TechLead Story: Clemens Utschig-Utschig, CTO/Head of Technology Strategy at Boehringer Ingelheim
Clemens Utschig-Utschig
Team
Size and Roles:
- Multiple product teams in IT, distributed across different locations with up to 10 members each.
- Each team includes at least 4 engineers, 2 in frontend and 2 in backend.
- A startup incubator with 50 colleagues, including 20 engineers, working on innovations in various specializations like Data Engineering/Science, Mobile, IoT.
Organization and Methodology:
- Utilizes Scrum and Product Teams with a 100% focus on products.
- Teams spend about 20% of their time on Open Source contributions or collaborative initiatives.
- Disciplines organize into Chapters.
- Emphasis on proximity to the market where products are deployed and alignment with Product Owner's function.
Distinctive Aspects:
- Emphasizes diversity and agile freedom within small teams.
- Backed by a stable, family-owned pharmaceutical conglomerate with over 55,000 employees.
- Provides a sandbox for team members to work happily every day.
Recruiting
Integration in Recruiting Process:
- Engineers play a crucial role in recruiting, following the approach of "Engineers hiring Engineers."
- Involved from the initial screening to the final decision, taking responsibility beyond.
Onboarding Procedure:
- Implements a Buddy System and multi-week/month transitions for new employees.
- Regular Jour Fixes and small community gigs are part of the onboarding process.
Qualities Beyond Technical Skills:
- Values the willingness to transform a large company, acquire and share new knowledge.
- Looks for individuals with potential and envisions success when employees are sought after by top companies.
Technologies
Technical Challenges:
- Engages in a wide range of activities from data science to e-commerce.
- Building all products on a unified stack and methodology poses a significant challenge but is essential for scalability.
Technologies in Use:
- Openshift, Kubernetes, AWS, Node.js, Spring, Python, Scala, Ionic, Angular, Vue.js, React, Hadoop, Postgres, Triplestores.
- Codebase available on GitHub.
Evolution of Technology:
- The technology stack has remained consistent since day one, with an early adoption of Openshift.
- Clemens Utschig's GitHub profile.
Dev Interview Info
Clemens Utschig-Utschig
Lead Software Engineer