From Schoolyard Game Ideas to Full-Stack Reality: Lessons from “Andreas Rainer, Full Stack Developer bei hilarion 5”

Session at a glance

• Title: Andreas Rainer, Full Stack Developer bei hilarion 5
• Speaker: Andreas Rainer
• Company: hilarion 5

The playful beginning—and the first encounter with real constraints

How does someone who now ships full-stack software write their very first lines of code? In “Andreas Rainer, Full Stack Developer bei hilarion 5,” the speaker takes us back to middle school. With classmates, he set out to build a computer game—“that’s easy,” they thought. Reality intervened: games don’t spring from thin air. You need to know how to program. And programming is learned by doing, not by admiring technologies from afar.

Boredom between classes turned into curiosity. On the school machines, a little environment called “Robot Karol” was available. You could drive a robot with simple commands—go forward, turn left, place a block, jump. There wasn’t even a built-in option to turn right. No frameworks, no libraries—just core control flow and state. That minimalism is the point: it strips away ceremony so you can see cause and effect in motion.

First real immersion: a Python 2 booklet in a Python 3 transition

The admission “we can’t program yet” sparked Andreas’s self-driven start. He spent his pocket money on a small Python 2 book—written by a father-and-son duo, pleasant to read. Python 3 was just emerging; the ecosystem was in transition. He worked through the exercises anyway. No shortcuts, no performativity—just practice.

This quiet episode captures a learning style Andreas later articulates explicitly:

In a world where beginners often feel blitzed by YouTube playlists, course marketplaces, and framework charts, this approach is disarmingly effective. One book, an interpreter, a handful of tasks—and the stamina to keep going.

From games to the web: PHP logins and a homegrown student forum

The game never shipped—but the spark jumped to something practical: web development. Andreas wrote his first PHP pages, implemented logins, simple writing features—and together with peers, built a student forum. Not a giant product, not millions of users. Yet it was real, usable, and immediate. Small systems like these are learning engines. They force you to reason about data flow, manage state correctly, and chase bugs that don’t appear in textbooks.

He recounts it in a matter-of-fact tone. But underneath are the formative moments of many engineering journeys: self-set goals, realistic scope, early users (classmates), and instant feedback when something breaks.

University of Applied Sciences Salzburg: studies and real work in tandem

The path continues to the University of Applied Sciences Salzburg for a degree in Information Technology and Systems Management. While studying, Andreas also worked part-time in software development. Theory and practice interlocked. Projects grew in scope, the codebase matured—but the foundational pattern remained: learn by applying, extend, connect.

Crucially, there’s no grandstanding in his narrative. No “disruption,” no heroics. The red thread from the first Python 2 exercises to full-stack industry work is consistent: sustained practice and pragmatic delivery.

Full stack at hilarion 5: a small team with a wide aperture

Today, Andreas is a full-stack software developer at hilarion 5. The company is intentionally small—“11 people” at the time of recording. That size shapes how they work. There are no classic departments for DevOps, frontend, or backend. Not because everyone must do everything at all times, but because day-to-day development is more dynamic and product work becomes more holistic.

What does this mean in practice? First, more touchpoints. Engineers receive customer requests directly, sometimes speak with customers themselves, co-develop solution ideas, and then turn them into code. It’s an end-to-end flow from need to product. Second, genuine full-stack routines. Frontend and backend are not separate worlds but a single arc in the work rhythm.

Technologically, hilarion 5 leans on Spring Boot. At the same time, pragmatism rules: teammates who don’t gravitate to Java use Node.js and JavaScript for backend work on smaller projects. Tech choice follows the project—not the other way around. This permission to try new things was “the main reason” Andreas joined hilarion 5.

The quiet excellence of small teams

What we observe here is a stance common to many small software firms—when it’s genuinely lived: proximity to the problem, short paths, and technology freedom within sensible guardrails. The fact that “not everyone has to know everything” removes pressure. The opportunity to touch multiple layers widens thinking. In that balance, full-stack competence is earned through experience—not bestowed by title.

How to become a programmer: guidance without myth

Andreas voices the simple truth many know but sidestep:

Resource abundance is a double-edged sword: “many videos, books, tutorials,” but “not all of them are truly good.” Early on, it’s unclear where to start. Is PHP “already outdated”? Should you jump onto “very modern things” like “Web 3.0”? Or stick to classic Windows applications with C++ or C#? These questions are real—and paralyzing.

His suggestion is to lower activation energy: spend a day or two in a short “course or workshop” that simply answers the meta-questions—where do I even start, and with what? Pair that with “a person” you can turn to when stuck. Then return to the core: learn by yourself, practice continuously. Not as a mantra, but because it is, in effect, the only way to become genuinely good.

And don’t forget the fun:

A pragmatic learning path, distilled

From Andreas’s trajectory, a practical path emerges:

1. Start small and concrete. A minimal learning environment (think Robot Karol principles) reveals the essence: command, state, effect.
2. Pick one starter resource and finish it. A focused book, a one-off workshop, a curated tutorial track—better one done than five abandoned.
3. Build real, small artifacts. A login flow, a tiny forum, a simple content tool—real tasks force real understanding.
4. Find at least one person you can ask. A mentor, a colleague, a community contact—someone to unstick you.
5. Keep your technology stance agnostic early on. Debating PHP vs. Web 3.0 vs. C++/C# doesn’t help at the start. Learning transferable fundamentals does.
6. Practice consistently. Regularity beats sporadic bursts. Write code, read code, improve code.

It’s intentionally unsensational—and reliably effective because it’s centered on doing.

Full-stack in practice: end-to-end thinking and fit-for-purpose tech

The hilarion 5 routine adds a professional dimension to this learning posture: end-to-end accountability. When engineers hear customer requests, contribute to solution design, and then implement both frontend and backend, their understanding sharpens. They think in chains of effect: request → concept → implementation → product. The result isn’t “more code,” but tighter alignment between problem and outcome.

Tech choice follows the same pragmatism. Spring Boot provides a solid backbone; Node.js and JavaScript fit smaller projects or developer preference. Not everyone has to do everything—but everyone gets the chance to touch multiple layers. Real flexibility then grows from experience, not from slogans.

Why this flexibility matters

Flexibility isn’t a vanity metric. In Andreas’s account, it serves three purposes:

• It speeds up response to customer needs because the path from request to code is short.
• It distributes responsibility sanely because solutions are built where understanding is deepest.
• It boosts motivation because trying and learning are treated as part of the job, not deviations from it.

For developers, that means learning in small, varied teams isn’t extracurricular—it’s the job.

Concrete takeaways for aspiring developers

Andreas’s points translate directly into action. No buzzwords, no promises—just moves that work:

• Make programming an activity, not a topic. Only writing real programs compounds skill.
• Use short orientation formats. A one- or two-day workshop can save months of zigzag learning.
• Be skeptical of trend-driven choices. PHP, Web 3.0, C++/C#—at the start, these debates mostly distract. Model-building and fundamentals matter more.
• Aim for small but real targets. A mini-forum, an auth flow, a tiny content tool—something that forces feedback.
• Touch both ends of the stack as early as you can. Frontend and backend make sense together; feeling that arc builds judgment.
• Cultivate the joy of building. Enjoyment isn’t a luxury; it fuels persistence.

What this teaches us about team design: no compulsion to be “everything”

One underrated point in Andreas’s story: a small team without classic departments doesn’t mean every person “must always know everything” or “be interested in everything.” The freedom to touch different layers isn’t a mandate to become a universal expert. It’s an invitation to grow along the product lifecycle—with focal points that change by project.

This attitude detoxes the full-stack label. It turns the term into a working mode: reduce friction between layers, maximize understanding across boundaries. If you can hear customer needs, think in architectures, and implement features across frontend and backend, you prevent integration friction from arising in the first place. That’s invaluable in an 11-person setup—and a potent school for any developer’s holistic perspective.

Motivation without myth: why sticking with it wins

The session leaves a refreshingly unpretentious message. No dramatic pivots, no promise that a single framework will change your life. Instead: stick with it. Practice. Build things that exist. Choose technologies because they fit—not because slides or trends make them glow. And keep the fun alive, because it provides the energy to cross the inevitable valleys.

Andreas’s path—from Robot Karol to a Python 2 booklet, first PHP sites and a student forum, a degree at the University of Applied Sciences Salzburg, and finally full-stack work at hilarion 5—convinces precisely because it’s normal. Ordinary steps add up to something extraordinary: the ability to turn needs into functioning products.

A compact action plan inspired by Andreas Rainer

• If you’re at square one: choose a minimal environment (Robot Karol–style principles) where commands and effects are crystal clear.
• Commit to a single learning track for a few weeks (a book, one workshop, a curated tutorial) and finish it.
• Build two or three real micro-projects: a login flow, a forum, a form with validation.
• Find a person to ask. Twenty minutes of feedback a week beats hours of frustration.
• Try at least one frontend and one backend task. Learn how the parts inform each other.
• Practice relentlessly. “Practice, practice, practice” isn’t a quote—it’s the method.

Closing: a full circle—from a single block to a working product

“We wanted to build a game—and realized we had to learn programming first.” That’s the point where many stop. Andreas Rainer started there. Simple robot commands became Python exercises, which became real web apps, which became university studies with hands-on work, which became full-stack development in a team that talks to customers and chooses technology pragmatically.

From “Andreas Rainer, Full Stack Developer bei hilarion 5,” we take three enduring signals: learn by doing. Keep technology choices pragmatic. Seek environments—people, teams, companies—that enable learning. The rest emerges in the work. That’s how products that matter get built.

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