Vanessa Heinl
Vanessa Heinl

I recently had an opportunity to interview one of the Software Developers and UX designers at Steinberg.

Often it is easy to forget that the people behind the software use are real people that are excited about working on the software and are truly trying to put out the best product they can under the circumstances of time and resources.

So this is just a short interview with one of the fantastic people working there.

(I’m not Steinberg biased, every company has similar people. This is simply the company that I choose).

Contents

Interviewee

Vanessa Heinl, Software Developer & UX Design Engineer

What was your role in developing the product?

I work at Steinberg as a UI software developer and UX design engineer. My role is to identify usability problems and then work on those together with the other members of the team. In Cubase 10, that included HiDPI, AddTrack, Latency Monitor, VST Plug-in Pictures and the extension of Media Rack to include third party plug-ins and effects.

How did you end up working with Steinberg?

I studied media technology at the HAW College of Applied Sciences in Hamburg. Steinberg regularly gives lectures there for students. I wanted to develop audio products after my studies and the Steinberg lecture inspired me to the extent that I applied to join the company after I finished my course. And it worked out. I’ve been with Steinberg for five years now and I really like working there.

How do you use Steinberg products when your workday is over?

I like writing lyrics and playing along on the guitar. I record that into Cubase and work on it there. It’s a hobby for me or together with my family, and that’s something I did even before starting to work at Steinberg.

What are your some of your interests outside of work?

I do a lot of different sports, and I like going to concerts. If I have enough time, I take the opportunity to see a bit of the world.

Can you tell us about a time where you saw some of you hard work being used and it had an impression on you?

Actually, every time I see someone using something I’ve worked on it makes me happy. The first feature I worked on was the Plug-in Manager in Cubase 8. That’s special to me because it was the first. I especially remember standing in a newsagent’s reading Sound & Recording magazine (N.B. German MI magazine) and finding an article about Cubase 8.5. There was a big picture of the Media Rack, which was praised in the article.

There seems to be an unusually collaborative process at Steinberg, do you think this comes from the large number of the team with musical backgrounds?

Many of us do have a musical background, play an instrument and identify with the product. The enthusiasm and commitment at Steinberg is very high.

What are your musical interests? Anything you’ve heard recently that you enjoy?

It’s very mixed. Right now, I enjoy listening to Imagine Dragons, they’re from Las Vegas. They played in Hamburg this year and it was an amazing concert. I also listen to a lot of bands from Germany like Hundreds or Revolverheld.

Thanks from the interviewer

I {:nick “AdmiraBumbleBee” :name “Robert Randolph”} would like to thank Vanessa Heinl for taking the time to write. A big thanks also to Stefan Trowbridge for helping me reaching one of the talented devs at Steinberg, and being an overall cool person.

Remember that when you whine about an update, there’s likely very passionate people behind the scenes that honestly wanted to put out something good. It may not have been exactly what you want, but someone worked hard on it regardless. A bit of respect goes a long way!

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