42 Lausanne, the beginning of a great story

Discover 42 Lausanne, a young campus which, one year after its launch, has retained the excitement of its early days.

Close to Lake Geneva, greenery, and the ski slopes, 42 Lausanne has everything to please. The campus enjoys a pleasant setting in a very student-oriented city: 50,000 students come here each year to study. Numerous places to go out attract a diverse and cosmopolitan population to this city, which is ideally located in the center of French-speaking Switzerland.

“Switzerland is a country based on service activities: IT is a key element. With 8 million inhabitants, recruitment is currently done by attracting external talent. It’s becoming increasingly difficult to keep up with the need, and that’s why we needed a 42 school in Lausanne, to train IT professionals directly on site.”
Christophe Wagnière, Captain of 42 Lausanne

42 Lausanne’s main sponsor is Swisscom, Switzerland’s number one telephone and IT company. Its partners also include Infomaniak, Qoqa, and the Banque Cantonale Vaudoise. Together, they represent the diversity of Swiss tech players: sales, banking, and telecommunications. Numerous patrons also complete the list, making it possible to have both small, medium and large companies involved in the life of the campus. They do not hesitate to introduce themselves to the students to show them their diversity and recruit new talent.

“Swisscom was seen by our students as a smartphone vendor, an “old style” company. And then, after several conferences given by their digital experience team, very tech-oriented, our students fell under the spell and now want to get an internship with them!”
Christophe Wagnière, Captain of 42 Lausanne

The 42 Lausanne campus was built inside an old printing house, completely refurbished in keeping with the original design. Metal beams rub shoulders with brick walls in a style that is both clean and industrial. It shares its premises with many startups to keep a state of mind of innovation. The computers are divided into two main clusters, “Gotham” and “Asgard”. A space reserved for technical workshops, a modular space and a relaxation area complete the facilities. In total, the campus is able to accommodate 600 students.

“As for the critics, we have had both extremes: at the same time an elitist school for some because of our selection method, and at the same time for others a last resort training because we accept all profiles. As a result, when we put these reactions face-to-face, we realize that we are more or less balanced. We receive many questions and we are regularly called upon to share the experiences of our students, notably in the local press which is very important in French-speaking Switzerland. We have never been perceived as a competing school, but really as a complementary training to all the offers already present.”
Christophe Wagnière, Captain of 42 Lausanne

“42 Lausanne is the best campus in the entire network of 42 campuses… because we have Jpeg with us (editor’s note: Jérémy Peguet, CTO of 42 Lausanne, Alumni 42 and a historical Bocal figure at 42 in Paris)! We have a campus size that is ideal where we know everyone, a very relaxed atmosphere and festive parties almost every week!”
Christophe Wagnière, Captain of 42 Lausanne