Patric Steiner

Tech Enthusiast & Passionate Software Engineer

TL;DR

  • 🚀 I am a tech enthusiast that’s super excited about the future
  • 👨‍💻 I build things using mostly open source web technologies (spring, angular, ionic)
  • ☁️ I deploy to the cloud with kubernetes and firebase
  • 🔅 I like clean code and a declarative programming style
  • 🤖 I enjoy to harness the power of machine learning

And when I’m not in front of a computer: 🏃🏋️🤸🪂🌍🛹🎹♟🏂😁

Preferred Tech Stack

  • Backend: Kotlin, Java, Spring Boot, NodeJS, Firebase, Supabase
  • Frontend: TypeScript, JavaScript, Angular, Svelte, HTML, CSS
  • Mobile: Ionic
  • Databases: MongoDB, Firestore, PostgreSQL
  • DevOps: Docker, Kubernetes

Professional Experience

  • Jobeagle (2021 - present): Co-Founder, Technology & Development
  • mimacom (2017 - 2021): Software Engineer & Consultant at Mobiliar and FINMA
  • FHNW (2016 - 2017): Tutor for Discrete Mathematics
  • Emmi (2015): Automation of company-wide printer management
  • ZIVI (2014 - 2015): Webapp development and maintenance
  • Steiner IT (2013 - present): Founder, Digitalization & Automation for SMEs
  • BIT (2013): Built a platform for efficient checklist management

Education

  • Bachelor of Computer Science (2015 - 2019)
    • University of Applied Sciences and Arts Northwestern Switzerland FHNW
    • International exchange at Seoul National University SNU in Seoul, South Korea
    • Specialization: Data Science
  • Federal Vocational Education and Training in Application Development (2009 - 2013)
    • Federal Office of Information Technology, Bern

Languages

  • German: Native
  • English: Fluent
  • Spanish & French: Basic
  • Korean: Tried hard, but can still only order food. 불고기 주세요!

Interests

  • Technology: Tech enthusiast, excited about efficient algorithms, software architecture, clean code, artificial intelligence.
  • Sport: Parkour, freerunning, tricking, skating, snowboarding, paragliding, weightlifting, running, climbing.
  • Music: Jamming on the piano.
  • Social: Being outside, going on adventures, talking to people, being open-minded, philosophize about the universe.

Projects

Some hobby projects I recently launched:

  • Samsboard: A minimal virtual post-it board that helps you get a great overview of everything that’s going on in your life. Tech: Svelte, Supabase
  • OnyxRetro: A fresh app for online retrospectives with the goal to be as easy to use as possible (as opposed to common alternatives). Tech: Ionic, Firebase
  • Corona Simulator: A visual simulation to help people understand how we can keep the spread of a virus under control. Tech: Angular, TypeScript

And here’s the long story: My journey to computer science

When I was in fourth grade, a friend of mine showed me that thing called Batch Scripting, which allows you to do lots of fun stuff. For instance, it only takes one command to make a message pop up on your parent’s computer whenever they log in. And with only one more command you can make that message pop up so many times, the computer can’t even handle it. How cool is that? I was amazed that the computer’s behavior could be controlled by just typing a few commands in a text file and execute it accordingly. That event quickly made computers become my main point of interest. During the next years, I taught myself whatever I could with the help of the internet. Near the end of my secondary education it was clear that I wished to undertake an apprenticeship in information technologies.

My four-year apprenticeship at the Federal Office of Information Technology was phenomenal. A whole new world of knowledge unlocked. I suddenly was around experienced IT-people, who could answer all my questions and who taught me things I didn’t even know were possible.

Fast forward a few more years, I am now a certified software developer and have gained a lot of practical skills working for several companies with a wide range of people. One of my most successful experiences was the three months I worked at a swiss company as a sole developer for a software project that allows to internationally configure and reroute every printer that is connected to the firm network. The feedback on the application has been highly positive, and up to this day it is used on a daily basis.

Working on such projects was an outstanding experience; however, I realized that I wanted to work on more sophisticated projects but lacked the knowledge and skills. Therefore, I decided to go a step further and pursue a bachelor’s degree in computer science at the University of Applied Sciences and Arts Northwestern Switzerland. Turns out it was the best thing I could have done. There were so many like-minded people around, the professors were extremely competent and I was having a sensational time learning something new every day.

One year in, I started planning an exchange semester in South Korea. This country was very appealing to me, not only because it’s one of the leading nations in innovation and technology but also because I have had a general interest in South Korea for the past few years and even started learning the Korean language and writing system. A couple months later, I was very excited to be accepted at the Seoul National University College of Engineering, which offered a variety of truly interesting courses. Especially the Data Science courses perfectly fit my studies. But not only did this allow to deepen my knowledge in various fields of computer science, but also let me experience the Korean culture, improve my Korean language skills, make new friends and international contacts. It was a tough semester, but it also was one of the best decisions I made in my life so far.

After a couple more months of traveling through Asia I went back to Switzerland and started working at a software development company while also taking two more semesters of courses and writing my thesis “Machine Learning based KPIs for Effective Project Controlling”. I’m writing a blog series covering some key aspects of the thesis. (Unfortunately I cannot make the paper publicly available, since it contains company-sensitive information.)

After achieving this milestone I started operating as a contractor for a Swiss insurance company, primarily working on a versatile project for in-browser telephony integration for the companies callcenters. This taught me many things about enterprise architecture, however I also noticed that it won’t make me happy in the long term to work for big corporations with slow paced processes and communication channels. Therefore, 2 years in, I ended my contract to pursue a different path.

To be continued…