Meeting tomorrow’s tech talents: Porsche at WeAreDevelopers in Berlin
There are 100 million lines of code in a Porsche, but most people don’t realise that software development is becoming increasingly important to car manufacturing. Even many software developers can’t imagine at first why Porsche needs their expertise. Johanna Godde accompanied Porsche to the WeAreDevelopers World Congress in Berlin to meet the software talents of tomorrow and gathered some exciting insights.
1: Getting to know each other
For us at Porsche, it is incredibly important to exchange ideas with the global community — after all, we are in the midst of a transformation. So Porsche not only produces vehicles, but also software. At the WeAreDevelopers congress in Berlin, there was a great opportunity to connect with talent and introduce ourselves. What are the ideas of the tech scene for New Work and New Auto? What drives them?
That’s why my first insight was: being present is important to raise your own awareness of what role tech employees want and will play in the transformation of Porsche. At the first meeting, there are often “aha moments” when we point out how important IT is in our transformation. Only through personal exchange do we also get a glimpse of the software developers’ wishes and perspectives.
2: Yes, we code!
We also had some real hands-on coding at our booth. Elias Mueller offered multiple sessions at our Coding station. There software engineers were able to show their skills directly at the coding stations on site and chat with Elias, who is coding as a software developer at Porsche.
The lively and packed presentation on Stage 5 by Matthias Falkenberg and Timo Knapp was also anything but low code. So a great side effect was that we were able to show the public: Yes, we code! We are actively shaping the future, striving to make driving safer, more interconnected and more sustainable. Or, as our Porsche board member Lutz Meschke puts it: “Because all providers have really stepped on the gas with electromobility, they also had to deal with the IT behind it in parallel. Software will make the difference in the future.”
It is always useful to remind the public of this and to properly acknowledge the influence of software on our hardware — not only internally.
3: Many hands working towards the same goal
This year, the Volkswagen Group had the largest stand at the entire WAD event. The individual brands, such as VW, Audi, Seat Code, CARIAD, Porsche Digital and Porsche AG, did not appear as separated entities, but collectively presented the “New Auto” initiative. This may seem like a small thing, but it showed in a simple way that there is a strong unity and exchange between the brands — we are all working towards a digital future. That was one of my absolute highlights of the event: meeting colleagues away from video calls and finally seeing this great team in action as one big unit.
The idea of bringing Porsche to the WeAreDevelopers Congress has been simmering for three years due to the pandemic. It certainly takes passion to get all the departments on board, but everyone was enthusiastic and I’m grateful for the result. So at this point, a thank you to everyone involved and to all those who visited us at our stand!
By the way: If you were not able to attend #WAD22, you can find out more about our new Porsche Tech Talents initiative and apply directly here.
About this publication: Where innovation meets tradition. There’s more to Porsche than sports cars — we are developing new digital products and services — always with our customers in focus. On our Medium blog, we tell these stories. It’s about our #nextvisions, emerging technologies, and the people that drive our digital journey. If you want to know more, follow us on Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn.
