Francesco Arrigo, Embedded Software Engineer, adesso Schweiz

In order to help current students and recent graduates to find their way in the working world, many of our alumni shared their career story. Here the story of Francesco Arrigo, Embedded Software Engineer at adesso Schweiz in Lugano. USI Degrees: Master in Software & Data Engineering, 2019 and Bachelor in Informatics, 2017.

How did you start your career?

I started my career at sarmap SA, a company based in Caslano that specializes in the development of software used to analyze satellite images at the end of 2019. After 4 years I decided to seek new opportunities and joined adesso Schweiz AG, a consulting and IT service provider company, in their Lugano offices as an Embedded Software Engineer.

Why did you choose a career at adesso Schweiz?

When looking for a career change I was exploring many different options, in the end I decided to join adesso Schweiz AG as the company values greatly a healthy work-life balance and offers many avenues to develop new skills and learn new technologies. In addition, being a consulting company, the work is always stimulating and the specifics of the various projects may change from one month to the other always providing new challenges and opportunities.

What is your current role/duties?

As an Embedded Software Engineer at adesso Schweiz AG my role consists in helping companies in the manufacturing industry reach their development goals going all the way from requirements to a finished product that can be deployed in their production line or go to market. In addition we also provide consulting services for already established products that may need some revisioning to be brought up to the latest industry standards and/or regulations.

In your opinion, what are the qualities necessary for a successful career at adesso Schweiz?

Being willing to learn new things, adapt and communicate with colleagues is paramount. Employees are encouraged to develop their skills by taking courses and ask each other for help if needed, even to peers in different teams/areas or with a wildly different knowledge base. We work in a fast moving field so it's important to always be up to speed with the latest technologies and developments.

What positive aspects and qualities meant most to you during the study programme you attended?

I attended both the Bachelor of Science in Informatics and the Master in Software & Data Engineering at USI. The Bachelor was really helpful at giving me a general knowledge of the field and preparing me to the following Master that, as the name implies, offers a great blend of courses that help students develop both hard and soft skills that will prove very useful in their career. Moreover, the high number of very different electives helps a student tailor the program to his/her interests while keeping the overall purpose and objective focused. In addition, the numerous hands on projects are very effecting at developing communicational and organizational skills while providing a great way to put to practice the concepts just learned.

What competences and skills acquired in your USI Study Program have been useful/are useful to your professional career?

Aside from the obvious Software Engineering competences acquired during my Study Programme I believe one side not mentioned nearly enough is the amount of skills not strictly related to the informatics field that I have been able to learn or improve during my studies. In particular, being all courses at USI taught in English, I feel my mastery of the language has greatly improved which is an evermore important aspect of working in an interconnected world. Another great aspect of my studies was the emphasis put on how to effectively express your ideas through communication and presentations, it may seem boring at first but it's a great skill to have in the real world.

What is your advice to USI students entering the job market?

I think the most important thing is to have an open mind and not focus too strictly on a specific field, there are always new opportunities and it's normal to be rejected for some of them or not being able to find immediately what you are looking for. A very important aspect is to keep in touch with former classmates, broaden your network at USI events and try to get some experience by working in the field and completing personal projects. You never know what the future will bring so it's always good to have various possible options to choose from.