Mike was born in 1978 in New Jersey, and grew up in Santa Maria, CA. He graduated from St. Joseph High School in 1996 and earned a Bachelor's degree in Computer Science from UC Santa Barbara in 2000. He currently owns his own software company, Gaucho Software, where he develops applications for Mac OS X and consults for other companies. In his spare time, Mike enjoys photography, mountain biking, bodyboarding, and traveling. Mike's parents, Bob and Patty Piatek live in Santa Maria, and his brother David lives in Kansas City.