A boundless horizon for creativity

After concentrating on the literary side at school, I decided to embark on Communication Systems studies. Why did I choose EPFL? I didn’t even have to think about it.
It was an obvious choice since I lived only 10 minutes away from the campus.

Five years have gone by. Now that I have my Master’s degree, I realize just how remarkable these years actually were. I’m not just talking about the studies at the EPFL, but rather about the doors that it opened up for me. First of all, thanks to the IC’s internship service, I spent a year in Zurich with Open Systems, and then at Google, where I worked on a project involving YouTube.

EPFL maintains many ties with universities all over the world. Through an exchange program, I was able to attend the University of California, Berkeley. It has to be said that American campuses are imposing places! To cap this exchange, I also dropped into Silicon Valley, where I had the opportunity to work for Facebook over a summer and experience true American innovation. So does that make the EPFL a launch pad for going elsewhere? I would encourage everyone to take advantage of similar opportunities. It was also through these experiences that I understood the value of the EPFL and the truly international role that it plays.

This is a good opportunity to speak about my vision of information and communication technology. For me, ICT is above all a boundless horizon for creativity, with an amazing potential to reach people and play a role in the development of society. Once you realize that, traditional prejudices crumble away – so, no, it’s not just for geeks! It doesn’t really matter if you were good at physics, or if you preferred math; what really counts is a willingness to learn and understand tools with a potentially incredible impact. Sure, math is one part of it. But in the end, how important is that really?