Beyond the code

The rest of me

Philosophy & additional studies

I'm deep into philosophy — every idea I record out loud gets filed and cross-linked by my own AI librarian. Alongside it:

  • Tanya — two-year in-depth study of the first four books
  • Mishnah — Berachot, Shabbat, Bava Kama, Bava Metzia, Bava Batra, Sanhedrin, Makkot
  • Jordan Peterson — his University of Toronto courses "Personality and Its Transformations" and "Maps of Meaning"
  • Michael Sugrue — the Princeton philosophy lectures
  • Plato — The Republic
Dan Maccaba standing in greenery

Music

I play guitar, piano, bass, drums, harmonica, hangdrum, and ukulele — and I record and produce songs end to end: writing, arranging, playing every instrument, and then the production itself — audio engineering, effects, mic placement, the whole chain.

I'm also a music teacher, and a fast one: I can give anyone about two months of piano in roughly two hours, then walk them from piano to guitar to bass to drums. Playing multiple instruments is far easier than people think — the secret is music theory, which is much simpler than people realize, and it unlocks both the music and the movement between instruments. That's the idea inside the instruments I build, too: a drum on your phone and a piano that lights up exist to teach a lot of music, quickly.

A few of my songs are headed to Spotify — when they land, they'll be right here.

Dan Maccaba playing guitar

Family

I'm married to Leora — four years married, together since I was seventeen. Ten years and counting.

Dan and Leora at sunset

Want to talk about any of this?

I'm open to opportunities. Tell me what you're building — I answer every email.