Last September, I had a thought-provoking meeting with a representative of what I call a "social recruiting company". I use this expression because this company—which I will refer to as SRC for convenience—exploits a social media-like communication approach to implement an innovative and ingenious business model. By the way, it was clear from the start … Continue reading Communication and Employer Branding: How Employers and Applicants Switched Roles in the Internet Era
Saudade and Identity
Saudade is a deep emotional state of nostalgic or profound melancholic longing for an absent something or someone that one loves.source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saudade Portuguese is a language known for its intrinsic musicality (Important update: my friend Matteo pointed out to me that this it true for Brazilian variant only). When you listen to a person speaking … Continue reading Saudade and Identity
An Imaginary Trip to the USA — Chapter I: Introduction
Throughout the years, I have had the chance to meet several American people in person or online, with whom I have had numerous conversations. Often, we have talked about our respective countries because this has been one of the topics we have been interested in. We have usually asked each other a lot of questions … Continue reading An Imaginary Trip to the USA — Chapter I: Introduction
Losing the Edge
Manager: a professional who achieves set objectives by organizing other people's work. Recently, I had an interesting conversation about management with my good friend, Matteo. Specifically, we discussed the role of the technical manager in modern companies. Matteo has a deep technical background and is a great engineer. Currently, he is experiencing a stage of … Continue reading Losing the Edge
The Art of Trading Off: How Engineering Has Affected My Ordinary Life
In this post, I talked about the creative side of engineering. Surprisingly, that is not the only one. In a nutshell, this is what engineering is all about: https://youtu.be/egWvQuT5TCU Simply put, you have to achieve a technical goal with a set of available resources (time, people, money, etc.) and within a deadline. That's it. Most … Continue reading The Art of Trading Off: How Engineering Has Affected My Ordinary Life
Cursed Engineers
On March 23rd, I attended a public talk in San Daniele del Friuli, a town that is famous worldwide for its delicious ham. The main guest was the writer Elena Commessatti. The event was organized by Leggermente, a cultural association which aims to promote reading.[1] The organizer devised a compelling formula for such events. Basically, … Continue reading Cursed Engineers
Millennials and Liquid Leadership
Don’t criticize, condemn, or complain. --Dale Carnegie A leader is the one who is able to create a world to which people want to belong. --Robert B. Dilts Frequently, I hear about people of my generation, Generation X, and baby boomers complaining about the fact that they struggle to communicate with millennials. I also have … Continue reading Millennials and Liquid Leadership
Italian Creativity
The readers of this blog know well that I am not afraid to criticize my country. When I do this, it's because I really wish we could sort out its dysfunctionalities. The first step to take is, therefore, to recognize these difficulties. Nevertheless, I'm also aware of the positive peculiarities that still make Italy unique. … Continue reading Italian Creativity
Northeast Italy Looking for a New Societal Balance
Northeast Italy is where I live. It is famous for the successful economic model that it implemented during the last decades of the 20th century. This model was characterized by a myriad of small, very flexible companies that adapted quickly to the market. In combination with the competitive devaluation policy carried out by Italy before … Continue reading Northeast Italy Looking for a New Societal Balance
The communication as a form of power
Being an engineer, I have several friends who fill similar technical positions in the companies they work for. Quite often, we have the opportunity to talk about our jobs. One of the questions that rises more frequently is: in general, why do the sales guys earn more money than the technical people? Obviously, the thought … Continue reading The communication as a form of power
The aspiring Industrial Data Scientist and the Italian bureaucracy
Several months ago, I decided it was time to increase my expertise to cope with the challenges posed by the Industrial Internet-of-Things (IIoT) and the Industry 4.0. These new fields of the Information Technology represent a sort of natural evolution of my current profession, as the Internet is playing a more and more important role … Continue reading The aspiring Industrial Data Scientist and the Italian bureaucracy
Euro, or not Euro: that is the question
In June, I attended a public talk about the Euro currency. Two speakers were invited representing two opposing opinions with regard to the Eurozone: the senator Paolo Guerrieri and the professor Alberto Bagnai. Even though senator Guerrieri thinks that adopting the Euro was an error, he claims that Italy should not leave the Eurozone now. … Continue reading Euro, or not Euro: that is the question
Teamwork and communication
In 2016 I attended a course about the communication strategies in politics. Although it dealt with some specific techniques used in this context, the basic mechanisms it illustrated are valid for the communication in general. The course was held by a mental coach who has specialized to work with politicians and work/sports teams. Therefore, I took … Continue reading Teamwork and communication
The typical day of the embedded systems engineer
To relax, I occasionally read a web site which talks ironically about basketball. It is called "La giornata tipo", "the typical day" in English. Many of the articles you can find there describe hypothetical average days of basketball teams and players. These hypothetical days are littered with invented facts that exacerbate the flaws of the … Continue reading The typical day of the embedded systems engineer
The backbone of the Italian economy
When it comes to explaining to a foreign friend why it is so difficult to run a business in Italy, I struggle to find the words to describe this matter properly. There are some irrational situations that are incomprehensible to the people who have never lived here, especially if they come from a country with … Continue reading The backbone of the Italian economy
Sharing meetings
Managing a team to work effectively and efficiently is one of the most common problems that managers have to face and I am no exception, as I currently work as R&D Director. Effectiveness and efficiency of working teams are probably some of the most studied and debated issues in the field of management theory. [1] … Continue reading Sharing meetings
The art of troubleshooting
Even though engineering is commonly associated with cold scientific laws and rigid technical rules, often it has to do with creativity and fantasy as well. This is very true in the embedded systems engineering, in particular, the field in which I currently work. All Electronics and Software Engineers know that most of the time our … Continue reading The art of troubleshooting
Playing with cryptocurrencies and blockchains (previously: Playing with Bitcoins) – Part II
Introduction Last January, I posted an article about Bitcoins. This post is a sort of part II of the linked article. Due to the fact that the new post will talk about Bitcoins as well as other cryptocurrencies, I decided to change the title. I realized, in fact, that the world of cryptocurrencies goes well … Continue reading Playing with cryptocurrencies and blockchains (previously: Playing with Bitcoins) – Part II
Information society, youth, and sports
Introduction Last month I attended a public talk where the main guest was a former professional soccer [1] player, Fabio Rossitto. Currently, he works as a coach [2] of pro and youth teams. Even though I never played soccer seriously, I used to be a fan and I watched tons of games throughout my life. … Continue reading Information society, youth, and sports
Are we start-upping too much?
Nowadays, it seems that many people realize suddenly that they have a so far unknown entrepreneurial side and decide to start a new company. On the one side, this is undoubtedly positive. The attempts to put into practice new ideas can be a very powerful driver for the developments of new products and services for the … Continue reading Are we start-upping too much?
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