things are designed and build. I’m in love with Elon Musk ideas  – electric self-driving cars, self-sustaining housing, solar power and of course Mars colonization plans (I’d love to live here), this guy is amazing.

Mostly I’m listening to metal-related genres like power metal, symphonic metal, heavy metal (I’m in love with Powerwolf), but right now I’m also making a quick flashback with trance music. It changes over years so much and I’m just stay with good old classics, like old episodes of Trance Around the World and the State of Trance.

In free time I’m an XC bike rider (still thinking about switching to Enduro…), craft beer drinker, gamer and just a lazy man 🙂