Behind the engineering scenes at moovel — meet Fabian
Engineers are a major cornerstone of the services moovel offers. In the first post of this series, we have a talk with Fabian and get to know him a little and discover his passion to the contributions he makes every day to moovel (becomes REACH NOW)
Let’s get right into it!
How did you come to work today?
BVG daily ticket via the REACH NOW app! Cool thing is that REACH NOW even paid for it with our mobility allowance. Monthly ABC tickets would have also been a good alternative, but unfortunately just the AB area is permitted as a mobile ticket by VBB — and I live too far outside of the city.
Tell us a bit about yourself. What got you excited about your field initially?
With little assets I needed to build something that works! It started with doing small programs, then things started to get bigger. Scalability has always fascinated me. Building once, run it a 100 times. I became so fascinated about automation that I’m having a hard time handling repetitive work.
What was plan B?
Probably something with film! Animations and such. I started building computers by singular components back in the time, and it has always been something that sparked my interest. I got sucked into web design and graphic design. I had a thing for computer games for a while, but focused on computer “work” as my brother started beating me in gaming.
What does your typical day look like?
Well, I read any unread messages (slack and emails to the most part) on the way to work (typically an hour). Then I start with quiet work in the morning. When it gets busier in the office I take a coffee break, and get back to routing work shortly after. Some company events happen usually after lunch, for instance the tech huddle. An excellent time to get in touch with engineers from other squads and be in the loop on what they’re working on. I also have a home-office from time to time. I mainly choose it for work that requires me to focus for a long time, especially if I need to get something done that doesn’t require meeting colleagues. It’s a vital part of being flexible at moovel. (Bonus points for saving the train ride and swapping it for quality family time.)
When you’re not working (or on the way to/from work) what are you doing?
Spending time with the family usually. And of course, doing some sort of sports.
Is REACH NOW part of your life outside of the office? (Mobility app, USC, etc.)
As a matter of fact it is! There is a strong connection with many people here. One of the most common and fun ways to meet colleagues is to organize sports activities (or any sort of activity) after work.
Autonomous car or drone taxi?
Honestly, I’d pick trains. But from the both, drone taxis will be much faster, and I assume more fun. Streets might be obsolete one day.
What does the future of mobility look like to you?
Trains will stay in the picture for a long time. They carry a lot of people. Simple maths. I can imagine 5–10 people maybe sitting in an on-demand car. Hopefully some sort of open-data API to provide all providers with data for the rest. Also mobility standards (micro-mobility providers communicating with each other using a common language for all) on the API level. I strongly believe working technology should be at the center of it. Not merely to get transportation problems solved with technology; it needs to know and adapt to the needs of the people.
When was the last time you did something for the very first time?
I started wakeboarding this summer! That was fun! Oh, wait. I also managed to ride a bike while holding another one just this winter. That was a bit challenging at first.
If you had an infinite amount of time for a project, what would you do?
It could be something with energy systems and the climate. I would also love to convert a van into a camper.
That’s a wrap. Thanks a lot for your time, Fab!
Fabian is one of the engineers that make SSB flex happen.
This is the first interview of a series planned with engineers at REACH NOW. If you’d like to ask our engineers a specific question, feel free to comment below and we might include that in one of our upcoming interviews.
