Our AI-Chatbot is Like a Team Member
Tobias is a Senior Software Engineer at SKIDATA and works with teams in Switzerland and Austria. His experience at SKIDATA shows the diversity and inspiring opportunities available to every employee.
Working across borders? That’s Tobias’ everyday reality. The Vorarlberg native works up to half the time for SKIDATA Switzerland in Kriessern, where he develops client-specific solutions. For the other half of his time, he supports the SKI-Team at SKIDATA headquarters in Wals and Grödig. Since March, he has been a part of the Reporting and Business Intelligence team in Klagenfurt as well. The 57-year-old appreciates the chance to put his technical skills to use at different locations, and to share his expertise with local colleagues.
Now a Senior Software Engineer, Tobias has worked at SKIDATA since 2001 in a number of different positions. His career began as a Software Manager at SKIDATA Switzerland, and he continued to grow when he began working for international customers in 2008. Since 2014, he’s been responsible for the many products in the “Mountain” area.
A Vorarlberg native, and an international team player
Tobias lives in Bludenz in Vorarlberg. It’s about 30 minutes away from Kriessern by car. He drives to Salzburg every 14 days or so to carry out tests and take part in meetings with the Quality Assurance team, and Tobias enjoys the three-and-a-half-hour drive. “Human contact is incredibly important,” he says. Whether in meetings, for coffee, in the hallway, or while exercising together, Tobias doesn’t want to miss out on catching up with his colleagues.
Different tasks, and different cultures
For Tobias, working at SKIDATA is an international adventure. When he works together with colleagues from Switzerland, Austria, Spain and Italy, he learns about different working styles and needs. He appreciates the challenge, and the chance to experience new things regularly.
Although Tobias grew up in Vorarlberg and has no problem understanding Swiss German, there are still new dialects that he doesn’t understand. “In these cases, it’s often easier to communicate with clients in English,” he says with a wink. It’s another part of the challenge that drives Tobias forward.
New challenges are already waiting
In the next few years, Tobias will put his expertise to use by developing solutions for reporting and business intelligence in Klagenfurt. His new focus includes developing a new reporting solution for the “Mountain” area. While he currently splits his time evenly in Switzerland and Austria, his new project requires a 10-90 split, meaning Tobias will work remotely more frequently in the coming years, and he will have less time for projects in Kriessern. That’s why he’s training a colleague to maintain the existing solutions in Switzerland, and to develop new ones.
Tobias’ new team in Klagenfurt is young, agile and works with modern methods that are well-established in the field of development. “The work at SKIDATA is not only a professional challenge, but also personally enriching,” says the Senior Software Engineer. He finds balance in bicycle racing, hiking, fishing, skiing, ski tours and playing ice hockey — a passion that he brings to the ice for two SKIDATA teams.
At SKIDATA, Tobias strikes the perfect balance between work and free time. For him, working on different teams and branches is the perfect combination of challenge and variety. “I’m thankful for the chance to work together with talented and motivated colleagues from different countries, and to work on projects that make a real difference.”