"The most important thing in software development? Communication!"

Practice Lead Software Engineering Marita Klein

Marita was the only person in her information technology course who had not done any programming beforehand. Today, around 8 years after graduating, she is shaping the software culture of an entire division at Bosch Digital.

Where does your interest in software come from?

Computers, the internet and software became part of our everyday life and the first smartphone came onto the market in my childhood and youth. This development has shaped me and fascinated me even then. In general, I have always been very interested in technical topics. After my secondary school diploma I therefore attended a technical grammar school. But there I never really came into contact with programming. So the reasons for my choice of study were mainly based on my own interests and gut feeling. At the beginning of my information technology course I was the only one who couldn't program yet – and the only woman. In the meantime, I'm now in charge of an entire software department at Bosch. One should therefore never be discouraged: As long as you enjoy technical topics and are curious, anything is possible.

How important is it to introduce people to technical topics at an early stage?

In retrospect, I'm sure: If there had been corresponding offers in my school days, I would have been interested in software earlier. That's why I'm committed to it today. I help to arrange Girls'Day at the Berlin location and am involved in organizing hackathons, for example. This includes the regularly held Bosch ConnectedExperience — Europe's largest IoT hackathon, which is also attended by many students. Many former participants now work for Bosch. It's great to know that we are inspiring people's enthusiasm for our technologies. Every year there are more and more participants, with different backgrounds – and what is especially gratifying to me: More and more women are coming. This development can also be observed in the job itself: Profiles of developers are becoming more and more diverse and the proportion of women is increasing. We also have special mentoring programs for women at Bosch, such as , of which I am a member. All these events, formats and networks are important for inspiring people about STEM professions and creating role models.

What do you like about software development?

The beauty of software development is that you can solve problems directly. I don't need a simulation or anything like that. My tools of the trade are always at hand. I also like the combination of technical problem solving and communication: We have to understand the customer's problems and applications and at the same time work smoothly in a team. Being open and able to communicate well is therefore crucial. Especially at Bosch, the great thing is the variety of topics. I have already worked here on a healthcare project, on smart buildings, in the agriculture sector and currently in the energy environment. Our work on the Internet of Things is also an extremely exciting process for me right now. There is no master plan yet on what makes a process successful and what sort of outcomes are required. That means we need to be courageous and try out new things. These are important success factors for me and exactly what makes my job so much fun.

What are your tasks as a Practice Lead?

I am responsible for the management of my team members, which are spread between Waiblingen, Immenstaad on Lake Constance and Berlin. Communication is essential, so I attach great importance to regular exchange. Thanks to digital working models, this is also possible across locations. But working flexibly and digitally has even more advantages – for the employees themselves, and also for the results of our work: We don't have to staff projects with the people who are on site. We fill them with those who fit the bill and have the relevant expertise.

Besides my tasks as a team leader, I also provide support as a software developer. I like to keep the connection to operations and to be up to date on topics. Our team is working on various projects, most of which are in the energy field. In the project I am working on, we are making electricity meters intelligent: We are developing digital value‑added services in the cloud for an electricity provider. This enables electricity meters to communicate consumption to the grid operator in real time. And these in turn can better control electricity generation – which ultimately benefits the environment.

The environment plays a major role in your life. How can you integrate this into your daily work routine?

It is important to me to work for an employer for whom the issue of sustainability is deeply rooted. We will be the first global industrial company to be climate‑neutral by the end of 2020. This is a big and important step. However, our commitment should not end there — because at Bosch, a lot is possible even on a small scale: I travel exclusively by train for business purposes and we have a sustainability group at Bosch Digital. Our achievements here include, for example, working with an environmentally friendly search engine, or that everyone gets a bar of chocolate for their birthday with the purchase of which a tree is planted.

Profile

Practice Lead Software Engineering at Bosch Digital

After her dual bachelor's engineering degree in information technology, Marita completed a master's degree in communication and media informatics. In 2015, she began her career at Bosch as a full‑stack developer, first for the front‑end in the healthcare sector, then for the back‑end and architecture in the agriculture sector. Since the beginning of 2020, she has been Practice Lead Software Engineering at Bosch Digital. There, digitization and IoT experts are working on IoT solutions based on artificial intelligence. Regular communication and open exchange with her team are especially important to Marita. Her hobby, yoga, strengthens Marita in her mindfulness — which in turn helps her to respond to the needs of her team members.

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