About me
I’m 27 years old. Currently, I am self-employed and available for consulting and project development, while finishing up my degree. Self-employment is simply the easiest way to work and study at the same time. Since 1996, I’ve worked for different start-up companies in Germany. I started off as a programmer, then working as a software engineer and then I quickly rose though the ranks to management, because in start-ups very often the pyramid is built from the top downwards, so they just added staff under my position. I’ve gained experience as a software engineer, as a consultant, as a team manager and as a project manager. Now I’m focusing on software project management and technology consulting with an eye on the individual. My primary concern is keeping every project within its time and budget constraints. I try to find the right tool for the job, keep an open mind and adopt cutting-edge technology where appropriate.
I recognized that you can only work as a pure software engineer for so long. After that you have to acquire management skills. I still think that while a lot of the daily management work can be performed by someone without an understanding of the fine-print of the technology he’s working with, a firm footing in computer science is necessary to successfully manage software projects! That simply comes with the fact that the map is not the territory. Software engineers can become the best software project managers. It doesn’t work the other way round.
I’m not alone with this belief. Joel Spolsky, according to his foreword to Richard Chapman’s book “In Search Of Stupidity”, seems to agree with me completely on the issue of programmers becoming the best managers. He also shows the statistics that back this point up.
However, all that doesn’t help if you don’t have necessary resources to complete a project. Back in 2001, together with a very good friend, I founded my own company, the MKM GmbH in Munich, Germany, to create a platform for integration, collaboration with free-lancers and other companies and supporting our clients. This allows me to quickly scale up to meet all your needs. Finding the right people for a job is just as important as having the right tools. With the people over at coeno, we have found a great resource, just as we have with my brother’s company Trust Solutions.
Why would you want to work with me?
I think that I can aid you the most when you bring me in before a project is started, preferably while it’s being conceptualized. My main expertise is a broad background in all kinds of technologies and a firm understanding of the requirements for software systems in today’s markets. I also work as a programmer, diving in directly, which I think is an important point, especially if a project is using cutting-edge technologies or in trouble.
I try to live up to the promise that I invest a lot of time to keep up-to-date in-depth knowledge about evolving technology trends and learn about the appropriate tools, so you don’t have to.