Filippo Menghi
Developer, builder, and self-taught since day one.
Based in Milan — shipping AI systems, iOS apps,
and real engineering since I was 11.
About
I've been obsessed with technology for as long as I can remember. Not just using it — understanding how it works, and then building my own version of it. I wrote my first Python script at 11, taught myself HTML and CSS the same year, and never stopped.
Everything I know, I learned by doing. No bootcamps, no courses with certificates on the wall — just documentation, trial and error, and a stubborn refusal to stop when something breaks. That approach took me from simple scripts to building ML-powered trading systems, native iOS apps, and running full CFD simulations for a competitive engineering team.
I don't fit into one label. In the same week I might be debugging a CatBoost ensemble in Python, writing SwiftUI for an iOS app, pitching a sponsor deck to a company executive, or running airflow simulations in OpenFOAM on a Linux terminal. What connects all of it is a bias toward building things that actually work — not demos, not prototypes, but systems that run in the real world.
Outside of code, I lead the engineering and business side of PowairX, a STEM Racing team (formerly F1 in Schools) that competes at regional and national level. That means budgets, sponsor outreach, team coordination, portfolio presentations to industry judges, and the kind of pressure that doesn't come with a safety net.
The Journey
First Experiments
Started playing with Scratch at 6 years old. No one told me to — I found it and started building. Simple animations, basic games, drag-and-drop logic. The first time I made something on a screen do what I wanted it to do.
First Real Code
Started teaching myself Python at 9. No courses, no teacher — just curiosity and a laptop. Moved to HTML and CSS the same year to build my first web pages.
Hardware and Software
Continued self-teaching through projects. Explored JavaScript, started building small tools and automation scripts. Started working with Arduino, micro:bit, and simple breadboard circuits — connecting code to the physical world for the first time.
H-FARM: Tech Creativity Lab
First summer at H-FARM Campus in Ca’ Tron (Treviso). A week-long immersive experience exploring creative technology — robotics, electronics, and digital making. First time surrounded by peers who shared the same passion.
H-FARM: LEGO Spike Robotics
Second year at H-FARM. Dove into robotics with LEGO Spike, learning sensor-based programming and mechanical design. Started connecting hardware and software thinking.
H-FARM: Content Creation
Third year at H-FARM. Explored digital content creation — video production, editing, storytelling for digital platforms. Learned that building something great means nothing if you can’t communicate it.
H-FARM: AI Storytelling
Fourth year at H-FARM. Worked with AI tools for creative storytelling — generative text, image creation, and narrative design powered by machine learning. First real intersection of my coding skills and AI.
Sniper V3: First Trading Bot
Built my first serious algorithmic trading system. Started with simple strategies on XAUUSD, then layered in ML models, regime detection, and risk management. Learned more about discipline and risk from markets than from any textbook.
MyLiveGPT: First iOS App
Designed and built a native iOS app for real-time voice conversations with AI. Custom WebSocket backend, bespoke design system in Swift. First time shipping a complete product from concept to working app.
H-FARM: Design Smart Solutions
Fifth consecutive year at H-FARM. Focused on designing technology-driven solutions to real problems — combining design thinking with technical execution.
PowairX: STEM Racing — Year One
Co-founded PowairX, a STEM Racing team. As Team Leader, managed both engineering (CFD simulations, car design, CNC manufacturing) and enterprise (branding, budget, sponsor outreach). Passed regional qualifiers. Won “Best Enterprise Project” at the North-West Regional Hub.
PowairX: Year Two
Returned with improved aerodynamics and a refined strategy. A mechanical issue during qualifiers ended our run. The lessons in resilience, preparation under pressure, and handling failure publicly were worth more than advancing.
Present
Building multi-model AI routing systems, refining Sniper V3’s ML pipeline, developing native iOS apps with AI integration, and exploring edge deployment with Cloudflare Workers. Still self-taught. Still shipping.
Projects
PowairX
STEM Racing (formerly F1 in Schools)
STEM Racing — 65+ countries · 1.8M+ participants · Endorsed by Formula 1
PowairX is a competitive engineering team I co-founded and lead, competing in STEM Racing — the world’s largest STEM competition, backed by Formula 1 and active in over 65 countries. Teams design, manufacture, and race a miniature CO₂-powered car while running the full business side of an engineering operation.
The car race is only a fraction of the score. Teams are judged across six categories — Specifications & Scrutineering, Design & Engineering, Enterprise, Project Management, Verbal Presentation, and Pit Display. You’re scored on your CAD/CAM process, CFD analysis, brand strategy, sponsor relationships, budget management, and your ability to defend every decision to a panel of industry professionals. It’s closer to running a startup than building a model car.
Most teams competing at our level are from Year 4 or 5 of scientific high schools. We entered from Year 1 of a humanities-track school — and still passed qualifiers.
Design & Engineering
Car body CNC-machined from a regulation block. Design process: geometry modeled in Rhino 3D, full-car CFD simulations in OpenFOAM (snappyHexMesh + simpleFoam) and ANSYS for validation, iterated through drag reduction and downforce tuning cycles. Every design choice documented in an A3 engineering portfolio with orthographic drawings, 3D renders, and full CAD data.
Enterprise & Brand
Built the entire PowairX brand identity from zero — logo, color system, tone of voice, website (powairx.it). Wrote the team budget, cold-contacted companies for sponsorship, presented our value proposition, and negotiated partnerships. These are real conversations with real business professionals, scored by judges from industry.
Competition Story
Year one: passed regional qualifiers. Won “Best Enterprise Project” at the North-West Regional Hub. Year two: improved car, refined strategy. A mechanical issue during qualifiers (car snagged on the guide cable) combined with penalties ended our run. No excuses — it was a millimeter-level issue. But that failure taught me more about preparation and resilience than any win could have.
Sniper V3
Algorithmic Trading Bot
An autonomous XAUUSD scalping system that trades 5m–15m timeframes using ML-driven execution.
I built Sniper because I wanted to understand if markets could be approached systematically — not with gut feeling, but with data, models, and strict risk management.
The system classifies market regimes in real-time, runs an ML ensemble (LightGBM + CatBoost with isotonic-calibrated meta-learner), and manages positions with Kelly-fractional sizing and ATR-adaptive trailing stops. Concept drift detection (ADWIN + DDM + KS test) triggers automatic retraining when market behavior shifts.
What I learned: backtesting is not trading. Overfitting is the real enemy. Risk management matters more than signal accuracy. And the overnight session will humble you.
MyLiveGPT
iOS Voice AI App
A native iOS app for real-time voice conversations with GPT-4.
Built from scratch in Swift with a custom WebSocket backend. Real-time voice-to-text-to-voice pipeline with low-latency streaming. Designed with a bespoke visual identity — custom fonts, color system, and interaction patterns. No templates, no shortcuts.
This was my first complete product cycle: concept → design → architecture → build → ship. The hardest part wasn’t the code — it was making hundreds of small design decisions that add up to something that feels right.
More Projects
Multi-model AI router that dynamically selects the best model per request
Feed a chart screenshot, get structured trade decisions back
Universal interface to access and switch between AI models
Market monitoring with structured Telegram signals
Custom agentic skills for session tracking and task orchestration
Tools & Technologies
Languages
AI & ML
Engineering & Simulation
iOS & Mobile
Web & Infrastructure
Data & Trading
Tools & Workflow
Beyond Code
Leading a team means resolving conflict, not just assigning tasks. PowairX taught me that the best technical solution is worthless if you can’t get five people aligned behind it.
Talking to sponsors is a sales skill. I’ve written cold emails, built pitch decks, and sat across from business professionals twice my age to explain why a student racing team deserves their investment. Most said no. The ones who said yes made it worth it.
Defending decisions to industry judges changes how you think. In STEM Racing, every design choice, every budget line, every brand decision gets questioned by professionals. You don’t just build — you justify. That pressure taught me to think critically about my own work before anyone else has the chance to.
Failure is information. Our car failed on the cable in year two. We didn’t qualify. I didn’t make excuses — I analyzed what went wrong and documented it. That’s the only productive response to losing.
Shipping beats perfecting. I’ve abandoned more “almost done” projects than I’ve launched. The ones that made it are the ones where I set a deadline, cut scope, and committed.
Being self-taught means being comfortable with not knowing. Every project starts with something I haven’t done before. The skill isn’t knowing everything — it’s knowing how to figure it out fast.
Now
March 2026
Preparing for IGCSE exams while keeping all projects active.
Iterating on Sniper V3’s walk-forward validation framework.
Building native iOS apps with AI integration.
Setting up menghi.dev infrastructure — Cloudflare Pages, Tunnel, custom email.
Planning PowairX’s next steps after a tough qualification round.