About Tobias

Software developer from Cologne, Germany

When I was a child, I snuck into my brothers room to secretly play games on his C64. He didn't like that. Which teenager would accept his little brother using his expensive tech without asking for permission? Also, I had no idea what I was doing. But still, this computer fascinated me for some reason. When I eventually found out that you can write programs that can support people solve hard, boring and repetitive tasks (or help them recreate and learn)... Even though this is just fancy writing for helping others being lazy, I knew this is what I wanted to do!

In the end, it turned out I would do just that. Solve those fancy problems - for a living! After a youth spent with lots of self-taught technologies and hobby projects, I eventually graduated in Media Computer Science (German: staatl. gepr. Informatiker Multimedia). Since then, I've done fullstack projects as well as pure frontend/backend work. I've been responsible for widely used smartTV applications and native Android apps. I've written my own games and have used various GUI frameworks (Qt, GTK+, Swing). Most of these technologies fascinated me for different reasons - and often left me in utter distress until it finally clicked. Even after more than a decade, there's much more to discover.

The childhood fascination is what still drives me today. And I like to pass it on to the next generation. I've been involved with teaching non-programmers (including kids) how to program in my free time, and I've successfully educated apprentices during worktime over a three year period.

What I like

If I had to choose a favourite (general purpose) language, it would be Ruby. It doesn't get in the way and enables me to quickly write clean software in a test-driven manner. It offers freedom for creative thoughts. If I had to choose a favourite editor, it would be Vim - for similar reasons.

Looking back, my favourite project was writing a smartTV application for live music video streaming. It was, in my opinion, one, if not the best smartTV application of the time. Doubt it? Have a look!

I'm convinced of the benefits of automated testing and proper, interesting documentation. I actually, really practice TDD whenever I can. It vastly improves the readability and modularity of my implementation. This technique is unfortunately widely underused.

Outside of work

Since I type all day, I want it to be nice and efficient. That's where my obsession with my mechanical keyboards comes from. I also fully migrated to the Colemak keyboard layout in 2021.

When I'm not writing software, you can find me trying to improve my guitar play, picking up new physical activities (the most recent one being archery), traveling to distant countries or learning Japanese.

正直、最近あまり勉強しませんでした。

Still a gamer by heart, it seems a part of me never left my brothers C64.

Lastly, I'm a whisky nerd. Like with technology, even after practicing a lot I still discover new exciting things. Only here it's new scents, tastes and experiences.