Florian Hanke: "Studying computer science has led to some interesting encounters"
Florian Hanke studied computer science at ETH Zurich from 1997 to 2004. He especially appreciates his discipline’s universal applicability, which has taken him as far as Papua New Guinea.
Florian Hanke, why did you decide to study computer science?
I was wavering between medicine and computer science. After high school, I worked at Credit Suisse for six months, where I collaborated with end users to create small utility programs that actually helped them. Analysing the problems, implementing the solutions and, above all, the moments of happiness after a successful deployment made me realise that computer science was the way to go.
Which moments from your studies have stayed in your memory?
I still remember my first steps on the internet and some bizarre moments during the extremely stressful end-of-year exams. In retrospect, the stunt of a fellow student was particularly magnificent: during the most important, triple-counting exam, he brought out a huge sandwich wrapped in aluminium foil, crackling metallically, and nibbled on it with relish for several minutes while gazing contentedly at his surroundings.
What did you do after you graduated?
After graduating in 2004, I had numerous jobs, from a research stay in Brazil to software engineering at Ergon Informatik and starting my first own company. Between 2011 and 2017, I did a doctorate in computational linguistics at the University of Melbourne in Australia. My dissertation took me to the highland jungles of Papua New Guinea, where I used distributed cell phones to record rare languages in order to preserve them. I am very grateful to my computer science studies for making such interesting experiments and encounters possible.
Do you still work as a computer scientist today?
Yes, I run my own company, Sakura Engineering. I also rediscovered a hobby from childhood, programming video games. For two years now, I've been working on games again and exchanging ideas with other independent game developers at zürindies.
What do you appreciate most about your profession?
I appreciate that you can automate repetitive work processes, leaving users more time for creative work. And that computer science is almost universally applicable, allowing computer scientists to gain insight into a wide variety of interesting domains.
What were the most important lessons you took away from your studies?
The main things were analytical thinking and communication. New programming languages or areas of application are constantly being added, and the hardware changes, but it always helps to correctly classify information and to communicate solutions in a clear way.
What do you wish D-INFK for its 40th birthday?
Forty more successful years – with a lot of interdisciplinary collaboration with the other departments at ETH Zurich!
40 years D-INFK
In 1981, the computer science curriculum was introduced at ETH Zurich. At the same time, the IIIC division was established, which was the foundation for today's Department of Computer Science. On the occasion of its 40th anniversary, we present alumnae and alumni who have carried their knowledge and skills from ETH Zurich into the outside world over the past four decades.