Dream study only found via detours
Even before he began his studies, Roman Lickel was programming in his uncle's IT company. Studying computer science at the ZHAW School of Engineering offered him the perfect mix of concrete practical relevance and broad basic studies. As a co-founder of the gastronomy start-up "Prognolite", he still benefits from the skills he learned at the ZHAW.
Roman Lickel's path to the ZHAW initially took a small detour: "After graduating from high school, I started studying geomatics at the ETH," Roman Lickel recalls. But he spent more time in his uncle's company than in the lecture hall, his studies didn't really grab him, so it was over in the third semester. A career counselor finally opened his eyes to him. With her help, he found out that his greatest interest was in a completely different subject. “The scales fell from my eyes, of course computer science was the subject that really corresponded to my interest,” Roman Lickel recalls his key moment. The career counseling also made him aware that he lacked the connection to practice in his first degree. The application-related orientation was important to him. Therefore, studying computer science at the ZHAW School of Engineering suited him best. And while studying part-time, he was even able to continue working in his uncle's IT company.
Joint start-up founded with fellow students
Although Roman Lickel had started and implemented smaller projects during his studies and alongside his work, he had never specifically pursued the idea of founding his own company or start-up one day. After his bachelor's degree in 2015, he started working for a web agency in order to gain other professional experience alongside his work in the IT company. Here he quickly realized that being an employee was not the ideal solution for him: "I noticed that I could develop better if I decided for myself what I would like to do and where I would like to go". The founding of his own start-up was by no means planned, but rather happened by chance: his colleague Simon Michel asked him if he would like to found his own start-up with him. "I didn't know this world at all until then," emphasizes Roman Lickel. The basic idea for the start-up came to Simon Michel when he went to the canteen, where the vegetarian menu was often sold out early. In other places, too, he noticed that the restaurants were apparently having trouble getting the quantity of the menus and the deployment of staff right calculate. The start-up Prognolite wanted to change that thanks to artificial intelligence and grow fast and strong. The result is a tool for restaurateurs that correlates all data and billing and, based on this, provides forecasts for the catering business. In the meantime, Prognolite counts numerous well-known catering companies and companies among its customers.
"The course is heavily geared towards programming, which I particularly liked."
Roman Lickel, graduate of the Computer Science study at the ZHAW School of Engineering
A stable foundation
As a baccalaureate with no previous apprenticeship, Roman Lickel was practically a career changer in computer science and therefore very grateful for the broad basic studies at the ZHAW. "I learned programming through my experience in my uncle's company, but I knew nothing about the basics. The computer science degree helped me a lot here,” says Roman Lickel, looking back on his studies. "And of course I particularly liked the fact that the study is strongly geared towards programming." Roman Lickel also found the strong practical relevance, which is also produced by the project work, impressive. "I thought it was great that I was able to link the many projects that we realized during my studies directly to my work." In hindsight, for the start-up co-founder, choosing the ZHAW was the “perfect match”, as Roman Lickel briefly and accurately described his time at the School of Engineering in retrospect.