Interview with Johanna – Agile Coach at eos.uptrade GmbH

Interview with Johanna – Agile Coach at eos.uptrade GmbH

eos.uptrade is a supporting member of JUG Saxony. JUG Saxony is a community that connects IT enthusiasts from the software industry beyond Saxony's borders. They stand for knowledge transfer and the promotion of young talent within and outside the IT community.

JUG Saxony currently presents how different the path to a job in the IT sector can be and also talked to our colleague Johanna Trümper.

EMPOWERING PEOPLE TO MAKE DECISIONS

JUG Saxony: Please introduce yourself.

Johanna: I'm Johanna, I live in Dresden and studied geography. I've been working as an Agile Coach at eos.uptrade since September 2022. I love climbing and being outdoors in nature with my two children.

JUG Saxony: Do you have a passion for IT?

Johanna: No, I'm more of a researcher and have always been interested in science. I used to find it really exciting how physical things are connected. I didn't have a computer that I programmed on, which you sometimes see children doing now. I had an ancient Nokia phone and wasn't really tech-savvy.

It's pretty cool that with modern technology, you can tackle things in the world that weren't possible a few years ago. And I find the topic of artificial intelligence and its developments particularly exciting. IT is where we have the greatest potential to generate progress.

JUG Saxony: What was your initial career desire?

Johanna: I wanted to go into environmental protection and did a voluntary ecological year. I then thought about studying landscape ecology, as I was really interested in systemic relationships in nature. In the end, I studied geography and developed a predilection spot for maps.

JUG Saxony: How did you become an Agile Coach?

Johanna: After studying geography, I became very interested in how processes work in companies. I worked as a consultant and later as a Senior Consultant in an engineering office, where I tried to organize the processes so that we didn't have to do everything a thousand times.

Later, as a team leader, I made sure that there was little micromanagement. I acted as a kind of umbrella for all the people who had to deal with these external influences, establishing cooperation and holding discussions so that everyone was able to focus on their actual tasks.

This management position made me realize how important servant leadership and agility are to me. Developing myself further and taking the next step ultimately led me to become an Agile Coach.

JUG SAXONY: Would you have applied for a job in IT if you had had no previous contact with it?

Johanna: I think that's open. I know people from programming, but also from psychology or HR who have taken on this role. I believe that if you are interested in the job, it is possible to get into IT without an IT background.

JUG SAXONY: What is your area of responsibility?

Johanna: Ultimately, the role is there to ensure that the "how we work together" is served. It's all about how people work together, whether in a technical or human sense. This means that I accompany teams in their daily challenges and support them in communicating in a solution-orientated way. I look at how frameworks, Kanban or Scrum can be placed in teams and what other possibilities there are from the agile world to work together efficiently.

My tasks also have a lot to do with mindset work. Part of being an Agile Coach, at least the way I see it as a role, is also individual coaching, for example, talking one-to-one with people from the team. But also looking at team coaching to see what can really be advanced in terms of our progress: Where do we want to learn, where can we learn, where there are opportunities to handle known problems better in the future and, above all, to reflect on them together. That's where I see the coach.

For me, being an agile coach is a bit more than just a job title, it's an inner attitude. I can support people in finding their own solutions by having a certain craft or a feeling for how I ask or how I listen.

JUG SAXONY: What challenges do you face?

Johanna: It's very complex, as it can affect both the technical side and the human side. There are team processes that don't run smoothly, psychological uncertainties. Or: We have too much code here - how can we write better code sustainably in the future? Do we need to review the code more often? Why do the systems run this way or that? That can be very, very different.

JUG SAXONY: What do you enjoy most about your job?

Johanna: Everything, really. The job simply gives me an incredible amount of pleasure. I like moderating groups and noticing how they get into the flow. I like it when someone sits in front of me and I can see that they've just realized something because I've asked the right questions. Generating joy. Knowing that the teams can work sustainably and have fun at the same time. And it doesn't matter whether it's a DevOps topic or a support topic or another Developer topic. But that's what makes it fun to see people who enjoy coming to work because it's cool.

JUG SAXONY: What advice would you give to someone who wants to work as an Agile Coach?

Johanna: I think it's really helpful if you're a team player and have a feel for a group. You need to be able to stand up for yourself in conflicts and be able to mediate and resolve conflicts, not be afraid to address things openly, even those that are uncomfortable. With these qualities, you have good prerequisites.

JUG SAXONY: Where do you want your journey to take you?

Johanna: My journey. I find the topic of coaching really exciting and have done a lot of research into non-violent communication. It's a topic that I want to explore further in the future. I also think it fits in well with my job. I started a training as a systemic coach this year. I will definitely continue with this.