Understand it first, then build it – then make it better.
I develop software that companies use to manage, plan and visualize their IT infrastructure – and I bring AI into it where it creates real value. For over 13 years, for insurers, banks, financial services and the public sector. When you work with me, you talk directly to the person who builds your project.
I started out in the metal industry, training as a metalworker (Schlosser). I have always loved holding a finished product in my hands at the end of the day. That never went away: I built much of the furniture in our home myself – as a balance to the desk job. I have never been satisfied with knowing that something works – I want to know why.
The move into IT was part coincidence, part gentle pressure from my parents not to waste my bilingual Abitur. So I took the aptitude test at RWTH Aachen University – and passed with flying colors. Sometimes the things you enjoy are not the same as the things you are really good at. For me, those are math, logic and programming.
Next came a dual study program: vocational training as a MATSE (mathematical-technical software developer) at AixpertSoft GmbH alongside a bachelor's in Scientific Programming at FH Aachen. That is where I found the topic that has stayed with me ever since: software for data centers and IT infrastructure. I built a 3D editor for virtual data center walkthroughs, and my bachelor's thesis integrated building information models (BIM) into infrastructure management software.
For my master's in Artificial Intelligence I went to Maastricht University. My thesis mined frequent patterns in a configuration management database (CMDB) to derive operating guidelines for IT teams – AI applied to exactly the infrastructure data I work with every day.
In summer 2019 I founded Software Schmidt. My first major contract: infrastructure software for one of the largest insurance groups in Europe, from hardware scans to management dashboards – still in use today. I also contributed to a research project testing data centers inside wind turbines: surplus power is used on site, and the tower serves as passive cooling.
As an employed Senior Development Lead, I guided a social recruiting startup from agency to software company, moving the product to an in-house development team that I led as Scrum lead. Most recently I was a Senior Full-Stack Developer at a large European asset manager. A long-time hobby paved my way into finance: for years I have been building my own stock analysis tools.
Today I am back full time at Software Schmidt. My approach has stayed the same over all these years: first I understand how a system really works – technically and in the processes behind it. Then I build it to run reliably, and optimize where it makes the biggest difference. With a short path from requirement to result.
You talk to the person who builds it. No hand-offs across several stations, but quick decisions and an early start. On larger projects an experienced colleague supports me.
Tested, maintainable code instead of quick fixes. Several of my systems have been in production for years.
I use AI where it measurably helps – and say so honestly when solid automation is enough.