Katharina and Hilmar’s story
Corporate Atlassian Experts
Application & Interface Engineering (AIE) is primarily tasked with developing new and existing business process-related software applications. This includes frontend and backend development for internal and external websites and online stores. In addition the team customizes our company-wide applications for Customer Relationship Management (CRM), Product Lifecycle Management (PLM), Identity & Access Management (IAM), and Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP).
Another duty involves networking the applications and systems used at Fronius via a central middleware architecture. The department is also responsible for the company-wide Software Development Standard and the Atlassian tool chain closely associated with this.
Alongside Wels, AIE teams can be found at the Fronius sites in Vienna and Gliwice (Poland), from where they handle requests from all over the world.
Join Katharina and Hilmar at work for a day
Hilmar: We take care of the Fronius ALM tool, which stands for Application Lifecycle Management. We look after the entire lifecycle of an application, ensuring people, processes, and tools are properly integrated. The lifecycle comprises the idea, development, maintenance, and finally decommissioning of the application. Our tool chain makes it possible to present knowledge in a transparent and plannable way for the first time.
Katharina: Fronius uses the Atlassian tools Jira and Confluence for lifecycle management. We take care of both the further development of the applications as well as their ongoing operation. Maintenance, configuration, scripts, and administration are just the technical aspects of our work—process understanding and networking are equally important in order to amplify the strengths of the tool.
Everyday working life
What do you like about your work?
Katharina: The complex problems we are confronted with and that our job is so varied. You can try to plan ahead, but often something else comes up that you have to take care of more urgently. What’s also great is the communication with colleagues at Fronius. We come into contact with so many different departments.
Hilmar: Each area has different requirements and of course we also have specifications in the ALM tool to adhere to. What we have in common, however, is that we work in a solution-oriented and goal-oriented manner. That inspires me time and time again.
What is a normal working day like for you?
Hilmar: We don’t have a typical working day. Every day is different because we are constantly faced with new requests. While that’s challenging, it’s also what makes working for Fronius so exciting.
Katharina: What’s more, we only decide what should be implemented and what is better left alone after discussing things as a team. Not everything that appears to be a useful function at first glance is actually helpful on closer inspection in the ALM tool.
Hilmar: Together with our colleagues, we find the right configuration so that everyone is happy and can work effectively.
Teamwork
You signed up together for the employee story, why?
Hilmar: We actually come as a team.
Katharina: That’s right, yes. We often come to an agreement amongst ourselves and if someone has a question, then we discuss it together. As far as the requests are concerned, I’m usually the ‘good cop’ who says we can do it. Hilmar then has to play the ‘bad cop’ when someone insists on things that we can’t reasonably implement (laughs). And if we ever disagree, then we talk about it until we reach an agreement.
Hilmar: Exactly. Then I’m right.
Katharina: You wish (both laugh)!
Personal insights
What is your biggest challenge?
Hilmar: I would say her name is Kathi (laughs). No, the biggest challenge for me at the moment is the Software Development Standard. I’ll be working on it for the next few months and years.
Katharina: For me, it’s the variety of tasks that we have to deal with every day. As Hilmar already emphasized, there’s no such thing as a normal working day, so you have to be flexible, which can be exhausting.
“My tip for new employees: if you are committed and inquisitive, then all doors are open to you at Fronius,” Hilmar, Corporate Atlassian Expert
