Florian – Software Engineer


I work as a software engineer for ORTEC, on the products ORTEC Route Scheduling and ORTEC Tactical Routing. ORTEC Route Scheduling is used by our customers to optimize their day to day routing problems. ORTEC Tactical Routing is used to create a master plan for different regions and/or longer time periods. For instance, this could help in the decisions of where to place a depot.
These applications require that our products score high both in mathematical categories like algorithmic efficiency as well as in IT categories like maintainability, scalability and robustness. This keeps the job highly interesting, as you need to have almost specialist knowledge in a broad range of topics.

The work I do is divided in three parts: developments in the standard products, customer specific changes to the standard products and hunting bugs. The first is rewarding work because especially here code quality is important, as it must be able to deal with many different situations and be fit for possible extensions in the future. The second kind of work, the customer specific changes, are exciting, because you get to see what broad range of practical considerations need to be considered in the theories. The bug hunting can be tiresome but can also be very rewarding because you get to play detective.

Since I am a software engineer, a large part of the day is spent programming or thinking about what to program. In addition to this, there are periodic meetings about the latest scientific developments, about software development and about the logistics industry. While working at ORTEC, I’ve learned a lot about programming in large projects, different planning algorithms and the diverse kind of requirements there are in the logistics sector.

ORTEC is a very friendly company, where you work with smart people on hard problems. There is ample opportunity to learn new things and a big emphasis is put on personal development. In addition to this, having fun is also considered important, resulting in activities as diverse as a diving courses, laser gaming, city golf, prison escapes and many more.