Christian Schindler on door openers and Viennese coffee shops

Christian Schindler has 17 years experience as a professional consultant in the field of IT, of which 13 as a professional trainer.

Mr. Schindler delivered a five-day course on Exchange Server 2010 in New Horizons Bulgaria, in May 2010.

He holds the highest recognitions of excellence for technical skills provided by Microsoft – Microsoft Certified Architect and Microsoft Certified Master on Exchange Server.

Apparently Mr. Schindler is a Jedi of the highest order. As a token of gratitude New Horizons Bulgaria presented him with a Chinese plastic lightsaber.  He was kind enough to answer a few questions for this blog.

What do you love about teaching?

It’s the possibility I have to take people to the next stage, to make them more knowledgeable and make them more self-confident in what they do. That’s what I love about teaching.

What made you choose a career in technical training?

It was by pure chance, to be honest. I was asked once to lead a technical training for the company I worked for before. I had to teach end-users how to use some stuff in our network. I really enjoyed it and that’s what made me think about it and eventually led me to the technical training.

Your students are extremely satisfied with your training. Yesterday you said you prefer your students to learn as they do tasks during the course and not to exercise with set-up labs.

What I discovered in my last 12 years of teaching is that any time I did a course with predefined labs people learned how it works but when they returned to the company they no longer knew how it worked, they did not remember how they did it.

I believe that only when you do a mistake and be able to fix it you will know how it works. That is a very unconventional way of teaching, I know, but obviously it works out because people are satisfied.

If you look back at your career development what personal qualities do you consider instrumental for your professional success?

For me it’s always the passion for what I do. For me it’s not a job, it’s my hobby more or less. It’s also the passion to help people, to give them my knowledge.

What is your advice to young people interested in pursuing a career in the technical professions?

Of course. It’s not a technical advice. My advice will be to have a balance between the technical stuff and something else that is not technical in your personal life. So you can have a balance, and sit back and not think about technical stuff all the time.

You have been a professional contractor for NTX for the last 12 years. What do you love about working with the same company for such a long period of time?

When I started with NTX they finally gave me the chance to lead trainings in the area of high-technical trainings. It was more or less a door opener for me. I really appreciated it. We have a really good relationship based on honesty and trust. I have never been disappointed by them. They treat me respectfully and I treat them respectfully. Maybe that’s that. Or maybe I’m a very lazy person to have a look at another contractor. I’m happy as things are.

Do technical training centers in Austria complement or compete with the educational services provided by technical schools?

Yes… so they don’t compete but complement each other. I’ve had several students coming from technical schools and universities where they’ve had a good overview of the technology and then they go to courses to improve the knowledge in order to succeed in their job.

What are the cool places to visit in Vienna?

Vienna is a cool place in itself. If you live there you forget about the cool places. You can have a look at the historic buildings. Nearby Vienna there are mountains. Near the Danube River we have a recreation area which is 20 km long, so there are a lot of cool places. We have a lot of bars of course, and you definitively have to go to a coffee shop, which is not a coffee shop like in the Netherlands. You don’t get hashish there; you get a really good cup of coffee.

Thank you, Christian.

dimitar (at) newhorizons.bg

Sofia, May 22nd 2010