He could have joined Boeing or BioNTech, but in 2023 David Contreras Schneider opted to join ista instead. Why? Find out in the latest portrait in our #wefromista series.
"ista? What is that?" David Contreras Schneider heard this question a lot in the summer of 2023. He had just decided to join our Submetering Platform tribe - and had to justify his decision in conversations with friends and family. David - who has his father's Mexican surname and his mother's German one - had turned down heavyweights such as Boeing and BioNTech.
"I worked at IBM for some time, then at Intel for almost twelve years. For the next step in my career many expected similar renowned companies. I was in the middle of the recruitment process at Boeing and had even already been given a job offer at BioNTech - but in the end I opted for ista. Not everyone could understand that straight away," recalls the now 40-year-old.
Not an easy decision
For the father of two, the decision was not easy at first either, but in the end it was clear: "Intel, IBM, Boeing - these are all huge companies, so the decision-making takes a long time. I wanted an employer where I could make a difference quickly and where my work would have a visible impact."
In the end, it was also the people that played an important role: "My current Tribe Lead Frank Bütefür simply found exactly the right words to get me excited about the job. I was also able to get to know the team in Essen in advance, which eliminated any remaining doubts." A year later, David still has no regrets about his decision: "The chemistry is just right."
Important groundwork
As product owner, he and his squad colleagues do the groundwork for us: "We provide the necessary framework so that the software developers can work in the best possible way. To do this, we provide a self-service platform that covers everything so that developers can concentrate fully on their applications. I like to compare it to building a house: we supply all the materials so that the specialists on the construction site can get started. There's a reason why our team is called 'We enable squads'."
Cooking instead of coding
David commutes 100 kilometers from Bad Honnef to Essen twice a week to stay in close contact with his team. Moving would be out of the question, as a large part of the German side of his family lives in the city in the southern tip of North Rhine-Westphalia.
To switch off, he swaps cooking for coding: in the kitchen, the IT expert likes to prepare specialties from his old home country (see info box). "Mexican food in Germany is not like the original, so I prefer to pick up the spoon myself."
Torta instead of kebab
David is passionate about cooking recipes from his home country of Mexico. "There's much more than just tacos," he emphasizes. One of his favorites is torta ahogada, a type of sandwich that David takes to new culinary heights. "It's completely handmade, I even bake the bread myself - the dough alone has to rise for two days."
Choose one! David in our short interview
Tea or coffee? Coffee
City or countryside? Before having kids: city. With kids: countryside
Restaurant or cooking? Both
Car or train? Train
Kebab or currywurst? Torta Ahogada ;)
Seaside or mountains? Seaside