Mr. Grobmeier, you are a programmer, what is it that is so fascinating about your job?
I actually wanted to be a rock star.
Then I let my hair grow out and we went on tour.
I've found that sleeping on the floor and eating bad food is not for me.
Then I thought: What does my band really need, and I came up with it: A website has to be found.
What did you play?
Drums!
It was really loud and really nice too, but at some point I realized that website programming was more fun than constantly touring the area.
And so it got stuck.
But you had to learn a bit, the matter is not that trivial.
As a child I programmed on the C64, I always wanted to play computer games.
The internet came later, so I could talk to people from far away, which was fascinating.
I was so excited that I built the first website.
Did you teach yourself all of this?
Yes.
For what I do, studying computer science is actually of no use.
You have to have fun coding, and when you find the right niche, you just learn it.
So you don't have any direct programming training?
I'm actually a dental technician.
As I said, I wanted to become a rock star and I took any job that was available, that was the pay technician job.
I have a red-green weakness, however, so my boss was always very dissatisfied with me when I had to do the crowns.
First I went to Siemens and Infineon, and during that time I taught myself how to do it.
For example, I started with Java in 2001.
And at some point you started your own business.
I have been self-employed since 2011, and since 2017 it has been in the form of a GmbH.
Who are your customers?
My top customer is Opendi AG, the leading manufacturer of software for business directories.
My other, very important customer is a large consulting company in Frankfurt, for whom I do a lot of training.
How long have you been working for Apache?
Since 2007. I've always done open source, but never before in an organization.
The mentality has always interested me, and then I felt at home with Apache.
What is this mentality like?
There are groups where the ego extends to the moon.
There is always a fight, which is unbearable for me.
Then there are groups where I find myself, like to do it, and learn a lot from my colleagues.
In the Apache environment, you learn from the best.
But you do all of this for free - what motivates you to do so?
There are various reasons.
On the one hand: I have an idea, but you can't code it alone, and then five people start and you join in.
The other: you believe in the idea.
This is what happened with Google Wave, for example.
I was a mentor then.
In my personal case, I thought I should educate myself and join forces with people who are much better than me.
And was it worth it?
I had to go through the desert a lot in my training, it was still the beginning of the development business, the internet was new.
My grandmother said at the time: 'Christian, don't do that with the computers.
I know so many who are starving to death now. '
Back then everything was really difficult, you had to see how I could get better.
There was also an existential fear there.
Now you're in the thick of it - what part of your time do you spend working on open source?