Employee Spotlight: Joe Torreggiani

This week for our employee spotlight series we talked with Joe Torreggiani, an Engineering Manager at Artemis. Joe works closely with the Engineering and the Customer Success teams to build the Artemis platform and create a seamless user experience.

Why did you join Artemis?

Joe: I studied history and philosophy in college and focused my undergraduate research on the advent and environmental impact of industrial agriculture. I was inspired by new sustainable agricultural methods including urban farming, indoor farming, and hydroponics. That interest eventually led me to a career in technology. Artemis offered an opportunity to merge two of my interests, agriculture and technology, and to work on making our food systems more sustainable.

What were you doing before Artemis?

Joe: I was working as a software engineer at an educational technology company that offered a digital course material platform for colleges and universities. The goal of the company was to lower the cost of course materials for students and increase adoption of digital educational resources.

What is your favorite memory here?

Joe: My first day of work was at a company offsite where I got a chance to meet everyone for the first time in person. Artemis had selected the Mohonk Mountain House in New Paltz New York, which just happened to be where my wife and I got married three months prior. When we were walking the grounds I got to show the team where we had our ceremony and a bunch of us took an epic group photo that looked like a 80s band album cover.

How long have you worked here?

Joe: I have been with the company for about 2.5 years.

What’s your favorite core value?

Joe: My favorite core value is “We align around solutions, not consensus”. I think this core value makes our company more agile. We generate potential solutions together and assemble around good ideas. The ideas prove to be more or less valuable or effective, and are integrated or discarded accordingly. This allows us to talk about good or bad ideas without alienating individual team members, which creates a trusting environment to work in.

What’s been the weirdest adjustment from working wherever you were before to working here?

Joe: Pretty soon after starting at Artemis, my wife and I moved to England in order for her to pursue a masters degree. Working remotely in a time zone up to 8 hours different from my coworkers was a challenge, but as a team we made it work.

What would you recommend for potential future Artemis employees?

Joe: Start gardening! Building a better understanding of agriculture helps us deliver better solutions to our customers.

How do you feel about remote work?

Joe: The flexibility of remote work is pretty hard to beat. It allowed my family to stay together while my wife pursued further education. The time that I have gained from not commuting, I have been able to put it into my hobbies like gardening and playing music.

What are you most excited about for the Artemis future?

Joe: I believe Artemis is part of a broader revolution to upgrade our food system to make it more sustainable and equitable.

If you had $20 what would you do with it this weekend?

Joe: I would donate it to Feeding America.