From Minecraft Mods to a Cross‑Team Problem Solver: Lorenz Pretterhofer, Application Engineer bei evon, on turning curiosity into impact

Introduction: A concise story with clear lessons

In the session “Lorenz Pretterhofer, Application Engineer bei evon,” Speaker Lorenz Pretterhofer of evon GmbH sketches a compact yet memorable developer journey. From early Minecraft modding to a four‑month internship, from a Software Engineering degree at TU Graz to a multifaceted role back at evon—his through‑line is unmistakable: genuine interest. Or, as he puts it:

Viewed from our DevJobs.at editorial lens, this is a grounded, human‑centered account: start curious, learn the basics, seize a chance to practice in a real company, and grow into an in‑house go‑to person who builds modules, tools, and test programs when the team needs them most.

The spark: Minecraft modding and servers

Many developers start where the fun is: tinkering with games, spinning up servers, bending systems to your will. That’s how it began for Lorenz Pretterhofer back in secondary school—Minecraft modding and server work lit the first spark. This playful autonomy matters: you break problems down, try tools, and push until things run.

In our experience, that DIY momentum is more than nostalgia. It’s intrinsic motivation that survives the long haul: the energy to keep debugging, the curiosity to trace causes rather than settle for symptoms, and the satisfaction of seeing something you built actually work.

School as structure: an Informatics track, C‑Sharp, and a taste of the web

After that initial self‑driven phase, Pretterhofer moved into a more structured environment: a Bundesoberstufen‑Realgymnasium with a dedicated Informatics track. There, he “learned a bit of programming,” specifically C‑Sharp and “a bit of web development.”

This pairing—an object‑oriented language plus the web—lays two essential building blocks early: clean program logic and a feel for interfaces and user‑facing surfaces. It’s telling that he kept experimenting in private alongside school. That combination—classroom structure with personal tinkering—anchors the concepts and keeps the learning loop alive.

Seizing a four‑month gap: the internship at evon

Before mandatory community service (Zivildienst), Pretterhofer had a roughly four‑month gap—and he used it. Acting on a teacher’s contact, he reached out to evon GmbH and landed a four‑month internship. His focus deepened “in the C‑Sharp direction, i.e., .NET, Xamr,” as he describes it.

There’s a lot to unpack in that brief line. He doubled down on what already fascinated him. He got real‑world feedback while learning. And he did so in a professional context, where priorities and constraints are tangible. Internships like this are invaluable because they align personal skill growth with actual business needs—and they open doors.

Back to campus—and back to evon

After community service, Pretterhofer started a Bachelor’s in Software Engineering at TU Graz. A year in, he asked a pragmatic question: could he work alongside study? He wrote to evon again about a part‑time role, they said yes, and he’s been back at the company for two years, working—as he phrases it—“as a software developer.”

This dual track—academic foundation plus real projects—often proves catalytic. The key is measured initiative. He didn’t assume; he checked whether part‑time work would be viable and then tested that assumption in practice. That’s a repeatable pattern for many aspiring engineers: establish fundamentals, then steadily increase exposure to production realities.

Today’s role: the in‑house person to call when something “needs to be programmed”

Pretterhofer’s description of his current scope is particularly vivid. In his department, he’s “a bit of the point of contact” whenever something “has to do with software,” “needs to be programmed,” or “needs to be developed specifically.” In other words, he’s a broadly capable problem solver operating at the boundary where needs meet implementation.

He mentions three current kinds of work:

• Writing on “3Bar.”
• Building modules for “our large company software.”
• Writing test programs—for example, to analyze misbehavior.

One case stands out: information boards on Austrian highways have a built‑in file‑sharing server for uploading images. Some of them weren’t working as expected. Pretterhofer created a test program to find out “why” and “when” the issue occurred. It’s classic engineering pragmatism: build a reproducible test rather than guessing; measure, don’t assume.

Culture that sustains: “I actually enjoy going to work every day”

A recurring theme is the culture at evon. “We really have great people; it’s always fun at the office,” he says. It impressed him back then and still does today—so much so that he “actually enjoys going to work every day.”

Culture isn’t a perk; it’s the context in which technical excellence happens. It enables knowledge sharing, psychological safety for asking for help, and the willingness to take responsibility. For someone in a cross‑team “go‑to” role, that trust is the substrate of impact.

Genuine interest as operating principle

The line about motivation also reads like a practical operating system for engineering work:

We see a useful triad here:

1. Interest energizes action—you get started.
2. Interest improves quality—you stick with it, look for root causes, and craft better solutions.
3. Interest compounds outcomes—you deliver, learn, and grow.

In dynamic roles—modules one day, an ad‑hoc tool the next, support in between—intrinsic motivation is the metronome that keeps context switching from becoming exhaustion.

A practical skill arc: C‑Sharp/.NET fundamentals and test‑driven troubleshooting

Pretterhofer doesn’t list frameworks or stacks. He names formative stops instead: C‑Sharp and web in school, a deeper .NET focus and what he calls “Xamr” during the internship. What matters most in his account isn’t buzzwords—it’s craft:

• An object‑oriented language like C‑Sharp provides grounding in types, abstraction, and architecture.
• A taste of the web builds intuition for real‑world interfaces and user interaction.
• Writing small test programs is the fastest way to observe behavior, make issues reproducible, and locate root causes.

That highway board example underlines the point: infrastructure needs reliability, and reliability starts with observability. You can’t fix what you can’t measure.

The underrated role of “the person people go to”

Calling yourself “the point of contact” in your department says a lot. It means you:

• listen carefully when needs emerge;
• translate those needs into small, targeted tools, modules, or tests;
• iterate quickly and share findings so others can act.

For engineers who want to grow into similar roles, a few practices stand out:

• Structure the problem intake: What’s the goal, the current state, and the constraints?
• Start small: a minimal test often clarifies more than a long meeting.
• Communicate often: ask questions, share intermediate results, expose assumptions.
• Document briefly: concise notes on how you arrived at outcomes are invaluable later.

Timing and initiative: using opportunities when they appear

Pretterhofer’s path shows how timing and initiative reinforce each other. A four‑month “gap” before community service became a springboard because he turned it into one: he reached out to evon, landed an internship, and deepened his focus. Later—during university—he tested whether part‑time work was feasible and, again, wrote to the company. It’s a pattern: move with intention, then let the feedback loop guide your next step.

Takeaways for students and early‑career developers

There’s a practical checklist embedded in this story:

• Start early: Modding, scripts, servers—play is a legitimate on‑ramp to serious skills.
• Use school as structure: An informatics track can frame the fundamentals.
• Seek practice: Short internships and small real‑world projects reveal what truly matters.
• Balance study and work: Lay the foundation first, then validate it in production contexts.
• Embrace breadth: You won’t always specialize first; generalism builds range and context.
• Build tests: When something breaks, make it observable before you try to fix it.
• Value culture: A team you enjoy working with accelerates everything else.

What teams and companies can learn

There are organization‑level lessons here as well—staying strictly within what the session conveys:

• Engage talent early: Even a four‑month internship can be pivotal for both sides.
• Empower generalists: An internal “go‑to” engineer for bespoke tools and edge cases reduces friction.
• Prioritize testability: When systems misbehave, you need reproducible ways to see “why” and “when.”
• Invest in culture: “Great people” and “fun in the office” aren’t fluff—they sustain initiative and ownership.

Lines that linger

Some of Pretterhofer’s own words capture the essence of his journey:

They aren’t slogans; they’re milestones on a practical learning curve—which is precisely why they resonate.

Conclusion: Interest, practice, culture

“Lorenz Pretterhofer, Application Engineer bei evon” is a short, clear session—and all the more compelling for it. Speaker Lorenz Pretterhofer (evon GmbH) maps a path that needs no embellishment: start curious, get structured exposure in school, deepen through an internship, ground it in a degree program, expand responsibility in parallel at work, and today act as an in‑house problem solver who turns needs into working software.

The core isn’t a hack or a shortcut; it’s a stance: genuine interest. In Pretterhofer’s case, that’s the difference between merely completing tasks and building understanding, tools, and trust across a team. From our DevJobs.at vantage point, it’s one of the most durable messages we can pass on to developers starting out—or anyone aiming to widen their impact.

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