“They asked if I wanted to be a teaching assistant and I thought bring it on,” Roberto Giachetta reminisces on when he started teaching. The Detectify backend developer shares his preluding journey of video games, university teaching and cartography.
A student and a teacher
Roberto started his journey with computers in elementary school and it was the video games that caught his interest and especially strategy ones: “First, I got hooked by computer games and then I discovered that you could use level editors to build things in the game instead of just playing it. Through that, I noticed out that I liked creating the games more than I liked playing them. I knew then I wanted to work with computers when I grew up.”
In 2002, Roberto enrolled at Eötvös Loránd University in Hungary to become a software engineer. The faculty had a many students, but few got involved with academics outside of the classroom. A window of opportunity appeared for Roberto to become a teaching assistant in his third year: “In the end, I liked it so much that I spent more time teaching in my last years at university than I did studying. I received a lot of positive feedback from my students about my teaching skills and ability to explain complex things in a simple way, and put it in a modern context. This encouraged me to pursue my Ph.D.”
A Ph.D. and a developer
As a computer science Ph.D. student, Roberto continued to divide his time between other commitments including being a full-time teacher at the university and work as a developer in the Institute of Geodesy, Cartography, and Remote Sensing. Here he took part in international R&D projects and found new approaches in different areas of satellite image analysis. “For me, it has always been important to improve,” he states, “this applies when I want to get better at what I already do and when it comes to trying new things to see where else I could utilize my skills.”
A backend developer at Detectify
When love moved Roberto to Sweden in 2017, he found Detectify. “Frankly, the name of the company caught my eye and that compelled me to take a closer look and then I discovered that they were doing awesome things,” he recalls, “I wanted to work in an industry with a more promising future. Detectify deals with present-day issues with cutting-edge technology and very interesting topics so they suit me very well!”
Even if Roberto left his three different positions behind in Hungary, he kept his curiosity and teaching skills. Today, he guides new developers on the backend team through the product and processes. He also sets time for learning and keeping up with the latest technology: “I’ll never stop learning new things or keeping track of current trends. If we stop to be curious, we stop to evolve in our work and to evolve is really important for me.”
Detectify’s fulfilling purpose and its people
When asked what he likes about Detectify, Roberto was quick to mention the quality of people recruited to this company, and especially his wonderful team. Not only this, but the company’s mission to make the internet a safer place, resonated with him and became an important factor when he applied. “I also like that here my voice matters, and I can be someone that has an impact,” he shares, “I can be proud of what I create and feel a true sense of ownership. You’re basically involved in the whole product and not just a small part of it.”
Q&A with Roberto:
Mac or PC? PC! In Mac, you’re too locked into all things Apple and there are too many limitations. I want to have access to all parts of my system and to be able to at least try to fix it if I need to!
iPhone or Android? Windows phone! RIP. The look and feel were so nice! I’m a .NET developer though, so I might be just a bit partial.
What’s your #1 security tip? Tinfoil hats, or are you looking for something more serious? Well then, make sure to only use trusted things: apps, websites and whatever is connected to the internet. If you’re unsure about something, google it until you have enough information for confidence. Don’t be fooled by how things look as there’s a lot of deception out there.
Backend or frontend? Backend because I’m pretty good at figuring out data flows and how to generally make things work.
Could you picture yourself working with Roberto and the Detectify team? Apply for one of our many open positions on our career page.