“A real stroke of luck”

“I like the investigative side of things.” Jan works as a platform administrator at the Darmstadt site. The trickiest job the trained business informatics specialist is currently tackling is ServiceNow, an Enterprise-Service-Management tool. The platform allows employees to report faults and place requests. Between 100 and 150 inquiries are received there every day, which are then filtered through to the teams that can resolve the issues. Employees check in, for example, when a printer breaks down or there’s a problem with software, but also when something like a new notebook or headset is required. “The usual requests are about needing to access a particular software or SharePoint.” When Jan describes the project to others who aren’t familiar with the technology, he describes it as being the Röhm version of Amazon. There are five members on his team at IT Service Management. A 20-strong core team is involved with the platform in total, “We’re designing this so that it really works.”

If a router fails, production can come to a standstill. That’s the worst-case scenario that Jan and his team have to contend with. But the 29-year-old is rarely fazed. He’s only been really nervous once so far and that was on November 15, 2021, at 9 a.m. during the actual go-live. This was when the platform was launched under real conditions, i.e. when all users in the company got access. “At that point, I did worry that the phone would be ringing non-stop,” he says. But the tool went into operation nearly without any start-up problems. “And it all happened right on schedule. That was only possible because the whole team pulled together.” Jan has been part of the team since April 2020, but he has been familiar with the company for much longer. After an internship in his student days, he started out as an agency worker in IT Service Management. “That was a real stroke of luck. It opened my eyes to what careers are possible in IT.”

The platform’s implementation is now complete. “We’re heading into the automation phase now. We want to reduce the number of manual tasks employees have to take care of.” Frequent requests, such as authorization for access, are to be automated. When he needs some time out, he goes back to Ottrau, his home town in northern Hesse, for the weekend. Friends and family still live there. “I can manage the 160-kilometer journey on a Friday night.” For shorter breaks, he spends time with his three roommates on their balcony, “I can really unwind out there.” The four roommates created a balcony oasis during the pandemic. There are raised beds to grow potatoes, onions, squash, zucchini, parsley and chives. “Last year we even had kumquats that we made jam from. Just watering the plants makes me relax.”