About me:
Who are you, and what do you do professionally? Since when are you Software Campus participant, and with whom are you collaborating (Industry Partner)?
I am Fabian and I am a PhD student at the Technical University of Munich, where I am conducting research into language models. I have been part of the Software Campus since 2026 and am working with my project partner, DATEV, to adapt language models for knowledge-intensive specialist fields.
Career:
What exactly was your personal reason to pursue a career in computer science?
I enjoy solving puzzles and problems, and it’s all the better when you can do so elegantly. This works particularly well in computer science because you can easily put your ideas into practice. You sit down, give it a go and see straight away whether it works. And the great thing about machine learning is that relatively simple architectures, when trained and applied correctly, are extremely versatile and can solve many problems in an elegant and interesting way.
Personality
Which values and character traits do you see as fundamental for people in leading positions?
For me, the most important thing is that good leaders empower people and give them the space to get involved in areas that interest them. What I don’t like, on the other hand, is micromanagement. If people simply carry out whatever the leader happens to think is right at the time, you rarely end up with the best or most elegant solution. I see this with the students I supervise, too. Some need more guidance, some less. But a degree of independence and support exactly where it’s needed are always essential.
Mindset
What gets your creativity flowing?
I often come up with the best ideas for my own problems when I see something clever from a completely different field, be it in a paper, in nature or in a documentary. Anything that gives me a thought I’ve never had before. Most of the time, the idea doesn’t actually fit my problem in the end, but it often works brilliantly as inspiration.
Impact
Which app/technical invention is the most essential to you?
Probably not a particularly original answer, but for me it’s the internet. Hardly any other invention has brought about such profound change. People can communicate with one another even though they live on the other side of the world, and everyone can access knowledge for free, regardless of their financial circumstances. The internet empowers people like no other technology before it
Source language of this interview: German
