10 Quick Questions for Stefan Frenzel | Support Engineer

1. Who are you?

My name is Stefan Frenzel.

2. What education do you have, and how did you come to Dlubal Software?

I graduated from a high school in 2003 and then started to study civil engineering at the Leipzig University. During my studies, I worked for the MFPA in Leipzig. This is a material research institute and certification facility. I worked there in the field of fire protection. At the end of my studies, I wrote my thesis on structural fire protection in steel construction. In 2010, I applied for a job in customer support at Dlubal Software immediately after graduating, and was then hired in mid-2010.

3. What are your tasks?

My current responsibility is customer support. There is email support as well as online training sessions at our premises or at the customer's office. I am also involved in the development of the add-on modules for dynamic analyses. For the seismic and eigenvalue analyses, and for the future add-ons that are still in planning.

4. What is important in your job?

Customer support depends on a certain expertise. You should be relatively proficient in any area of structural analysis. You should have a rough knowledge of all materials, so you can help customers. In development, you also need to have a certain amount of foresight. You also have to be able to react to new circumstances and try to learn the ropes.

5. What do you look forward to when you come into work in the morning?

First, I look forward to exchanging ideas with my colleagues and to new support inquiries or training courses. This allows you to further educate yourself, as well as the customers. Second, I also look forward to testing the programs to see how they work so far.

6. What excites you about construction or structural engineering in general?

What I'm most excited about is when you can see live on a construction site what has been calculated. You can then see that what you calculate will hold up.

7. What has been your best experience so far?

The stay in the USA has been the best of my career at Dlubal Software so far. We opened the US office in 2015. I had the chance to help set up the office in the USA for three months and to live there. That was very interesting.

8. What is your hobby?

Cycling is my big hobby, because you can simply turn off when riding. Otherwise, my hobby is my children. You're with them a lot when you're not working, and that's also a good way to balance things out. It takes me in a different direction. It's not technical anymore, but human.

8. What advice would you give to young graduates for the future?

I would always advise young people to get a firsthand look at a construction site. You can see how certain things are done. I was lucky, because I had a lot of practical experience at my parents' construction company. This helped me to understand certain processes. You should try to get many practical insights as possible, and not just from a planning perspective, because there is usually a rather large gap between planning and execution.

10. What is your favorite building?

It is the Millau Viaduct. However, it was not calculated using our program. It was completed in 2004 and was the tallest cable-stayed bridge in the world at the time. This is my favorite.

Millau Bridge in France