Tell us about your work at NTT DATA in Germany
I am based in Munich and have several responsibilities within NTT DATA DACH. I am head of the biggest technical guild within NTT DATA DACH with more than 400 developers in the field of Cloud Native and Backend Development. I used to work and still work in Cloud Development projects for our customers as a technical cloud solution architect. I have several years of experience with private and public cloud solutions. Beside these topics I am also a Business Unit Lead for Innovation & Technology. In my role as Head of Extended Reality Solutions for NTT DATA DACH, I initiated the creation of several innovative assets like a Virtual Reality Collaboration Platform.
Tell us about your education, career path, interest in green software and your journey to GSF.
I studied computer science and finished my diploma 15 years ago at the University of Applied Science in Rosenheim in Germany. I started as a software developer, then worked as an architect/cloud architect and technical project lead.
I joined NTT DATA in 2013 and have since worked on several projects for various customers. I was always a big fan of efficient solutions. Around four years ago, I initiated some innovation projects within NTT DATA around virtual collaboration using innovative technologies like AR/VR to reduce travelling costs and to reduce travelling time to a bare minimum of what was necessary to follow basic sustainability principles.
Within NTT DATA I held the position as Head of Extended Reality Solutions for a few years, and around a year ago I took on the role as Head of Cloud Native & Backend Development/ Tech Guild Lead. Throughout these engagements the sustainability aspect was always a motivating factor to me.
What do you, as an individual, expect to achieve by working with the GSF and in green software in general?
I like learning and networking with interesting people and I hope to experience both within the Green Software Foundation. I like community work and I hope to find like minded people while engaging in community work. I think that this kind of community contribution is very important to society.
From a personal responsibility perspective, I try to make the world a little bit cleaner. I feel that I could have an influence to reach our climate goals with a contribution to this Foundation. I hope with the participation in the GSF and my range within the NTT DATA DACH organisation as guild leader, as a lecturer at the university for subjects around microservices and cloud computing and development, as meetup contributor within the cloud development scene (AWS, Microsoft), I could have wide impact on many people and could raise awareness for that topic.
What GSF working groups and projects are you involved in, and what role you have played or are playing?
I joined the GSF in January 2022 and I will put my focus on topics within the Innovation Working Group and the Community Working Group. In the Innovation Working Group I have some ideas for a useful tool set around resource optimization in mind. Concerning the Community Working Group I will support the activities around the GSF Summit 2022 in Munich.
I am also working on translating green software articles into the German language. I have already translated the Green Software Foundation Manifesto, What is Green Software and the Software Carbon Intensity Specification announcement. I am working on translating others.
Are you using principles of green software engineering and development in your day to day work?
I try to follow the best practices of building green software solutions and bring this concept to my colleagues in the projects. From my point of view, we have achieved a lot by migrating and transforming old legacy applications with a high energy consumption to the much more efficient public cloud. From my point of view, we have just taken the first steps in that direction. But the first steps are always the most challenging ones.
What obstacles do you see to using green software on a wider scale within your company and in general?
At work, I see more opportunities than obstacles as our company has a strong focus on the sustainability goals of the United Nations. I would expect some minor obstacles in the concrete operative aspects but not under an organisation NTT DATA view. NTT DATA is a global systems integrator and innovator and we will definitely have the option to provide sustainable/green solutions on a wider scale.
How can companies get more young software engineers onboard the green software movement?
I think it is very important to go to universities and push that topic directly within university courses. As I mentioned earlier, I try to do that in my university lectures. I also provide topics for bachelor and master thesis at NTT DATA on topics of microservices and cloud computing and development. I think this will have a huge impact.
What can the GSF do on that front, in your view?
I think good, comprehensive speaker decks with appropriate guidance could unlock a multiplication effect to have some material for conferences, customers and students.
Any other matters you would like to share with us about green software and sustainability?
I think that NTT DATA as a global organisation will play an important role when it comes to mindset shaping for green software and sustainability as they are high-ranked goals within our company.
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