vivenu.com seems to be satisfied with what I am doing here: They also want to tell my story. So I sat down with Lars Rehfeldt for a short interview about what motivates me and how I came to vivenu. Here are a few parts that I want to elaborate on - if you want to read the full story, head over to vivenu’s blog.
How did you become interested in coding?
This is actually quite a funny story: My father used to code when he was in university, my mother is a teacher for math and economics, so I had an affinity for the STEM field early on.
My father always told me about this. It must have been a crazy time, especially compared to the current technology landscape: His experience included programming fonts – especially Professors were his early customers, so that they were able to differentiate their papers etc.
As a young teenager, all my friends would play first-person shooter games. My parents naturally thought these games were too violent, so instead, my father showed me the basics of programming. Because I really wanted to play with my friends, I came up with a hack: If I programmed a shooter game and tested it with my friends, I thought, they really couldn’t say anything against it. In the end, I never programmed the shooter game.
Two points on this: The first one is that this sounds very strict – it never felt this way. I am actually very thankful for my parents and for what they provided me with. The other point is that I find it very interesting how strong an influence such psychological factors can have: So many people who have such a highly determined hobby / interest did not make a conscious decision; their interest found them.
Why did you choose to pursue software engineering as a career?
Reflecting back on it, software, to me, is a tool to create actual, tangible business results. I always liked that.
This is also personally one of the strongest forces that pulled me away from KPMG. For me I need to do less talking and more getting deep into the matter – then I will develop a clear and fast way to the target. While there is obviously the need for the services that KPMG provides, especially in the Auditing Sector, this wasn’t so much what I was searching for. I was able to make an impact there though – with my action-based approach to projects I quickly delivered value and iterations for our clients or support with more theoretical work.
How would you describe the engineering culture at vivenu?
Last, but not least, the team is highly communicative and supportive: Whenever I’m stuck or unsure about a solution, I know I can ping a colleague and they will be there to provide efficient, solution-oriented feedback. Working with this team makes me better, faster, and more efficient every single day.
This needs to be stressed way more: I am in awe about the team here at vivenu. Like joining a team you were sure is great but then realize that you suddenly play in the highest league. So if you want to work together like a Formula 1 team and can provide the output that is expected of such a high quality team, head over to our careers page. You can also drop me a Twitter DM if you are unsure 😃