Today we did an interview with Christoph Menzel Head of Mobile & Web Development at inovex.
Hi Christoph! Thanks for taking the time. Can you tell us about yourself? How did you become a software engineer?
That is a very good question 🙂 I started as an apprentice IT specialist for system integration. So I dealt more with hardware than software. During this training I quite disliked programming. However, when I finished my training I thought this can’t be all, there must be more. So I went back to school, did my university entrance qualification and started to study computer science. And that’s how it started.
What is your current job description?
My “title” says I am “Head of Mobile & Web Development” at inovex. However, titles are not very important for me or for the company. I do a lot of things but at the same time I can choose by myself what I want to do. First of all I am responsible for my team members and do everything so that they like their job, are happy and have everything to be able to do their job. Next to this there are many small things I do like building up our new site in Erlangen, doing recruitment, doing technical sales, supporting the marketing team and more. That is exactly why I love this job, it has so many interesting tasks and it’s never getting boring.
What is your current / favorite tech stack?
At the moment: Flutter and Dart. I like the ecosystem, the development environment and the language a lot. In my opinion it has a very huge potential to become one of the big languages.
Is there something you wished every developer would know?
Hard question. I am a big fan of Clean Code and Test Automation and I choose these two, if I can choose two 🙂I think it’s something every developer should learn, know and be able to apply. Might sound easy but can be very difficult.
Are there any tools you use you think are highly underrated?
I would not say a specific tool but everything you can automate or that can be done by a program makes your work life easier. When it helps you to fulfill your job in a better way: use it! I see people too often doing things manually when there can be an automated solution or a tool which could help them. Examples are hot keys of the IDE, static code analysis, proper CI/CD tooling and many many more.
What is your favorite 3rd party library?
I don’t have one. I (sadly) code too less to have one. And if I code, I like to try out new things (e.g. languages, libraries, tools, …). Therefore I don’t have a favorite 3rd party library.
What trends in software development do you hope to become mainstream?
That everyone becomes more open for change. We should never stop learning, improving ourselves and how we work.
What are your most recommended books?
- Clean Code by Robert C. Martin
- Refactoring – Improving the Design of Existing Code by Martin Fowler
- The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
- Way of the Peaceful Warrior: A Book That Changes Lives by Dan Millman
What purchases of 100€ or below have most positively impacted your life?
I choose “plants”, because I like gardening and plants have always had a positive impact on me. The second thing: An air quality meter. It helped me to keep my home office full of fresh air 🙂
What do you do when you feel overwhelmed or unfocused?
Sports like table tennis or beach volleyball. Sport always helps me to free my mind. What also helps me is gardening. Creating something with my own hands and seeing the result afterwards is also very relaxing. Especially compared to my job, where I seldom see a real finished result / product.
Whats your current setup?
- Apple MacBook Pro 14’’
- Keychron K3 Ultra-slim Wireless Mechanical Keyboard
- Hama Air Quality Meter “Safe”
- Logitech LGT-M500
- LG 27UN83A 68.58 Cm (27 Inch) UHD 4K IPS Monitor
- DELL U2412M
- BoYata Laptop Stand
- UHURU Professional 192KHZ/24Bit recording condenser, microphone kit with a table stand
Thank you for the interview! See you on 15. November 2022 at Meetup Let’s talk about Web Security!
You can find Christoph online at
https://www.linkedin.com/in/christoph-menzel/
