What does a software development engineer do, Mr Merkle?

Michael Merkle breathes life into our automatic door swing doors. How does he do it? By developing software and thereby creating many of the functions that our customers value so much. Thanks to his experience and versatility, and depending on the project, he slips into many different roles.

Mastering challenging tasks with agile processes

"I am responsible for developing embedded software for existing GEZE products, as well as new developments" Michael Merkle says. "Normally, I get a requirement from product development, which we then carry out in three phases in the team: analysis, design, and implementation". All of it happens using agile, user-oriented methods. This means that software development colleagues divide the entire process into work packages, called sprints, which the team independently plans and carries out, learning in the process and continuing to optimise the path to software that is ready for the market. As the scrum master, Michael Merkle monitors and moderates this process. However, sometimes he also becomes the product owner: "In this case, I ensure that we do not lose sight of the user's needs in the heat of development." And, of course, he also programmes or works on the software architecture.

We work with a test-driven approach: first, we consider how best to test a function. We then create software that is easy to test on this basis. That helps us reach our goal more quickly.

Michael Merkle, software development engineer at GEZE

Excellent conditions for software specialists ...

The software development engineer is responsible for developing embedded software for existing GEZE products, as well as new developments © GEZE GmbH

"Here, I can work in an agile, international, technologically challenging environment" the software developer summarises. "I have great colleagues, and the equipment in our development centre is excellent - and if I want to, or have to, I can work remotely two days a week from home or on a mobile basis". With all these advantages, it's no surprise that Michael Merkle has been a loyal member of our company since 2012. Previously, he completed the thesis for his Bachelor of Science for drive systems and mechatronics. He then immediately started his career as a software development engineer. "I started off by developing the configuration application for automatic doors" he remembers. "Put simply, the goal is to adapt the software to the desired scope of functions by setting parameters, or clear values".

Would I recommend GEZE to my best friend? No, because he already works here.

Michael Merkle, software development engineer at GEZE

Michael Merkle looks forward to working with his team each day: he is happy to make the roughly 30 kilometre commute from his home in Freiberg am Neckar to GEZE in Leonberg to do so. © GEZE GmbH

… and plenty of potential for personal development

He then moved to his current work area, developing software embedded in GEZE swing doors. "I really love the work associated with this area. I have a lot of fun helping to design our products and equip them with functions that handle control, regulation or monitoring behind the scenes." Nevertheless, the door professional recently started looking beyond his horizons somewhat. "I would like to learn more about the automatic window area" he says with a twinkle in his eye. "Redesigning the software-relevant process model, the detailed description of our development process, which I monitor as scrum master, is another exciting challenge". 
Finally, Michael Merkle had one wish: "Software development has enormous potential and is becoming more and more important. I would be glad if this area were expanded further." That's what we are planning to do, Michael!