5th company anniversary of Paul Moeller-Friedrich - About his career from dual student to Android developer

Our employee Paul Moeller-Friedrich had his 5th company anniversary at eos.uptrade in April. He started with us as the first dual student in Hamburg and is now a full-time Android developer. On the occasion of his anniversary, we talked about his career so far.

 

Melina: Hi Paul, congratulations on your 5th anniversary! Let's talk about what's been going on over the last few years. Please tell me how you ended up at eos.uptrade in the first place.

Paul: Although it was clear to me since sixth grade that I wanted to become a developer, I wanted to do something practical after graduating from high school and not just sit around and listen to a teacher again. That's why I only applied for apprenticeships in March 2017. When I was then invited to an interview at eos, I was offered a dual study program instead of just an apprenticeship. After a day of getting to know each other and the subsequent one-month internship at eos.uptrade, I then started in April 2018 for the summer semester at the partner university in Wedel in the Smart Technology degree program and began my training at the same time. Since I was still underage at the time, I was even able to negotiate an extra day of vacation, my greatest achievement to date.

Melina: What was the course of study about? Were you able to choose freely?

Paul: Smart Technology has a lot of similarities with Computer Engineering, except that it's more about things like smart homes. I was able to choose the course of study myself, but of course it had to include a specialization in computer science. Media informatics, for example, would have been too far away from the topic.

Melina: How should I imagine the dual study program? In retrospect, would you do it again or recommend it to others?

Paul: I was always at the university for 16 weeks, and then I worked at eos.uptrade for 10 weeks. There I could immediately apply what I had learned theoretically before, or I learned topics that helped me later on in my studies. That was really good, because I learn much better when I have a connection to the real world. Of course, there was a certain amount of pressure to finish my studies in the standard period of study, and I would have liked to have had a little more free time to prepare for the exams. Overall, though, I'm very glad I went through with the dual study program. At the age of 23, I already have five years of professional experience and a bachelor's degree. I also believe that you learn even more during your studies than during your apprenticeship alone. Studying also gives me more opportunities for my future professional life, since large companies such as Siemens pay attention to proper education.

Melina: How did you perceive your practical phases at eos.uptrade? Were you adequately challenged and supported?

Paul: I was allowed to work as an Android developer right from the start. Because I was only ever in the office for a limited time, I worked a lot on projects that went beyond the daily routine in the Mobile Shop, e.g. I developed an app that allowed you to open the parking garage barrier in the office. For me personally, it was a bit more difficult to integrate into the team at first, because I was away again for four months after every practical phase. But my colleagues welcomed me very well and I still feel very comfortable in the team.

Melina: Did you have a good trainer?

Paul: There was no trainer in that sense, I was simply part of the team. I was hired by Florian Kloppe, who was Team Lead of the Mobile Shop at the time. And Bastian Treger was something like my "developer dad". Then there was Sönke, who was first a working student, then a developer. If you want to stay in the family picture, he was my big brother, so to speak, who dragged me along everywhere and showed me things. Until today, however, Bastian has definitely had the greatest influence on me.

Melina: You also wrote your bachelor's thesis with eos back then. What was it about exactly?

Paul: I was required by the university to write a thesis with both a software and a mechanical component. But since we are strictly a software company, I had to find something that met the requirements for the mechanical component and also offered added value for eos.uptrade. So I decided to use room air sensors, which were distributed throughout the offices. These proved to be quite useful, especially during the pandemic.

Melina: After 5 years at eos.uptrade you have already experienced a lot. What do you think has changed during your time here?

Paul: A lot has changed, e.g. five years ago we were not part of Siemens Mobility and had a different management. The takeover has changed the way we communicate, for example: We used to write a lot of e-mails, but now we quickly chat on Slack. The fact that we also use Confluence and to some extent Jira together with Hacon has also changed the way we work, but the content has remained the same. And of course, office life has also changed fundamentally. When I started here, there was still a lot going on in the office, people were everywhere. Now, most of them are in their home offices and we see each other rather virtually. And that's despite the fact that we now have more employees.

Melina: Would you like to stay in Android development in the future, or could you imagine going in a different direction?

Paul: I've been a full-time developer now since late 2021 and I'm very happy with my job. I definitely want to keep my developer job, but I could imagine being more involved in technical decisions in the future to contribute more of my previous experience.

Melina: Thank you very much for this interview and of course many thanks for your commitment to eos.uptrade!