Hi, I'm Almut.
I am a frontend engineer focused on our mobile app.
Who Am I?
My journey to become a software engineer started in 11th grade when I chose computer science as an elective subject. Since then, my career path has been clear to me. I studied applied computer science, worked for five years in a big IT company, and then went on to work for two years in a small robotics startup. I've now been at Vaia (previously StudySmarter) since December 2020. Currently, I work from home most of the time as I live in Stuttgart in southwest Germany, which is a 2.5-hour drive from Munich. If you haven't been here, you should definitely visit! Apart from our infamous construction sites, we have really beautiful vineyards and forests within the city and there are, of course, the Mercedes and Porsche museums.
Hidden talent
Writing. Before I settled on the technical path, I would have loved to become an author. I took a creative writing class in school and wrote some short stories, poems, and first chapters of never-finished books.
Passionate About
I'm passionate about feminism and education. On Instagram, I follow several feminist influencers and FemTech companies, and I love our Vaia (previously StudySmarter) SmartMINT campaign about women in tech. Joining Vaia and becoming a woman in EdTech was a really great decision because another thing I'm really passionate about is actually my job.
Working at Vaia (previously StudySmarter)
I was actually quite lucky that I ended up here. I got a message on LinkedIn that they were looking for frontend engineers, and when I read through the job description, I got really excited: a job for my exact qualifications, a product with a large user base, and being able to support students in their studies. But as I noticed that the position would be in Munich, I was doubtful about whether I should respond. Luckily I did because it was no problem to make it a remote position. And all this is also what I like about working here: I love what I’m doing, why I’m doing it, how I am working, and who I am working with.
Typical Day
9:00 – Start laptop, fetch a glass of water, check Slack messages, and plan which tasks to tackle today. 9:30 – Help new team members to get onboarded, review code changes, and check designs for technical feasibility. 12:00 – Have a home-cooked lunch with my husband (whoever is tired of working first prepares it). 13:00 – Enter the tunnel: Concentrate on my tasks without noticing much else. 15:00 – Attend an occasional meeting for planning or knowledge sharing. 16:00 – Work with a colleague on a particular complex part of a task via screen sharing and video call. 18:00 – "Feierabend." Shut down and leave the house for a fitness class or choir practice.
Crucial Skill in Your Role
One crucial skill is logical thinking: Coding is basically connecting several logical conditions until you have a solution. Actually, it’s similar to doing sudoku puzzles (so if you like those, try coding). Additionally, creativity is really beneficial in order to actually get better or faster solutions.