Name: Kay Landeck
Role: Senior IT Consultant / Software Engineer
Year of birth: 1985
Location: Hamburg

Name: Kay Landeck
Role: Senior IT Consultant / Software Engineer
Year of birth: 1985
Location: Hamburg
Entry date: 08/2015
Focus: Microservice architecture, graph databases, machine learning, custom solutions
Hobbies: Ju Jutsu (and of course programming)

What is the coolest part of your job?
Simply technology.

What has been your most exciting project at PRODYNA?
DNA analytics for cancer research is one of my favorite projects, use the actual possibilities from technology and bring it together with actual medicine data to create a better understanding of the human genome feels great.

How do you feel about teamwork at PRODYNA?
There is not really a hierarchy at PRODYNA, we have so many different projects where you need different skills. If you need someone to discuss your idea you will find someone, that’s great. If everything is fine, we can spend our time with ‘HAPPY CODING’.

How do you spend your lunch break?
Very hard question, we have an office in the center of Hamburg, that means many opportunities for a lunch break. In our team we have some rules like max 7 days between two Burger-Days; there must be a choice of a lunch menu with more than 1440 kcal on Friday and many more …

What skills do you need to work successfully in your job?
The right mindset is more important than a specific skill. Projects are so different and the evolution in technology is so fast, that I must learn continuously to find the best way. So perhaps the most important skill is never trusting your skills there is always something new.

Name: Daniel Herrmann
Role: Project Manager / Senior IT Consultant
Year of birth: 1979
Location: Berlin

Name: Daniel Herrmann
Role: Project Manager / Senior IT Consultant
Year of birth: 1979
Location: Berlin
Entry date: 01/2015
Focus: Project Management
Hobbies: Traveling, fishing, beach volleyball, street art

What are your career steps at PRODYNA so far?
A few sunsets ago I joined PRODYNA as an IT Consultant focusing on project management topics. Handling more and more projects at the same time brought me to a level in which the word “team” becomes very important. So, I made up my mind and organized some events for and with the crew. By doing so, I couldn’t get enough of getting in touch with new colleagues. That’s the reason, why I decided to jump into the voluntary role of a mentor, helping new hires to understand the PRODYNA philosophy and feel at home quickly. Additionally, it’s a good opportunity to meet people from all over the world by giving training. Luckily, there is knowledge in my head which customers are interested in and which led me to fill another sub-role as a trainer. As time is running and I am aging, PRODYNA rewarded me the role of a Senior IT Consultant. Currently, I am enjoying my role as a team lead and project manager in our customer projects. We proof ourselves by creating customer satisfaction on a daily basis. Once we meet our goals, we also know how to celebrate, of course!

What trainings did you complete at PRODYNA?
Gaining new knowledge is something which is with us from the moment we are born. PRODYNA is covering a lot of interesting topics in trainings as this company knows about its biggest asset: People. Trying to stick to current standards, I decided to become more professional in agile projects by attending the Professional Scrum Master and Professional Scrum Product Owner training. To get the best out of it, I was missing some detailed knowledge in Requirement Engineering. Et voila, there is a training offered which is called CPRE (Certified Professional for Requirements Engineering). Filling my pockets with new methodologies and on top of that extending my network by attending some more trainings like “Communication” or “Tableau” to visualize our data feels like my personal treasure of knowledge is rising endlessly. I am happy to return some of the given trust to PRODYNA by running projects as good as I can, supporting colleagues internally and representing PRODYNA professionally at customers.

What advice would you give a newcomer at PRODYNA?
It’s up to you! Create your own vision, align it with PRODYNA and push it to the limit. Each colleague at PRODYNA is willing to support you as no one is able to get to the top alone. We are one team, even a kind of business family and together we are getting better daily. Diversity leads to a solid and healthy foundation.

When you think about PRODYNA, what is the first thing that comes to your mind?
Green conquers the world!

Name: Sebastian Kirch
Role: Senior IT Consultant / Software Architect
Year of birth: 1984
Location: Eschborn

Name: Sebastian Kirch
Role: Senior IT Consultant / Software Architect
Year of birth: 1984
Location: Eschborn
Entry date: 09/2014
Focus: Java / web technologies
Hobbies: Skiing, running, cycling

What skills do you need to work successfully in your job?
Variety is what makes the job of an IT consultant so interesting and versatile. Instead of doing the same job for many years, at PRODYNA you have the opportunity to experience different industries, customers, projects and technologies. This means that compared to many other jobs, IT consulting offers you a lot of options to constantly learn and improve. I work closely together with our customers and need to be able to understand their challenges/requirements, find the best technical solutions and ultimately write the code to implement these solutions. So apart from the technical skills that are required for the implementation, a good mixture of curiosity, openness, and creativity is very important in my opinion.

What has been your most exciting project at PRODYNA?
Definitely my current project. We are 14 PRODYNA colleagues working in three Scrum teams in close collaboration with our customer. The technical challenges lie not only in a large amount of data which is being processed by the system but also in finding creative solutions to make this data available to the user in a fast and intuitive way. That’s why one of our UI/UX experts is part of the team helping us to build a user interface that supports the users in their work and is fun to use. The data processing is done in a distributed system consisting of a set of microservices that can be scaled dynamically depending on our current processing requirements. We are using Microsoft Azure as a cloud computing platform and Kubernetes for scaling and managing our applications. But what makes the project so exciting is not only the technology stack we are using, it’s also the complex business requirements. We need to constantly evolve and refine our implementation as we gain more knowledge of how the users are working with the system.

What do you appreciate about the corporate culture of PRODYNA?
Team spirit is not only an empty marketing claim at PRODYNA. It is what really distinguishes us from other IT companies in my opinion. I found that every time I’m starting a new project with colleagues I haven’t worked with before, it’s only a matter of days until we grow together as a team. The people at PRODYNA all have a similar mindset – they are eager to learn new things and always open for a new challenge. That’s what really impresses me. Especially because this culture of supporting each other and learning from each other is lived across hierarchies up to the management. Whenever things don’t work out as planned, there’s always an open ear to support and find a solution.

Describe your working day at PRODYNA.
I’m one of the early birds arriving at our Eschborn office at around 7:30. However, for some reason, we are a whole team of early birds because usually three of my colleagues are already sitting in our team room. After the first coffee and a quick talk on the balcony, we usually work until 10 am when the Scrum daily starts. As we are a distributed team with colleagues sitting in Eschborn, Thessaloniki, Dusseldorf, and Belgrade, the daily is done remotely via video conferencing. After the daily, there’s usually some room for other planning and coordination meetings until we head for lunch. In Eschborn, we have a canteen that we visit frequently but there are also several other options such as takeaway restaurants and food delivery services. Every Tuesday a group of colleagues is going swimming at a nearby swimming pool and I try to participate as often as I can (PRODYNA sponsors these sports activities). In our project team, we agreed to avoid meetings in the afternoon to work on tasks which require a lot of focus. This could mean working on a task alone for some time or pair programming sessions with other colleagues, either on-site or remotely via video conferencing.

Name: Patrick Hammersky
Role: Sales Manager
Year of birth: 1985
Location: Stuttgart

Name: Patrick Hammersky
Role: Sales Manager
Year of birth: 1985
Location: Stuttgart
Entry date: 06/2015
Focus: Customer satisfaction
Hobbies: My girls (girlfriend, daughter, dog), triathlon, Ubiquitous Computing, good food and music

What is your favorite activity at PRODYNA?
The marathon abroad is probably the highlight for me. Being able to visit the most beautiful places abroad, paired with my hobby and beautiful framework events is always fascinating. I always choose this event to extend a few days at the location and travel around a bit. This year we will do the Marathon in Porto and I am looking forward to it. But all our other events such as cart championship, skiing, hiking, the summer party or a simple ‘Burgerday’ are always entertaining.

What is the biggest challenge in your job?
The biggest challenge for me is to satisfy my customers and my colleagues at the same time. My clients want successful projects with reliable consultants. My colleagues want innovative projects with modern technologies. So far, I manage this challenge.

What do you like about your work?
I am responsible for my area and therefore "my own boss".

How do you spend your lunch break?
PRODYNA has well-equipped and high-quality kitchens in all branches. In addition, all branches are very central. Therefore, every employee has the chance to combine the benefits of bringing their own food or eating out in the restaurant. In fact, I also like to use my break to go for a walk with my dog.

How did you get in contact with new colleagues as a newcomer?
The team is like a big family. You get in contact with everyone very fast. The everyday project life and various events make getting to know each other very easy.

What was your best experience at PRODYNA?
There are many successful and beautiful things I have experienced so far. Whether joint sporting events abroad, a successful project with colleagues or a new satisfied customer. Currently, I was fortunate enough to change regionally within the company from the office in Hamburg to the office in Stuttgart, as it made sense economically and privately for me and PRODYNA. The fact that this potential PRODYNA was recognized made me very happy.

Describe your working day at PRODYNA.
The typical working day does not exist for me. I participate in different projects with different clients from different industries. I have a very good change between personal customer talks and office work.

Do you like the events at PRODYNA?
No - I love our events! The team is a big family and the events offer the chance to meet in exceptional places and have fun together.

What are you doing at PRODYNA?
As a sales manager, I am the first point of contact for our customers, prospects, and partners. I advise these groups on upcoming digitization projects. In addition, I am the first point of contact in existing projects and from the perspective of our customers and our internal departments.

What is the coolest part of your job?
For me, it is always interesting to get a look behind the scenes of successful companies and to help them to get even better.

What advice would you give a newcomer at PRODYNA?
Enjoy being able to witness many different projects and to gain a lot of experiences that were not made in normal jobs. The variety PRODYNA offers in various projects is very large and there are always new interesting projects in Germany and abroad.

What offers PRODYNA?
A good mix of professional projects, cool team and many divers free-time-activities and free training. I also like the fact that always fresh fruit is available for free everywhere and of course the coffee specialties and soft drinks which are offered free of charge.

Name: Andreas Fischer
Role: Software Developer
Year of birth: 1987
Location: Augsburg

Name: Andreas Fischer
Role: Software Developer
Year of birth: 1987
Location: Augsburg
Entry date: 07/2018
Focus: Frontend
Hobbies: Hiking, snowboarding, concerts, gardening, politics

How does PRODYNA support you in your job?
The PRODYNA Academy offers many trainings for each job position in different locations. For example, I participated in six trainings during the first six months. The focus of the trainings is hands-on so I’m able to use the knowledge in my projects. The provided material like presentations and files are perfect if you are looking for something particular or provide even implementations that you can use. Furthermore, there are different portals for online training that we can use.

What do you appreciate about the corporate culture of PRODYNA?
I like the knowledge hub and the network. It’s very easy to connect with each other and to learn from colleagues. For PRODYNA also the socials skills are very important so most of the people are easy to handle. Furthermore, you obtain much responsibility from the beginning like project leads, master students and contact with customers.

How is the work in a project?
I participate in an agile software project with a very professional product owner and new frontend technologies. We are a team of at least 12 persons from different companies/providers. I work with a second developer and a software architect from PRODYNA. Therefore, I learn a lot and besides, I have to share my knowledge, too. I can schedule my time quite freely and work from everywhere as we hold our meetings via MS Teams, Skype & GoTo Meeting.

What advice would you give a newcomer at PRODYNA?
Participate in as many trainings as possible and don’t hesitate to ask questions. There are no stupid questions! Try to find a mentor that supports you!

How did you get in contact with new colleagues as a newcomer?
PRODYNA provides several social events to get to know each other like rafting, dinners, town hall meeting or Christmas parties. Furthermore, there are a lot of trainings where you can connect you with colleagues from different locations & countries.

Name: Rebecca Listle
Role: Working student
Year of birth: 1997
Location: Augsburg

Name: Rebecca Listle
Role: Working student
Year of birth: 1997
Location: Augsburg
Entry date: 03/2018
Focus: Support
Hobbies: (Beach-)Volleyball, hiking and going on adventurous trips

What are you doing at PRODYNA?
Since I started in March 2018, my main task is doing phone support at our location in Augsburg. The customers are calling us, if they need help with their computers, their printers or scanners or if they have problems with the internet or programs like Outlook and Excel. Another task is adding or removing the user from the servers and setting up new mailboxes. Currently, I’m also involved in an Azure project, where we have to analyze several tools for cloud cost management. In December 2018, I’m starting to write my bachelor thesis about Neo4j, including a practical aspect where I’m going to implement some Neo4j requests for the new PRODYNA Skill Manager. Hopefully, I will finish my thesis until March or April next year, so I can continue doing some more support for our PRODYNA customers.

Do you like the events at PRODYNA?
The events are almost the most fun part of my work here at PRODYNA. There you can challenge yourself in some sports activities, learn a lot of interesting stuff, get to know your colleagues at PRODYNA and have a lot of fun together. This year, for example, we competed at the rafting challenge at the Augsburger Eiskanal (it’s a canal which was built especially for the Olympic games in 1972). Or for the summer event, the whole Bavarian PRODYNA team went hiking to the famous “Kloster Andechs” and afterward we practiced some golf. The next day, we did a sightseeing tour through the city of Augsburg and learned some interesting facts about the history of Augsburg.

What advice would you give a newcomer at PRODYNA?
At first, don’t be afraid of your upcoming challenges at PRODYNA. Your colleagues will help you the best they can if you have any problems with your workaround or some technical questions. Secondly, try to take part of as many events as you can and have fun at the PRODYNA teambuilding events, where you get to know your colleagues in a completely different way as you would in the office. You’ll also get to know colleagues from other locations and find some new friends.

What is special for you in a male-dominated business?
To be honest, for me there is nothing special in a male-dominated business. As I studied computer science at the university and worked for other IT companies before as a working student, I’m used to working with male colleagues most of the time. For me, the most important thing in this business is, that male colleagues treat you like any other male colleagues. Here at PRODYNA, I appreciate that it doesn’t matter if you’re a male or female consultant. Everybody does his/her best to fulfill their tasks. Colleagues treat each other in a friendly and respectful way and there is always a relaxed atmosphere at the office.

Name: Marcel Farsciati
Role: Senior Project Manager / IT Consultant
Year of birth: 1982
Location: Zurich

Name: Marcel Farsciati
Role: Senior Project Manager / IT Consultant
Year of birth: 1982
Location: Zurich
Entry date: 10/2016
Focus: Project Management
Hobbies: Family, friends, mountains, food

How does PRODYNA support you in your job?
PRODYNA offers a huge community with helpful colleagues and smart, state of the art IT solutions to manage projects successfully.

What do you appreciate about the corporate culture of PRODYNA?
Each PRODYNA location acts independently, local conditions and processes are considered important. It’s like working in a start-up with great support from the headquarter.

How do you spend your lunch break?
Usually, I grab some food with the colleagues and we eat together in the office. At Fridays, we listen to tech dialogs organized by PRODYNA.

Describe your working day at PRODYNA.
Either I’m embedded in a client project onsite or I manage projects for Swiss customers from the PRODYNA office in Zurich.

What do you like about your work?
I like the diversity, it’s enriching to get to know many customers, industries and technologies in a short timeframe.

Name: Dominik Grob
Role: Software Engineer
Year of birth: 1991
Location: Zurich

Name: Dominik Grob
Role: Software Engineer
Year of birth: 1991
Location: Zurich
Entry date: 11/2017
Focus: Java EE, Liferay, Data Science
Hobbies: Squash, boulder, games

Is there a highlight for you at PRODYNA?
A lot, especially our Switzerland team event from the last weekend. We had three amazing days with nice people and a great time.

What has been your most exciting project at PRODYNA?
My current project – avaloq.one. It’s a very unique project with a cool and young team.

Do you like the events at PRODYNA?
Yes.

How do you spend your lunch break?
Often with local friends.

What do you like about your work?
Independence, flexibility, responsibility, good atmosphere, interesting projects.

Name: Georgios Charitakis
Role: IT Consultant / Software Engineer
Year of birth: 1986
Location: Thessaloniki

Name: Georgios Charitakis
Role: IT Consultant / Software Engineer
Year of birth: 1986
Location: Thessaloniki
Entry date: 02/2018
Focus: Business web applications with a microservice architecture & CI/CD pipelines
Hobbies: Electric guitar, keyboards, snowboarding, scuba & free diving, historic books

How does PRODYNA support you in your job?
PRODYNA invests in the development of all employees, thus many training sessions, seminars, and workshops are available to suit each individual's needs or interests. PRODYNA's team spirit means, among others, that you can always seek or provide support. Furthermore, we are provided with state-of-the-art equipment. Finally, HR, regional managers & team leaders make sure that we can work without distractions.

What do you appreciate about the corporate culture of PRODYNA?
I really appreciate the fact that PRODYNA combines professionalism & work-life balance. Building strong bonds and trust among the teams is a matter of the utmost importance for me and I can feel it here. The working environment is great. Today, it is a common thing to hear about companies that promote and invest in their ‘core values’ and ‘corporate culture’. But at PRODYNA, this is a reality.

How do you spend your lunch break?
We usually gather in the kitchen area with many colleagues. As for the food, sometimes we order it or bring our own from home. In general, it is a nice opportunity to exchange ideas, boost mental performance & relax.

What are your work tasks at PRODYNA?

Some of my work tasks as an IT Consultant / Software engineer are the following:

• Software design & implementation of applications
• Requirements engineering with internal or external customers
• Building CI/CD pipelines
• Basic setup of infrastructure
• Delivery in time, budget & scope
• Ensuring the quality of the final deliverable

What skills do you need to work successfully in your job?
All individuals in the IT sector must be eager to learn new things, have an agile mind and manifest a dynamic personality. Being methodical and analytical is an absolute must. Good communication and self-organizational skills are essential as well, and, shouldn’t be neglected.

... the DON'Ts:

• don't be afraid of changes.
• don't be afraid to ask, propose or act.
• don't be biased over technology stacks.

... PRODYNA's specific:

• start some cardio. It will be helpful!
• prepare to get out of your comfort zone!

Name: Danilo Prodanovic
Role: Microsoft Infrastructure Team Lead
Year of birth: 1988
Location: Belgrade

Name: Danilo Prodanovic
Role: Microsoft Infrastructure Team Lead
Year of birth: 1988
Location: Belgrade
Entry date: 11/2015
Focus: Microsoft technologies, artificial intelligence, cloud and DevOps
Hobbies: Triathlon, skiing, gaming

What attracted you to the position at PRODYNA?
As a technology freak I wanted to work in an IT company where I can develop my skills to the maximum. Before I worked in companies without IT focus, where I was limited. Technologies that we are using at PRODYNA would attract every technology addict.

What are you doing at PRODYNA?
My current position is Microsoft Infrastructure Team Lead, my team and I, we are in charge of any Microsoft related topic, on-premise, and also in the cloud. We are responsible for maintaining servers, improve system reliability, security privacy and at the end cut the costs.

How does a normal office day at PRODYNA look like?
When you come to the PRODYNA office you feel good energy and coming to work is not heavy. People around you are happy and this positive energy definitely has an impact.

What was your best experience at PRODYNA?
The best experience was getting a project where we can use new technologies, after that is the support of our company to finish challenges, my personal challenge was finishing a marathon.

What is your favorite activity at PRODYNA?
My favorite activity is the PRODYNA challenge definitely.

What do you appreciate about the corporate culture of PRODYNA?
I appreciate the culture that the management hears you, they are not unreachable, you can propose solutions, tell what is good and what is bad.

How do you feel about teamwork at PRODYNA?
This is how PRODYNA works, everything is based on teams, we have a very good communication between teams, and we are supporting each other in business and outside of the office.

Describe your working day at PRODYNA.
When someone asks me to describe my day, first what I said that it is dynamic. You have a meeting with the customer, start with the task list and create priorities, second meeting for another customer, help the team, and at the end maybe you have a job interview. My position requires jumping from task to task quickly and managing priorities.

What offers PRODYNA?
PRODYNA offers: the chance to learn new technologies, progress in every way (money, position, knowledge), the chance to travel and learn a new culture, support to live a healthy life, the chance to learn how it is to work in cooporation (customers).

Do you like the events at PRODYNA?
The events are beautiful and I try to participate as much as I can, the PRODYNA challenge is my favorite, but others are also good.

What advice would you give a newcomer at PRODYNA?
Work and have fun. Work together in a team, do brainstorming and the feeling when you solve a problem is the best in the world. Don’t wait to that someone gives you a task, take tasks by your own, show initiative.