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Christian Gwerder's career and daily work
Christian Gwerder is a hardware and firmware developer at STEINEL Solutions. Christian, thank you for taking the time to answer a few questions. We want to start the interview right away to find out about your background and get to know your typical workday.
Training
What training did you start your working life with?
"I started out as a multimedia electronics engineer. However, I only lasted a year in this apprenticeship. Unfortunately, I was on the construction site much more than expected, but that was the plan, as I was told. I wasn't supposed to be able to work on repairs until the third and fourth year of the apprenticeship. Unfortunately, this was very demotivating for me, as it was not what I had in mind. At the beginning of the second year of my apprenticeship, my training company and I jointly decided to terminate the apprenticeship relationship despite my very good academic performance. At the time, that seemed right to me. Through career counselling, I went back to the books and came across the profession of electronics technician. In the video that the career counsellor showed me, I saw people soldering and troubleshooting, which I thought was really cool. I was able to start my training at "Beruf Zug" during the autumn holidays and completed the regular four-year apprenticeship there. I gained insights into various companies. It was a really cool and educational time, because I was allowed to work independently relatively quickly and I was rarely given "exercises" to do. There was always something to measure, build or develop."
What further training did you do after that?
"After the apprenticeship, I spent a year in the military and worked for a few months as an electrician to earn money. After that, I started the Bachelor of Science in Electrotechnics at the OST (then HSR) in Rapperswil. The bachelor's degree took three years to complete. After that, in the summer of 2014, I travelled to Canada and applied for various jobs directly from there. Until I started the job, I was able to bridge the time for a few months at the ICOM Institute for Communication Systems at the OST, where I was then also able to officially hand over my bachelor's thesis to a fellow student who was completing her master's at the time."
Why did you decide to take this path?
"As I mentioned, I was a little late in coming up with the idea of an apprenticeship as an electronics engineer. I didn't really know the job. I've always loved maths and been fascinated by technology. But at the time, I didn't really realise what was behind this term. I've always liked troubleshooting, soldering and repairing things. And the job of a developer is the closest you can get to being an inventor.
During our apprenticeship, us students were repeatedly told by various people that we would be learning more about "this or that" during our studies. So it just became clear over time that we would go on to study.
I chose the OST in Rapperswil because it seemed that the course was better tailored to my previous knowledge as an electronics engineer – even if it meant a longer commute from the Schwyz valley than if I had chosen Lucerne. The course then enables you to work independently to a large extent, which was an important reason for me personally."
What brought you to STEINEL Solutions?
"I met someone, who worked at STEINEL, at a seminar. I wanted to develop more firmware and that's exactly what STEINEL was looking for. Since I had just accompanied and completed a large project from start to finish at my current employer at the time, the timing seemed right to take on something new. So I applied and was hired."
Everyday working life
What do you find exciting about working as a developer at STEINEL Solutions?
"Definitely the opportunity to develop firmware. But I also really like the very close communication and collaboration with customers, because you learn first-hand what the requirements for a product are. I enjoy talking to customers as equals and openly discussing problems and use cases. Responsibilities are very clearly defined, which means that we have far fewer interfaces. In most cases, a project manager and a developer are involved in a project. The synergy between hardware and software makes the work very exciting.
For example, when I work on a sensor, I can test the hardware live immediately after development and check the device for faults. Instead of writing a report and explaining it to a firmware developer, I can tackle the issues raised myself and make adjustments. The "Plan-Do-Check-Act" loop is therefore carried out directly by the same person, which saves an enormous amount of time. It also eliminates the need for discussions between the hardware and firmware developers and any clarification of responsibilities when problems arise. Since I fulfil both roles, I look for the error regardless of whether it affects the hardware or firmware."
What does your typical workday at STEINEL Solutions look like?
"I wouldn't describe my work as routine. No two days are the same. There are weeks when I work on the same topic for days because I have to measure, test and adjust. The work is very customer-oriented and you have to be able to assess priorities well. Nobody tells me directly when I have to do something. I am responsible for my own projects and have to assess when I will complete which tasks in order to keep my project on schedule. However, it is also important to know when it is time to ask for help and to ask questions if something is not clear.
How has the job of developer changed in recent years?
"The question for me is whether I or the job has changed. I think I have to make a clear distinction here between the role of hardware developer and firmware developer. In my opinion, the job of a hardware developer has not changed that much. Everything is getting smaller and more compact, has to cost less and time is more precious. Of course, work steps have also been digitised here and communication and collaboration in different systems is on the increase.
In my opinion, the profession of firmware developer is moving more and more in the direction of CI/CD (continuous integration, continuous deployment), i.e. keywords such as automated tools, firmware on open source, real-time operating systems. The independence of developers and their PC setups is becoming increasingly important."
Products
How many products have you worked on that are on the market today?
"At my previous employer, I had the chance to see a product through from the start of the project to its market launch. At STEINEL, I'm responsible for the firmware of our SENSOTEC sensors and I'm working on a TECE project. The project started at the same time as I started work."
Other
What else would you like to say:
"I think it's cool that in Switzerland you can also have a false start when it comes to choosing a career. You can clearly see that from my background.
What is special about my career is that I was allowed to take on a bad project very early on, without descriptions, documentation, traceability or the like. This has had a significant influence on my current working method. I consider it a very sensible effort to create precise measurement reports and to document as many considerations as possible."
"When it comes to documentation, I attach great importance to traceability. There is nothing worse than not knowing what a predecessor has considered. It's like having the ingredients for a recipe but not knowing how to prepare them for a meal. ;-) For example, as soon as you need to replace a component, it is essential to know what a colleague considered when using it. Was it chosen based on specific requirements, or was it simply the first one that came to hand and was the cheapest?"