I’ve been working with computer systems and everything related to information technology since 1997. In my early days my focus was around games and the PCs that should run them. It feels like a long time ago now and the expression to work in tech certainly wasn't around then. The rollout of the blazing fast internet connections we take as granted today manifested itself through so called closed-beta tests for DSL in Germany. It was the time that is now known as dot-com era. And companies that would be called tech companies today, flexed their muscles with lofty evaluations in the financial markets for the first time.

After a "minor" detour — meaning a degree in law — I was pretty sure that my heart and mind roots for IT. My passion not only for technology in general but for the impact on our society brought me back to the terminal. Not everything law-related was in vain. During my time at the university I had learned two major things about myself: First, I'm a generalist and second, the question "why" in complex schemes and topics comes to me naturally. I want to know and see the bigger picture with my own eyes. It's like a tick. With both of my backgrounds I know how difficult and challenging it is to have meaningful conversations in complex topics. However, I feel drawn to do exactly that.

IT offers a lot of these challenges – especially when you look at emerging technologies with heavy media attention like blockchain, AI/ML, AR/VR and IoT. Even the approach to IT in big enterprise companies and startups can be vastly diverse so that a translator would be needed eventually. I encounter that phenomenon in recurring questions quite often (e. g. what the cloud actually is). The answers widely range from "using the computer of others" to "the limitless potential of self-scaling infrastructures to run all kinds of workloads”. Additional questions would be: How are virtualization, container and microservices related with each other and how can we run these things in real world environments with real workloads? What is the fitting software stack for a certain project? What kind of projects demand a classical approach to project management and when is agile the inevitable way to go?

I see myself as a helmsman and navigator (Kubernetes reference intended)in an ever-rising sea of complexity and a staggering amount of IT solutions. A lot of people feel the urge to throw in their towels while deciding against being a generalist and looking for their salvation in highly specialized niches at the same time. Since I started working in IT, I have been following my instincts and keeping track on the impossible task "to know it all". It's no longer possible to split our work in frontend, back-end and somewhere on the server/infrastructure in my perspective. We need people who build bridges between these technical islands. These people would act like agents of modern APM solutions looking for all related connections and always having one goal in mind namely, to make sense of what is really going on in the systems.

Inventions in technology are not only done for the sake of ingenuity and out of a pure pioneering spirit. (Technical) progress is used in our world primarily for one thing: It is an investment vehicle to build and accumulate wealth. The companies of FAANG/FAMAG etc. have this fact deeply rooted in their DNA (and nicely masked btw). Other companies like Cisco try to acquire their way into the future. Development, implementation and rollout of new IT-solutions need commitment & investment. Everyone who likes to understand the economic potential and impact of technology needs to ask the question if this vendor plus service and support will still be around for one more year.

Fast Forward from 1997 to 2016: I started working at avodaq, a Cisco integrator and self-coined Digital Business Partner. And since the beginning of 2016 I have been leading the international software development department. Together with my team we work on individual and customized software solutions – everything related to process digitization, automation in general and APIs around collaboration solutions, data center products, the network in general, IoT and security.

I'm thinking and living a cloud first life – with all strings and risks attached. I'm process-driven and definitely an early adaptor of new technologies across the IT landscape. Has anyone mentioned anything about the Gartner Hype Cycle? I practice what I "preach" and have been invested (long) in technology stocks and trade actively Crypto assets. When I'm not in front of a screen or another piece of technology I play canoe polo and go out for a run to train for another marathon.

The suitable motto to thrive in this world:

„The best antidote to feeling overwhelmed is Forward Momentum.”

Please feel free to reach out with any questions or feedback: .

Talks and Presentations (Excerpt)

2020 2019 2018 2017

Certifications

Technology Project Management & Processes