However, Heidi, technical manager, knows a different picture from her past. During her studies, she was often one of only a few women in lectures, and there were hardly any female role models. It was all the more significant for her when she experienced a woman in a technical management role at ORISA who was not only recognized, but was also a mother: “Until then, I had thought that I had to choose either a career or a family. At ORISA, I saw for the first time that both are possible.” Vittoria, Project Manager, also confirms that nobody is pigeonholed here: “We are seen for our strengths — regardless of gender.” This is exactly what makes our company strong. It’s not about conforming to certain role models, but about being perceived as an individual with your own abilities. Virginia adds: “I particularly appreciate the fact that successful women are visible here and act as role models — this shows that performance and commitment are the focus.”

The importance of flexibility in balancing work and family is constantly growing — but even more important is a corporate culture that enables this flexibility. Annett experiences this every day: “My working day regularly ends at half past three, then I pick up my child — without feeling guilty. That feels natural.”
And this openness applies to all parents, not just mothers. Fathers can also combine family and job flexibly here. “It’s absolutely no problem for fathers to take parental leave for longer than two months or to work part-time. ORISA does not adhere to traditional role models,” says Matthias, developer. Vittoria has had similar experiences: “I was able to work part-time for several months for family and academic reasons. The support I received enabled me to make the most of this triple task.”

A working environment in which everyone can contribute is more than just a nice extra — it is the basis for success. We are actively committed to equal opportunities, for example by signing the Diversity Charter and through our involvement in the “Weltoffenes Thüringen” initiative. But above all, it is the day-to-day cooperation that makes the decisive difference. “ORISA is more than just a workplace for me. I have found a home here, in a diverse team with strong women and men who value and support each other,” summarizes Heidi.

This is exactly what defines us as a company: diversity, trust and the conviction that we are stronger together. Because equality is not an abstract idea — at ORISA, it is truly lived. With this in mind: Happy International Women’s Day!

We say THANK YOU!

At the end of the year, we took part in a project close to our hearts and put up a “wish tree” decorated with children’s wishes that colleagues could “pick” to make Christmas a little brighter for children in the region. A big thank you to all ORISA employees who took part! Together with the Jena Community Foundation, we were able to help make these wishes come true. ORISA not only paid the fixed contribution per gift, but also supported the campaign with an additional donation — so that as many children’s eyes as possible can light up.

With these warm thoughts, we bid farewell to the Christmas season. We would like to thank you — our customers, partners and employees — for your support and a great year. We wish you a Merry Christmas, relaxing holidays, and a successful start to the New Year!

The ORISA team 🎄

Congratulations on 30 successful years! Continuity characterizes the development of Orisa, which is not always the case in the IT sector. I wish you continued vision for the company’s development and the luck of the brave!”
- Dietmar Winter, BVMW Jena/SHK

Thank you very much for the personal invitation.
All the best for from the heart #TeamOrisa.
- Michael Hofmann, Managing Director cdmm GmbH

An unforgettable evening

The celebration began with a warm speech by our Managing Director Matthias Schwuchow, who answered questions such as what “O‑R-I-S‑A” actually stands for. From the humble beginnings in 1994, when ORISA Software GmbH was born, to the renowned customers we serve today, a lot has happened. Without the vision of our late founders Reinhardt Behrendt and Dieter Schumacher and our co-founder Dr. Peter Fichtner, we would not be where we are today. And, of course, our former, long-standing Managing Director and co-founder Georg Elsner was not to be missed, who brought the development of our company to life once again on stage with his humor and stories from ORISA’s beginnings.

A very special moment was the recognition of our long-standing colleague Ralf Hohmann, who has been an integral part of the ORISA family for 30 years now. His long-standing connection with the company and his commitment from the beginning shows how strongly our team is motivated by trust, cohesion and a family atmosphere. You can find out more about Ralf’s career path, his great successes, mishaps and why he has remained loyal to the company for thirty years in this blog post.

In his speech, Jena’s Lord Mayor Dr. Thomas Nitzsche particularly highlighted ORISA’s commitment to society and its family-friendly approach. Flexible working hours, mobile working and a family-friendly corporate culture are not just buzzwords for us, but integral parts of our daily work. These values help us to make it easier for our employees to achieve a good work-life balance. The initiatives supported by ORISA to promote young talent, such as “CodeWeek” and “Girl’s Day”, were also mentioned positively. There were also exciting insights into current topics: Keynote speaker Prof. Dr. Nils Boysen, Chair at FSU Jena, made the audience smile with his humorous explanation of how artificial intelligence and configuration are connected.

Entertainment and artistic highlights

Of course, the infamous ORISA nerd quiz, a modified version of the pub quiz and a very popular company tradition that has already caused many astonished “aha” moments, was not to be missed that evening. Each table, at which a colorful mix of ORISAners, partners and customers sat, was given a questionnaire and then the puzzles were diligently answered. Would you know off the top of your head where you can find “feeler warts” in the office or which food doesn’t have an emoji? The attempt to mark the last ORISA HQ on the map of Jena before the move to Humboldtstraße caused a few laughs, because — spoiler — circling the whole of Jena didn’t count.

Our sales manager Kay took over as quizmaster and led the questions with a lot of humor. After the storm on the buffet, the answers were evaluated and the winners announced to loud applause. The table with the most correct answers was rewarded with chocolates and eternal honor and glory.

In addition to exploring the IMAGINATA “Station Park”, an experimentarium for the senses, which invited our guests to explore with over 100 interactive exhibits from the fields of mathematics, physics, technology and biology, they were also able to admire Malcom Brooks’ temporary exhibition “The Wonderful World of Automata”. Another highlight of the evening was the artistry and juggling shows by the Jena artistry troupe Toledos. Impressive gymnastic choreographies, whirling light clubs and the fitting background music created a special atmosphere and amazed the audience. The lovingly prepared buffet also left nothing to be desired. There was plenty of eating, laughing, dancing and partying — the perfect mix for an unforgettable evening.

Dear ORISA,
once again all the best for your 30th birthday. Here’s to many more great years.
Thank you very much for the invitation to this fantastic anniversary party. It was a celebration! I’m looking forward to the next joint discussions, exchanges, experiences, customer appointments … simply a successful collaboration.

- Felix Voigt, Portfolio Cluster Lead eCommerce at Telekom MMS

A look into the future

In addition to celebrating past successes, we also took a look into the future. ORISA is always striving to develop further and drive new innovations — especially in the field of artificial intelligence. Our goal is to make our software solutions even smarter and more efficient in order to offer customers the best products. We look forward to working closely with our customers and partners to discover new opportunities and realise exciting projects together. The exchange of ideas and experiences will continue to be crucial in the future in order to actively shape digital change and develop the best solutions for the challenges of tomorrow.

At the end of the evening, we all agreed: it was a great celebration that not only showed how far we have come together, but also what still lies ahead of us. We would like to thank all our guests, partners and service providers for making this evening so unforgettable.

We are already looking forward to the next few years together — and of course to the next anniversary!

Dear Orisa team, we wish you all the best for your anniversary!
Continued success and here’s to the next 30 years! Nice to celebrate this special day with you.

- Marco Klette, Managing Director PROMEDIATEC

On September 1, 1994, Ralf started his first working day at the former company focal — now ORISA, which was still based at Krautgasse 2 at the time — with employee ID number 9 after completing his mathematics degree.

It was already clear at his job interview that Ralf and the company were a good match. “I’ve always found cross-border things interesting,” he says with a laugh. And this curiosity has never left him in the last few decades — nor has the joy of solving problems, even if it hasn’t always been without incident.

From total breakdown to math miracle: Ralf’s early adventures in IT

In his early years at ORISA, Ralf provided an unforgettable moment at Carl Zeiss Jena GmbH — and caused some astonished faces among the technologists there. His task was to install an update for the tool management system — at the time still on floppy disk and delivered personally in an appropriately old-school manner. But instead of a simple update, he had mistakenly brought the creation script, which by default starts by deleting previous tables. Within a few seconds, the entire department came to a standstill. “Suddenly there was a total breakdown,” he recalls with a smile today. Fortunately, a backup was available, and Ralf has since learned to double-check before going live.

During a project for a bank, Ralf stumbled across a real curiosity: when he discovered that the original software could divide by zero and actually spit out the value “1”, it was clear that something was wrong. In normal programs, dividing by zero typically results in a crash, not a mathematical miracle. So a division operator had to be programmed to reproduce exactly this error in order to run the banking software correctly. Sometimes in IT, you have to make the impossible possible — even if it doesn’t make mathematical sense.

From an intimate breakfast circle to a summer party in the garden

Even though the company has grown ninefold (write out the number) since Ralf’s early days and the corporate culture has had to adapt accordingly, Ralf likes to talk about the close bond within the team. In the early years, the collegial relationship was close — almost familial. Summer parties were held in his garden — initially started by chance — where, as he recalls with a smile, sometimes forty adults and ten children would jump through the garden.

For him, the close team spirit is still one of the reasons why he has remained loyal to the company for so many years. “Even though we now have almost 70 employees, you can still feel this team spirit. And that’s what makes the difference for me.”

Siemens: the most important relationship and the greatest success

Ralf’s career at ORISA is closely linked to the customer Siemens Switzerland. He started working on the project back in 2006, and the first online version of the HIT program went live in 2008.
A promotional “how-to” video was even produced for the offline version, in which the tool took center stage. “That was a great moment,” he recalls proudly. Ralf has now implemented almost 20 projects with Siemens and maintains a close relationship with this customer. “The biggest compliment is when the customer keeps coming back to you. It shows that there is mutual appreciation and trust.”

Technological change: from floppy disks to cloud solutions

Technology has also changed massively over the last 30 years. “We used to have one computer that we all had to share in order to access the internet,” Ralf recalls with a laugh.
Today, of course, software development is very different: “A lot of things have become more convenient, but some things, such as security requirements, also make the work more complex.” He compares the software industry to the fashion world — trends come and go, but at the core, many things remain the same.

The secret of his motivation: enjoying his job

And what keeps Ralf motivated after 30 years? “I simply enjoy it,” he says simply. Working with customers, the challenge of solving their problems, and, of course, his team — that’s what drives him. “I get on with some colleagues like an old married couple. We can communicate in half sentences and are constantly learning from each other.” This mix of fun and camaraderie keeps him going.

The varied tasks also mean that working at ORISA is never boring. Supporting projects in a wide range of industries and learning completely new things in the process are still a big plus point of his work for Ralf. “What I like about it is that you pick up a bit of knowledge wherever you go. Now I can even read basic hydraulic circuit diagrams and, thanks to another project in the field of rail vehicle construction, I’ve learned what a zigzag width is,” he says with a wink.

Advice for the next generation

Ralf has clear advice for young colleagues: “Do what you enjoy.” For him, programming has always been more than just a job. “For me, programming is an art. The only limit is logic — and as long as something doesn’t contradict logic, you can program it.” He sees this creative freedom as the greatest strength of his work. In conclusion, Ralf explains that the key to his 30-year career is simple: “Having fun for 30 years. If you do what you love, you don’t even notice how time flies.”

In Ralf, we have a colleague who is not only a walking encyclopaedia of technical solutions, but who also remains an important part of the ORISA family. Whether dividing by 0 or floppy disk glitches — his anecdotes show that in 30 years you not only grow, but also laugh a lot together.