Mission
Propulsion Academy’s mission is to impact society’s future. We want to give people the best tools and knowledge to reach their full potential and bring their personal contribution to the “idea economy.” We love living and working in Switzerland and feel that the country’s potential as a major IT player is tremendous. Even though IT education is excellent in Switzerland, access is restricted and only reserved to a select few. We want to democratize this process and give the country the software developers it needs to grow into an important technological hub within Europe and the rest of the world.
Story
The seeds of Propulsion Academy were planted at the end of 2015 with what started as a coffee talk between its founders who have heavy experience in both industry and academia. What triggered this idea was the simple and obvious fact: Switzerland faces a well-publicized developer shortage and a system that lacked the ability to produce the required volume. We looked to what was going on with the hacking school movement and determined that we could put a Swiss twist to the concept for the benefit of those who didn’t have an opportunity to make it into IT.
Our Team
Laurent Meyer
Founder
Ever since his childhood, Laurent has lived and breathed IT and entrepreneurship. His passion is to educate the world in the most advanced IT technologies, filling the gap between the enormous demands for experts in the coming decades. He is adamant that many talented, dedicated people coming out of other disciplines can become successful IT professionals, and will fill that gap. Propulsion is the realization of that vision.
Dr. Nitin Kumar
Program Manager,
Data Science Immersive
As a Data Scientist with a decade of experience in data mining, pattern recognition, and predictive modeling, Nitin has been there since the beginning. He helped deliver Switzerland’s first Data Science bootcamp and now manages the entire program, including consulting. Nitin’s motto is: “if a human brain can do it, one can make an algorithm do it!”
Laurent Hoxhaj
Program Manager,
Full-Stack Immersive
Graduated with a Bachelor in Computer Engineering, Laurent has a curious mind which pushes him to keep learning. In fact, he started as a student and became a teacher here at Propulsion Academy. His meticulousness and passion for coding, along with his friendly personality, make him one of our greatest assets.
Colin Wirz
CTO
Colin is the ultimate bootcamp instructor: gourmet chef by trade, Python expert by profession. Colin has spent the last 10 years mastering the art of full-stack development through "learning by doing" and various commercial projects. A big fan of live coding and not slides, he is well-versed in a multitude of programming languages in addition to Python.
Daniele Roncaglioni
Web Developer
Ever since Daniele coded his first game while in high school, the passion for programming has never let go of him. After his MSc in Physics at ETH, during which he completed various Data Science projects, he has continued to follow his passion for coding, first working for an IT consulting company and then joining Propulsion as a student and now as Web Developer.
Dr. Dimitris Mousadakos
Data Science Consultant,
Data Science Immersive
Dimitris has extensive experience in analyzing and interpreting data in science and a strong background in Information Technology. With a PhD in Nanotechnology from EPFL, he has a curious character and likes to brake down and communicate concepts to broad audiences in a simple and meaningful manner.
Academic Advisors
Dr. Thomas Flatt
Thomas is board member and investor with a broad range of companies. Most of them are IT related which reflects his passion for software development and computer science. He is president of SwissICT and Vice-President of ICTSwitzerland, the two largest ICT associations in Switzerland which both have a strong focus on ICT education and the workplace Switzerland. Earlier in his career, Thomas was CEO of Abraxas Informatik, global head of HR at Adecco, head of e-business at Swisscom and consultant with the Boston Consulting Group. He studied Medicine, earned a doctorate in medical computer science and holds a MBA from INSEAD.
Prof.Dr. Markus Gross
Markus is Professor of Computer science at ETH Zürich, head of its Computer Graphics Laboratory, director of Disney Research Zürich, and a seasoned entrepreneur. He cofounded and sold several companies and serves on the boards of numerous international research institutes, societies, and governmental organizations. His research interests include a broad spectrum of topics in Visual Computing. He received many important awards and fellowships for his work and is a member of two academies of sciences. Markus has more than 25 years of teaching experience in Computer Science.
Prof.Dr. Bertrand Meyer
Bertrand’s inventions in theories, techniques, notations and tools for software quality have had a major impact on how the world develops software and played a key role in the enormous success of object-oriented programming. He has reinforced them through milestone books, language mechanisms, tools, and his work as a speaker and educator. He is Professor of Software Engineering at ETH Zürich where he has taught introductory programming to thousands of students as well as more advanced topics such as verification, parallel programming, software engineering, and language design.
Scientific Advisors
Dr. Nicolas Perony
CTO at OTO.AI
I like to build cool things with data and machine learning, currently on a quest to capture and model what makes human conversation so special. I believe in creating impact through the combination of technology and education.
Cesar Ilharco
Research & Machine Intelligence at Google
I’m curious and I enjoy exploration: have yet to live in a city for more than 5 years. I studied Applied Math and CS, did a few software engineering internships and I’ve been exploiting this domain working on question answering at Google Research & Machine Intelligence.
Dr. Simon Heinzle
CEO of Codelane GmbH
As both an instructor and contributor to the curriculum, Simon plays a key role for the Full-Stack Enginering program at Propulsion Academy. Thanks to his experience developing web, mobile and desktop applications for companies and startups, Simon has the amazing ability to teach all of the subjects from the front to the back-end parts of the program.