Meet the Team: Q&A with Luca Ricchi, Senior Developer

9 June 2021

We’re back with the series that helps you get to know our stars a little bit better, today we turn the attention to Luca Ricchi. It’s great to be speaking with you Luca, tell us a little bit about yourself and a typical workday as a senior developer!

Luca
Luca Ricchi, Senior Developer

Hello! Before we get started let me say thank you for giving me the opportunity to tell you a little bit more about me. I’m a senior developer who graduated in Italy (a long, long time ago…) and before moving to Scotland I worked there for a medium-size company not far from Fano, the beautiful town where I was born and lived in Italy!

My workday in Condatis starts with the usual Scrum stand-up meeting which is a brief catch-up where each team member can say how things are going on in the project. The rest of the day is a mix of actual coding and other meetings specific to the current project or for more general Condatis subjects. A good cup of coffee in the afternoon is also a must-have every day!

Tell us about your move to Scotland, did you move directly from Italy, or were you living elsewhere before?

I moved to Scotland with my partner Silvia in July 2018 directly from Italy where I lived for all my life. I had never been to Scotland before, in fact, I had only stepped foot in the UK once which was a five-day holiday in London! In the early stages of my move here, it wasn’t easy because of my English at the time, and we also had to find accommodation as soon as possible: which was hectic and interesting!

Fast forward a little bit to now… We eventually settled in, and now love living in Edinburgh – a wonderful city, apart from the Scottish weather!

What enticed you to work in the tech industry? 

I am not sure if there was a specific moment that led me to becoming a developer. I guess I always just took interest in techy things since I was a child. I remember when my parents bought an Olivetti PC with a green screen. I created “an impressive” program in BASIC that was just printing a huge list of football teams and their trophies.

Taking it back to high school, I already had the idea of going to university to study computer science, so the choice wasn’t really that difficult. I must confess that at some point when I was in university, I was tempted to start making craft beers as a job. Homebrewing is one of my (too many) interests!

Technology companies design solutions that are meant to be used by everyone, regardless of gender or ethnicity, so it’s safe to say that those developing these solutions should have teams that are made up of the same individuals that the solutions are designed for. We’d be interested to know your thoughts on what employers should do to provide equal opportunities to build a more diverse team and inclusive environment?

This is a fundamental topic, especially after events that have happened over the last few years in different parts of the world. I think that we are lucky to live in a multi-cultural city like Edinburgh, and this is perfectly reflected in Condatis. I love working with people from different countries and with different cultures. I think this is an extraordinary personal opportunity to grow that can lead to the growth of the whole company.

In my opinion, Condatis is heading in the right direction, not only by including people from different countries, but also in terms of gender diversification in the developer teams because our sector has historically always been, wrongly, too “male-centric”.

We’ve spoken about your typical workday, tell us about your ideal Saturday & Sunday! What does the perfect weekend look like for you?

I like to get outside for a good walk and enjoy a few beers with Silvia and my friends in one of the many Edinburgh pubs: I always like to try different beers when there’s a chance! Before the pandemic, I used to explore restaurants and street food places with Silvia and try new foods. I can’t wait to be doing this again when possible!  That aside, I also like to stay at home, sitting on my couch watching a TV series or football games. I’d say that in general, I’m quite lazy!

Having been with Condatis for 3 years, how have you seen the company grow in this time?

Many many things have changed! I first joined Sitekit three years ago, and shortly after Condatis was born and we moved to the new office in Leith Links.

From a business point of view, Condatis is now not only still involved in more traditional digital identity solutions, but it has become a very important player in the world of decentralized identities which I think will be the future of our industry.

Also, there have been several changes to the team over my time here, but the important thing is that Sitekit first and Condatis now promotes the idea of a team in which everyone’s opinions matter.

What’s something about yourself that not many people know?

As touched on previously, I have many different interests, and some interests come and go! For example, I could be obsessed with something for two or three months and then move to the next thing.

For a period, I used to go to a local shooting range near Fano and practice with handguns (I liked revolvers). But don’t worry I’m a pacifist! It was just sport for me. Something that I miss a lot is skiing. Whenever possible, I’d like to go back to the Dolomiti mountains in Italy: probably one of favourite places to visit!

Another important thing that has been and will always be a “good friend” of mine is music. I like to listen to different genres from classical to hard rock music. Unfortunately, I think that it’s getting harder and harder to find good songs and bands today, I think nowadays the important thing is just to produce something as quick as possible rather than spending time creating something new and original.

We hear you’re a football fan, Luca! Talk to us about your team and their latest achievement?

Yes, that’s my football “disease”. I’m a big Inter Milan fan and this has been a very important year as we’ve just won our 19th Serie A Scudetto after 11 years. I’ve been an Inter fan since I was a kid, and hold strong memories of watching matches at the San Siro stadium in Milan when the “original” Ronaldo was still playing for Inter. My favourite player of all the time is Javier Zanetti for what he represented on and off the pitch.

Moving away from footballing achievements, what’s the big thing you’d like to accomplish in your career/life?

From a career perspective, I’d like to keep learning new technologies and improve my coding skills. I’d also like to improve my overall non-technical experience. I enjoy trying to help the company and my colleagues as much as I can to the best of my ability.

In terms of life goals, I’m extremely happy having Silvia by my side, and at some point, I’d like to buy a house somewhere that we both want to live, and big enough to have spare space for some not essential things, for example, a big smoker for BBQs! Personally, one of the most important things that makes me happy is when I can make other people laugh through stupid jokes, a very “friendly and peaceful” guy once said: “Why so serious?”.

Interested in being a part of the Condatis team?

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