Rick Wertenbroek was born in 1988 in Lausanne. He took an accelerated training an an electronics technician (CFC) at ETML (Ecole Technique, Ecole des Métiers de Lausanne).
He then obtained his Bachelor of Science (BSc) in Computer Engineering, Majoring in Embedded Systems in 2016 at the HEIG-VD (Haute École d'Ingénierie et de Gestion du Canton de Vaud). He got his Master of Science in Engineering (MSE) in Information and Communication Technologies in 2020 at the HES-SO Master (Haute Ecole Spécialisée de Suisse Occidentale).

Rick joined the REDS Institute in September 2016 where he worked as a aR&d engineer (Applied Research and Development). His work focuses on hardware acceleration of information processing and embedded system development. He collaborates in several projects, working both on hardware (e.g., FPGA design) and software development. He took his Master's degree while working part time at the REDS Institute.

He also participates in the academic part of the institute; as a teaching assistant for the laboratories of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering Bachelor classes. For example the laboratories teaching concurrent programming, assembly languages, and digital design.