I'm actually more the hands-on type of guy who feels at home in projects.
But here my job was to prepare experienced developers for the iSAQB CPSA-F certification exam — in a 4-day seminar.
The participants came primarily from Medical, Banking, Railway and Robotics.
As an educational scientist, I love iteration — finding out what works, measuring how well, improving further.
So I developed a simulation game. Each week a new project with a new group of motivated participants.
Feedback from 15 courses with 76 participants:
- Didactics: 4.8
- Competence: 4.7
- Interactivity: 4.6
- Atmosphere: 4.8
5 = best rating. — 13 courses online, 2 on-site. — 12 in German, 3 in English.
I wish everything were as measurable as teaching quality.
What I learned most during this work: how much overlap there is between schools and the trainer/coaching world. A trainer is rewarded when they manage to carry the people along. And for that, the participants need to be at the center.
As a trainer, I had to find my own way quickly — and all those years in Linz secondary schools certainly helped.
It also turned out how well 4-day formats work over video calls. Sure, the physical dimension of being present is missing. But online, for example, no extra tech is needed — no projector, no pointer, no travel times, no accommodation, no access badges, no printer. There's even a shared whiteboard where everyone can work together. All of this takes so much stress out of the whole thing, so that participants and trainer can focus much better on the course days and on the actual learning content.
In any case, that was 15 effective course weeks with 15 great groups and 76 wonderful people. Up to 12 new faces every week. Getting to know them, warming up — and in the end, saying goodbye was often not so easy. Thank you for those amazing courses!
Being a Trainer for Software Architecture has brought me tremendous joy. So many connections and discussions. I have to admit, I sometimes miss it.
Were you there? Awesome! Hi there!
We had a great time — didn't we?
Want to philosophize with me about software architecture? Just get in touch.