Experience built over time. One common thread.

Formative stages

• Graduated 1998 Engineering foundations

  I studied civil engineering and environmental technology at Hamburg University of Technology (TUHH) and graduated as a Dipl.-Ing. (TU). Alongside my studies, in 1995 and 1996 I supported research and teaching at the institute as a student assistant.

• 1999–2001 International project responsibility

  In 1999 I joined the WETECH Institute for Water and Environmental Protection Technology in Hamburg as a project engineer, preparing technical assessments and laying the groundwork for a German–Chinese joint venture. A few months later I took over as Managing Director of that joint venture in Yixing, China — Yixing WETECH Environmental Technology — with personnel responsibility for nine employees. My role covered building up the company, environmental and engineering services, and a research project funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) on treating industrial dyeing wastewater. Those eighteen months of responsibility in an unfamiliar language and culture still shape how I approach complex technical and organisational tasks today.

• Since 2001 Entrepreneurial continuity

  After returning from China, I have run my own engineering practice, Ingenieurbüro Sommer, continuously since May 2001. My practice delivered international plant engineering projects, including an industrial wastewater treatment plant for PET recycling in China. In 2005 my practice received the UNIDO Blue Sky Award for a concept for decentralised power generation using a hydro screw; I prepared and gave the presentation myself in Shenzhen.

  Alongside that, my practice included technical procurement, organising manufacturing, and importing technical products in China — from specification through liaising with suppliers and manufacturing to quality assurance. For exports to Korea I obtained Authorized Exporter status, allowing my customers to benefit from preferential treatment under the EU–Korea Free Trade Agreement.

  Starting in 2011, I built my own technical online shop, sommer-schlauchschellen.de — including my own programming, cloud/ERP integration, and automated shipping, ordering, and documentation processes. Digital systems and process automation were part of my practice long before Matrixcode and my current AI work.

  In 2020 I took on central technical tasks in setting up FFP2 respirator production in Germany: material selection, specification, and quality assurance to EN 149, together with supporting the CE conformity process — one of the most demanding pieces of work in my practice to date (more under Projects). Since 2022 a further focus has been photovoltaic and storage technology. Also in 2022 I began training with TÜV Rheinland as a specialist consultant for PV and storage technology; after two courses and a final examination, certification followed in 2023 (certification period 2023–2026). In November 2025, I completed a residential PV installation in Hamburg in cooperation with an installation team and a master electrician.

  

• 2023–2025 Quality management and digitalisation at Matrixcode

  From March 2023 to May 2025 I worked at Matrixcode Academy, an AZAV-accredited training provider, as Qualitätsmanagement-Beauftragter (Quality Management Representative) and Instructor. There I designed and introduced the digital course and participant management system "AZAV-Pilot," and separately built a SharePoint-based document management system for quality management as a whole — two distinct systems, each with its own purpose. Digital systems and process automation were already part of my practice through my own e-commerce work with ERP/cloud integration.

  SharePoint-based document management for quality management, with full integration of the AZAV manual, a role model, and access restrictions.

• Since 2023 AI-assisted automation and agentic systems

  My hands-on work with AI began in 2023 — first through chatbots, then Flowise, then n8n. Building on that, I developed real RAG systems, chatbots, and workflow automations in self-hosted, containerised environments. Flowise remained a historical stepping stone; n8n became a central tool for me for integrations, data routing, and document and data processing.

  Starting in late 2025, my focus shifted from pure workflows towards AI-assisted software development: first Codex, then Claude Code, for architecture, review, refactoring, and quality assurance. That grew into my current work with cross-agent and cross-model review, and agentic assistance used in production. Wherever it makes sense, I prefer open, self-hostable tools, and choose models and tools by task — by fit, quality, data protection, control, and cost. The goal is to optimise cost through the right choice of model, rather than defaulting automatically to the most expensive or most capable one. This shows up in projects such as ki-verordnung-schulung and in this website itself.

  n8n Level 1 & Level 2 (n8n); Claude 101 and Claude Code 101 (Anthropic).

  ki-verordnung-schulung: built entirely with AI assistance, with clearly defined quality assurance and its own build and review process.