The second testimonial of our “Students on Board” series is from Mattia, a Software Engineer at Sampierana. Interviewing him gave us a boost of energy and positivity, which accompanies him daily since he was directly hired after his internship.
Hello Mattia, tell us a little about yourself. Can you tell us about your journey?
It has been a year since I arrived here in October. I was hired as a Software Engineer after completing my studies in Electronic and Telecommunications Engineering.
What were your initial professional goals, and what was the transition from internship to being hired?
Before getting to know Sampierana-Eurocomach, I was interested in the automotive and agricultural machinery sectors. The opportunity came through a seminar organized by the company at the university. An internship is a time to get to know the company, and the workload isn’t as excessive as in a normal job, allowing you to ask more questions. After being hired, the main goal was to bring software, electrical, and electronic know-how in-house at Sampierana, making it more autonomous from suppliers.
What exactly do you do as a Software Engineer?
The software, electrical, and electronic parts were not previously managed internally, but through suppliers. The idea is to manage it as the CNH group does, which has its own systems and processes. At the moment, we are following the service and support part for the validation of existing products, but in the future, the goal is to start developing software for new projects. This concerns all excavators, not just the electric ones.
What have you unexpectedly learned during your career?
I learned about the architecture of the machines and how the processes for procurement and component selection are managed. This was the most interesting aspect for me. I also had the opportunity to see how a product is validated, through procedures and tests. At the university level, I never expected to end up in the field of excavators, but if they had asked me two years ago, I probably would have said that I would have liked it. I discovered that my studies gave me the foundation to understand the fields in which electronics are developed.
What was the company’s support like during your internship?
During the internship, I realized that there wasn’t a specific point of reference in my field. However, I had the support of a guy from the technical office and the project manager. When my current manager, Nicolò Rossi, arrived, the approach changed, and even if resources are sometimes lacking, we work to recover them.
What is the most interesting or beautiful thing you have learned so far that you perhaps didn’t expect?
The most interesting thing is probably how a product is validated. All the procedures that are done and implemented to check whether a product that has already been designed and built, but not yet put into production by the company, is of sufficient quality or follows the construction specifications through the various tests that are carried out on the products—this aspect is very interesting to me.
