Fireside Chats at KI labs, ep.5

Most of KI labs employees are international, born outside of Germany. Give us a brief introduction of what it’s like to grow up in Bavaria, Germany’s south-eastern state.

"I grew up just 50 km from Munich in the small town of Attenkirchen, with a population of around a thousand people. We consider ourselves the gateway to our massive hops fields, a big part of Bavarian culture. Our official crest is a probably-intoxicated lion holding a vine of hops with a Brezen-tail. I was part of the football club, the voluntary firefighters, the faschingsverein (carnival club), like usual if you aren’t from a city as big as Munich. My friends from kindergarten, school and university are mostly within 100 km which is quite a different setup compared to all of you [coworkers at KI labs]."

Silly question, but one I have to ask since traveling to other regions in Germany; How do you feel about the stereotype of Bavarians being heavy drinkers?

"I think most of that is due to Oktoberfest being so popular. Each little village actually has their own celebrations that is not so touristy and more of a community event. The other contributing factor is the beer gardens, I suppose. In Berlin, you can get a beer at a pub but in Bavaria, beer gardens are very popular and widely accepted as the best place to grab a beer, so it’s just more in the open. But of course we have a huge beer culture, as just a few kilometres from Munich you have the oldest brewery in the world: Weihenstephan, started nearly 1000 years ago. It’s a deep part of our history."

Why did you decide to join a company that is so international as opposed to a more German company?

"To be honest, I didn’t even know KI was so international. Every company tells you that they are diverse and different from everyone else and then when you start the reality is quite different. At KI, you actually get what is promised which is very cool. It's interesting to see how each person adapts to the working culture here. I’ve also learned a lot about German immigration and have a newfound respect for all the trouble it is to get through the process. Everybody dislikes going to the KVR (the City Administration Building), but I’m sure happy that I don’t have to do it as often."

What is your favorite thing to do in Germany that every immigrant should experience?

"Visit one of the lakes south of Munich and experience sunrise or sunset with the Alps in the south (with F?hn). But to be honest, I’m not still here because Munich is the absolute best city in the world and the greatest place to live. I grew up around here and have my friends from different points in life. This is what you call Heimat, roughly translated as “home”. The term has been politicised in some cases, but it correctly describes how I feel about this area."

Why did you join KI labs?

"After my Masters I knew I wanted to do something with data. There a few different types of companies you can join as a data engineer, a job that has really only existed for a few years now outside of the big tech companies.

1 – Join a big company with an infrastructure already in place and be a tiny piece of the puzzle. You learn a lot from senior engineers but can’t really contribute at a large scale

2 – Join a mid-size company with a lot of data and no infrastructure in place and you get decide and learn for yourself. But often these companies don’t have a data driven culture and the things you do aren’t picked up or valued. 

3 – Join a startup that’s data driven and can scale quickly, but actually there is no data to be processed. You can only learn so much in a sandbox environment.

 4 – A consultancy or service provider where you can work on interesting data with larger companies. You have more freedom with your engineering decisions because it’s often not known what the best solution is. You can work with new tools on each project and can experiment. The only downside is not seeing the larger impact, since you move on once the data pipeline is set up. 

KI labs is most like the 4th scenario – working on a lot of different types of data in different environments. As someone who gets bored quickly/likes to jump into different problems, it is nice to work on different types of projects and products. It’s much more interesting to be able to work in an environment where you can experiment with what works and what doesn’t. I’m definitely not the guy who wants to monitor a system for 3 years and build a nitty-gritty feature every once in a while. You have to try things out to really learn, and hands-on work is invaluable."

Last weeks episode, with one of our talented Product Managers, Rafael.

If you’re interested in hearing more about KI labs, check out our website at ki-labs.com.