The industrial PhD journey trained me to successfully face the challenging Amazon Web Services interviews, being hired as a Solutions Architect. This is a technical role that represents the trusted advisor between customers and AWS itself. Thanks to the joint programme between the International Doctoral Programme in ICT and the industry, I have learnt how to build any bridge between two or more realms, adding values to all the parties, by solving complex problems and finding the best tradeoffs. I have also improved my communication skills, being able to convey the right messages to different personas - including but not limited to C-levels, software developers and researchers. Within the industrial PhD program, I have also had the opportunity to focus my research activity to real scenarios and use-cases; this mindset, shaped during my PhD, underlined the importance to have a deep technical domain knowledge without losing sight of the customers and their business needs.

Il dottorato è un requisito fondamentale per accedere alle posizioni accademiche. Le competenze acquisite durante il dottorato mi permettono di fare attività di ricerca in autonomia e di esplorare nuove idee nel campo dei dispositivi a semiconduttore.
L’esperienza più significativa del mio dottorato è sicuramente stato il periodo di ricerca che ho trascorso alla Purdue University negli Stati Uniti. Il problema che svolsi fu quello di determinare se fosse possibile realizzare un biosensore basato su transistor a capacità negativa in grado di amplificare il segnale utile e allo stesso tempo ridurre il rumore. Al di là della difficoltà del problema specifico, il dover abituarmi a un ambiente completamente diverso, a persone di diversa etnia e cultura e soprattutto a un modo di lavorare diverso, ha messo a dura prova le mie capacità e mi ha fatto realizzare quanto la tenacia e la persistenza siano importanti nel mondo della ricerca. Le sfide che ho affrontato durante il dottorato mi hanno permesso di crescere e di farmi le spalle per i problemi futuri. In sostanza, è un percorso che porta lontano. Se tornassi indietro, lo rifarei senza dubbi.

The expertise and competences acquired during my PhD experience were seminal for my whole carrer. Besides acquiring a significant amount of technical skills in my field of research, during my PhD i learned how to perform and lead complex research activities, how to present innovative results to an audience of professionals, and how to organize the structure of a research project in all its components.
I remember when i found out interesting but peculiar results while performing delicate noise measurements. I had to stay up all night to perform those measurements again, to exclude possible interefernces from the appliances that were typically on during daytime (computers, fans, heating...). Fortunately, results turned out to be the same as those i got in the morning but i remember it as a fun moment (perhaps because, at the end, results confirmed that i was not forced to perform noise measurements at night to get reliable results)!

Well, first of all in Microsoft you can became a scientist only if you have a PhD! Secondly, the PhD helped me in jumping on the path that then led me here. In fact, my PhD was on Datalog, a logic base variant of SQL. During my studies, I met Carlo Zaniolo, professor at University of California, Los Angeles. In the last 6 months of my PhD, I visited Carlo, and eventually met with Tyson Condie, an assistant professor which recently joined UCLA. Tyson offered me a PostDoc position, and after completed the PhD, I flew to Los Angeles with my wife, were we stayed for about 3 years. Tyson was a former Microsoft researcher, and during the 3 years with me, I eventually met with my current manager, which then hired me at Microsoft. Bottom line, everything started with the PhD (and hard work).)

What I'm leveraging the most is what I call the "research style" when you have to solve complex problems; in other words, instead of just finding the quickest solution, I tend to study the "state of the art" and get inspired by other research work
One of my duties is (among others) to assess new software developers (coding interviews). According to HR people at my company, I tend to be quite "tough and picky" and show off my experience as a teacher

I love to say that PhD for me was more than a school, it was a real life experience: it was a unique opportunity to acquire and make practice of important skills like team collaboration, agile working, project management, public speaking and presentation etc., to meet researchers from everywhere and to work and collaborate with great people and colleagues! For my current job, it helped me to build a growth mindset, thinking out of the box and looking for innovation and continuous improvement! Last but not least, one of the lesson I learnt from the PhD (and from the DataBase GROUP) is “In God we trust, all others must bring data.” Cit. ??

PhD has been fundamental in my career. Other than improving technical skills, I learnt how to set-up, design and conduct research inquires and projects

La posizione lavorativa che ricopro attualmente è derivata direttamente dal PhD che ho svolto presso l'Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica INAF/OAS di Bologna. L'esperienza del PhD mi ha fornito molti strumenti utili nel lavoro che svolgo attualmente. Ho imparato a fare ricerche bibliografiche, a scrivere e pubblicare articoli scientifici. La possibilità di seguire corsi di materie diverse che a volte uscivano anche dal mio ambito specifico è stato molto utile per capire l'importanza dell'interdisciplinarità. Un'altra abilità che il PhD aiuta a formare è la capacità di autogestire il proprio lavoro e organizzare le varie attività.

Le esperienze fatte durante il PhD presso Unimore sono state fondamentali per ottenere la posizione che ora ricopro. Il mio attuale supervisore lo ho conosciuto ad una PhD School a cui ho preso parte, e ho avuto contatto diretto con lui grazie ad un progetto a cui ho partecipato sotto suggerimento del mio advisor (Prof. Michele Colajanni). Il fatto di aver potuto spendere 6 mesi negli USA ha ulteriormente migliorato la mia rete di conoscenze, ed attualmente ho collaborazioni in corso con più gruppi di ricerca su tematiche sempre più attuali.
I collage di scontrini che dovevo fare per i rimborsi delle varie "missioni" a cui ho preso parte.

The PhD school completely changed my career perspective as it opened a new window into the academia. Since my graduation I am working as a university lecturer and without the PhD school this would not have been possible. The PhD study provides the student with several abilities such as: critical thinking, autonomy, self-confidence, time and resource managerial skills, presentation and public speaking skills, and many others. Often, industry does not give the appropriate value to the PhD study as they think this path does not provide technical/hands on skills to the candidate. To my experience, the PhD study enabled me to acquire deep knowledge on a specific research field, but most important, I gained the ability to adapt to any problem and circumstances, and provide steady and long term solution.
I would like to share something that happened before I started the PhD school. At that time I was working for a software house. Once I got accepted to the PhD school I shared the news with my boss and informed him that I was planning to quit. His reaction was “Oh, so for the next three years you will be on holidays!”. At that moment I realized the perception of industry about the PhD study

Thanks to my PhD I exercised my ability to analyze complex statistical problems, propose a model for them and then possible solutions.

L' esperienza di lavoro a progetti di ricerca in ambito internazionale ed il periodo come “visiting researcher” presso il laboratorio di ricerca ADVIS Lab della University of Illinois at Chicago, hanno contribuito in modo fondamentale a creare la consapevolezza di potersi confrontare, sia in ambito di ricerca che di business, con realtà internazionali. Le attività di ricerca svolte durante il periodo del dottorato mi hanno permesso di sviluppare le capacità di analisi approfondita dello stato dell'arte e confronto delle soluzioni proposte sia in ambito di ricerca che commerciale, la capacità di collaborare in modo fruttuoso con team internazionali nella progettazione di soluzioni innovative, la capacità di presentare in modo efficace i risultati di un lavoro di analisi o di una soluzione innovativa. Tutte queste competenze si sono rilevate fondamentali nel mio percorso professionale che mi ha permesso di fondare nel 2009 e di guidare per 10 anni la PMI innovativa DataRiver.

During my PhD I learned an invaluable set of skills related to computer vision and machine learning. Furthermore, during my abroad period, I managed to create important contacts with people and companies in the silicon valley which ultimately resulted in being offered a job there

Le competenze e le abilità acquisite mi hanno permesso di intraprendere la carriera di ricercatore all'interno dell'università.
Mi sono iscritto al concorso di dottorato per caso, solo perché un mio collega a militare si era iscritto e mi ha proposto di iscrivermi. Da lì poi ho cominciato la carriera accademica che mi ha dato molta soddisfazione.

During my PhD I had an opportunity to develop a software simulator in C, learn how to use a laser to induce errors in IC, design integrated circuits for different applications. I also had CAD manager role in the lab, taught Design and Design Lab classes. It was a multidisciplinary experience that allowed me to get a broad overview of IC technology, but also an opportunity to learn about expense reports, sponsorship, writing papers for conferences and journals, public speaking and corporate presentation.
I remember my first time at ISSCC (San Francisco) with Prof. Pavan. After a long day at the conference we ate at a Sushi restaurant. As I had never been a Japanese restaurant before and I was starving, I started eating wasabi as if it were an appetizer. When my face turned green, Paolo gave a crash course on Sushi-eating, very important skill if you live on the West Coast.

Fare un percorso di dottorato mi ha consentito di acquisire una metodologia strutturata di lavoro ed una mentalità sempre aperta a cercare nuove soluzioni

During my PhD, I became an expert in the field of AI, which is something extremely valuable at this time. Among the obvious things that a PhD can teach you, like communication, management, leadership, and critical thinking, what I learned the hard way is that "a bad idea with a good presentation is doomed eventually, while a good idea with a bad presentation is doomed immediately".

Beyond the technical knowledge and the hard skills acquired during my PhD studies, I developed a cross-functional vision, seeking always different point of views to encourage progress and innovation. In addition, I developed a disciplined method to analyze problems, develop solutions, and present them, never forgetting the holistic view.

The PhD school gave me the possibility to work on different topics, collaborating also with several Departments and suppliers, thus having the possibility to broad my knowledge and improving my team working. In addition, thanks also to experiences abroad, it helped me to open my mind and to learn how to work with colleagues from the entire world. Finally, it taught me how to develop a project starting from an idea and a white sheet, passing by the prototype realization and arriving to the experimental tests.

Mi hanno assunto in una grossa azienda per fare la stessa cosa che ho fatto durante il dottorato
Quando sono arrivato a Bordeaux il mio supervisor francese non parlava una parola di inglese (o non voleva parlarlo) e mi disse all'epoca (in francese) : " sai cos'è un transistor? Hai mai visto un transistor?"

Practice in analyzing and classifying real scenarios, effort spent in problem-solving, understanding and decomposing complex problems, training in software design: these are the main abilities coming from my educational path, I found very helpful to start the acquisition of my professional skills in the new work environment. Even if the application domain was different from the one I worked on during the PhD.

My career got strongly impacted by the time I spent in my Phd: I may say that everything I did in computer vision after my phd is rooted in the years spent in the phd.

The PhD experience gave me a more structured approach to problem solving. Having an active role in several standardization bodies, the experience gathered with academic papers was useful to lay down standard drafts and how to write them.