About
I’m Rob. This site is part portfolio, part playground, part “what happens if I just build it?”
Who I am
I’m a QA automation and test engineering person who likes systems, structure, and clean feedback loops. I’ve worked in fast moving SaaS environments where quality can drift unless somebody cares enough to keep the bar high.
Before software, I spent years doing computational chemistry research. That background shaped how I think: I like experiments, reproducibility, and using evidence to make decisions.
rccolamachine is my place to mix those instincts with fun. If something seems a little “game-like” or delightfully over-engineered, that’s on purpose.
What I’m into
- Retro games and cozy grind loops The kind where numbers go up, inventory fills, stats improve, and hours vanish.
- Pixel art, weird UI, and nostalgic vibes I like interfaces that feel like a tiny toy, not a corporate dashboard.
- Photography experiments I’m into the process more than perfection. Cheap cameras, manual control, and figuring it out.
- Home media servers and “how far can I push this?” tinkering Jellyfin, transcoding settings, hardware decoding, upscaling old rips, the whole rabbit hole.
- Precious metals and little artifacts Platinum, palladium, silver, hallmarks, weights, history. It’s half collecting, half detective work.
- Genealogy and family history I love chasing records and connecting dots across time.
Why this site exists
I wanted a personal site that feels alive. Not a static template, not a “hello world” portfolio, and not a social feed I don’t control.
So this is where I test ideas: pixel UI experiments, camera-to-canvas tricks, saving data to a tiny backend, and building pages that feel cohesive. It’s also a nice way to prove I can build full features end to end.
Links
If you want to poke around more:
I keep email private here. The guestbook stores it for me, not for public display.