{"id":26851,"date":"2024-09-30T11:44:12","date_gmt":"2024-09-30T09:44:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.orisa.de\/?p=26851"},"modified":"2025-01-08T14:37:37","modified_gmt":"2025-01-08T13:37:37","slug":"career-at-orisa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.orisa.de\/en\/career-at-orisa","title":{"rendered":"30 Years at ORISA: Of Floppy Disks, Zigzag Lines and the Secret of a long Career"},"content":{"rendered":"

To mark the 30th anniversary of Ralf Hohmann, one of our longest-serving and most experienced project managers at ORISA, we took the opportunity to talk to him about his impressive 30-year career. He shared not only professional highlights, but also charming misadventures and unique moments from three decades. His memories provide an insight into a varied career as a programmer and project manager \u2014 and show how much humor, passion, and innovative spirit have been at the heart of Ralf\u2019s work.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>

On September 1, 1994, Ralf started his first working day at the former company focal \u2014 now ORISA, which was still based at Krautgasse 2 at the time \u2014 with employee ID number 9 after completing his mathematics degree.<\/p>\n<\/div>

It was already clear at his job interview that Ralf and the company were a good match. \u201cI\u2019ve always found cross-border things interesting,\u201d he says with a laugh. And this curiosity has never left him in the last few decades \u2014 nor has the joy of solving problems, even if it hasn\u2019t always been without incident.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

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From total breakdown to math miracle: Ralf\u2019s early <\/span>adventures in IT<\/h4>\n

In his early years at ORISA, Ralf provided an unforgettable moment at Carl Zeiss Jena GmbH \u2014 and caused some astonished faces among the technologists there. His task was to install an update for the tool management system \u2014 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. \u201cSuddenly there was a total breakdown,\u201d he recalls with a smile today. Fortunately, a backup was available, and Ralf has since learned to double-check before going live.<\/p>\n

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 \u201c1\u201d, 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 \u2014 even if it doesn\u2019t make mathematical sense.<\/p>\n

From an intimate breakfast circle to a summer party in the garden<\/h4>\n

Even though the company has grown ninefold (write out the number) since Ralf\u2019s 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 \u2014 almost familial. Summer parties were held in his garden \u2014 initially started by chance \u2014 where, as he recalls with a smile, sometimes forty adults and ten children would jump through the garden.<\/span><\/p>\n

For him, the close team spirit is still one of the reasons why he has remained loyal to the company for so many years. \u201cEven though we now have almost 70 employees, you can still feel this team spirit. And that\u2019s what makes the difference for me.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Siemens: the most important relationship and the greatest success<\/h4>\n

Ralf\u2019s 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 \u201chow-to\u201d video was even produced for the offline version, in which the tool took center stage. \u201cThat was a great moment,\u201d he recalls proudly. Ralf has now implemented almost 20 projects with Siemens and maintains a close relationship with this customer. \u201cThe biggest compliment is when the customer keeps coming back to you. It shows that there is mutual appreciation and trust.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Technological change: from floppy disks to cloud solutions<\/h4>\n

Technology has also changed massively over the last 30 years. \u201cWe used to have one computer that we all had to share in order to access the internet,\u201d Ralf recalls with a laugh.
Today, of course, software development is very different: \u201cA lot of things have become more convenient, but some things, such as security requirements, also make the work more complex.\u201d He compares the software industry to the fashion world \u2014 trends come and go, but at the core, many things remain the same.<\/p>\n

The secret of his motivation: enjoying his job<\/h4>\n

And what keeps Ralf motivated after 30 years? \u201cI simply enjoy it,\u201d he says simply. Working with customers, the challenge of solving their problems, and, of course, his team \u2014 that\u2019s what drives him. \u201cI get on with some colleagues like an old married couple. We can communicate in half sentences and are constantly learning from each other.\u201d This mix of fun and camaraderie keeps him going.<\/p>\n

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. \u201cWhat 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\u2019ve learned what a zigzag width is,\u201d he says with a wink.<\/p>\n<\/div>

Advice for the next generation<\/h4>\n

Ralf has clear advice for young colleagues: \u201cDo what you enjoy.\u201d For him, programming has always been more than just a job. \u201cFor me, programming is an art. The only limit is logic \u2014 and as long as something doesn\u2019t contradict logic, you can program it.\u201d 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: \u201cHaving fun for 30 years. If you do what you love, you don\u2019t even notice how time flies.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>

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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 \u2014 his anecdotes show that in 30 years you not only grow, but also laugh a lot together.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Programmer and project manager Ralf Hohmann talks about his 30-year career at ORISA, major successes, misadventures and why he has remained loyal to the company for 30 years. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":22098,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wp_typography_post_enhancements_disabled":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[285,263],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26851","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-wirsindorisa-en","category-wirsindorisa-2"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.orisa.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26851","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.orisa.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.orisa.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.orisa.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.orisa.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26851"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.orisa.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26851\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.orisa.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22098"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.orisa.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26851"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.orisa.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26851"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.orisa.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26851"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}