Coffee talk #1 - More Than Coding

Things have been comparatively quiet in our office at Alexanderplatz in recent months. In the corridors where people usually discuss, joke and drink coffee together, we now find fewer people, who are only out and about in small groups. One face, however, is seen here more often, and that is Björn's. He comes to the office regularly, that’s why we took the opportunity to ask him about his LucaNet story during a coffee break.

Hi Björn, thanks for taking time for us and sharing your personal experiences with us. We want to show people what it's like behind the scenes of LucaNet and what kind of people work here, so why don't you start by telling us what you do at LucaNet and how you came to join us. 

Sure! I've been working at LucaNet for the past four years now. As People Lead and Senior Java Developer, I'm involved in the future architecture of the application on the development side and I also spend part of my time recruiting in the tech department together with our Talent team. When I started at LucaNet I was in a team responsible for monitoring, performance analysis and performance optimization.  

My path to LucaNet was quite unusual (at that time): I became aware of LucaNet through a headhunter in 2017 and found the task of implementing new backend functionalities with Vert.x exciting, as I already had several years of experience with it. And to be honest, I just really liked the atmosphere at the office. I went there for my second interview, which was with the CTO at the time and Kristian, the current Head of Architecture. And as it turned out later, Kristian and I had already met once at a large Java conference (WJAX).  

Sounds good! Okay, here is a difficult question: If you had to delete all but three apps from your phone, which would you keep?  
 
(laughs) True, that’s difficult. I would keep the BVG app, Twitter and Chrome and continue to run the other apps on my tablet.
  
Very smart. That's one way to do it. At our company, you're involved in various projects that go beyond the development of our software. Where do you see the biggest advantage that LucaNet offers you in interdisciplinary work and what opportunities have you been able to experience?   
  
Personally, I found it very exciting to be able to attend various (recruiting) events. You get to meet so many different people and have very interesting conversations. In general, I just find the variety of not only developing software, but also having conversations with candidates or giving talks at conferences, great. I feel like I have the possibility to voice my ideas to my leadership team or move out of my comfort zone, and that’s something special, I believe. If you want to take on a variety of tasks that can help the company move forward, you get a lot of support at LucaNet.  
  
I agree with you. For me, this freedom to try things out without coming up against rigid guidelines is one of the biggest advantages of working here. It never gets boring. What is particularly exciting about your projects now?   
  
The fact that we are willing to break new ground technologically and the way we want to develop our product in the future. Until recently, our product was constantly being improved and new features were added. This development inevitably reaches its limits where the overall scope becomes too large to effectively maintain or even expand. Of course, it is out of the question to simply leave everything behind and develop a new product on a green field, but to take the next step, kind of, is really good. The exciting thing here is to manage the balancing act of combining new technologies with existing technologies. On the one hand, we can continue to offer customers the usual range of functions, but on the other hand we can develop new things and features.  
  
It sounds like you have a lot of plans in the near future, so we don't want to keep you any longer. Thank you very much for taking the time to talk to us today. We usually have one last question for all of our colleagues, so before we wrap up, we're curious to hear your answer to this one: Please tell us three things that characterize LucaNet and that you would still recognize in five years.    
  
I know a few things for sure:  
 
- Definitely the people who make up the spirit at LucaNet. I've met a lot of great people here.   
- The openness towards the use of new technologies and to rethink old approaches again and again. 
- And last but definitely not least, the parties and after work events. I hope that they will all be revived once we are able to come together again.   
  
That’s for sure. We are certain that will be possible soon. Thank you Björn for sharing your story with us! 
  
If you want to learn more about Björn, you can also follow him on Twitter (@Mr__Steel), where he regularly posts about his experiences at Java conferences or articles among others. 
 
If you are also looking for exciting tasks within our development, check out our job offers. We are always on the lookout for smart and motivated people who want to get involved and make a difference.