medina, Author at Susi & James

Editor War: Everything You Need to Know!

Posted on May 23, 2023 by medina

Editor War: Everything You Need to Know!

The Editor War has a long history. Like most religious wars, this one is partly based on a story that may no longer be as relevant as it once was. We’ve taken a closer look at the religious Editor War and summarized the key points in this post.

What is a (text) editor?

A text editor is a computer program that allows users to create, modify, or edit plain text files. Such programs are also known as “Notepad software,” a term derived from the name of Microsoft Notepad. It can be used to write computer programs, edit the source code of programming languages or HTML, and create website or web design templates. A text editor is now most commonly used for programming purposes...

Some text editors can read, edit, and quickly open unusually large files—such as log files or an entire database—in a single file. This is necessary for many professional computer applications, as they contain files that may be too large to fit in the computer’s main memory.

What is the Editor War?

Most users don’t give text editors much thought. However, not all text editors are created equal, and over time, users may come to realize that a particular editor is best suited to their needs. Within the unique world of hacker culture and the free software community, a rivalry has emerged between users of two different text editors: Emacs and vi (also known as Vim or Neovim). The rivalry has become a permanent fixture of both cultures...

Throughout human history, there have been numerous topics on which users and fans have shared their views and debated with one another. These "holy wars" have taken various forms: iOS vs. Android, Apple vs. Samsung, Marvel vs. DC, and so on. A similar discussion that sparks heated debate among users—particularly those in the Linux community—is the Emacs vs. Vim debate, which has been raging for decades. The debate between Emacs and vi was one of the original “holy wars...

Vim is a modal editor and one of the oldest UNIX-based text editors available. This text editor is an evolution of vi, a text editor from the early days of UNIX. “Vim” stands for “vi Improved.” After its release, Vim quickly gained popularity because it not only incorporated nearly all of vi’s features but also added several additional features that made it much more powerful than its predecessors.

The first version of Vim was released to the public by Bram Moolenaar in 1991. Since then, it has become one of the most popular and feature-rich text editors. In 1998, the fifth generation of Vim was released, introducing one of the editor’s most widely used features: scripting. Now users can write their own scripts for Vim and ultimately extend its functionality.

Vim's appeal lies in the fact that it is extremely lightweight and features a multi-mode interface, each mode serving a different but useful purpose. With features such as a multi-level undo tree, a vast collection of plugins, and powerful text-editing tools, Vim is a rock-solid text editor that truly stands out.

Emacs, on the other hand, is a family of highly customizable, self-documenting real-time text editors designed for POSIX operating systems and available on Linux, macOS, BSD, Windows, and more. It is a cross-platform editor with a non-modal interface. Emacs is very similar to Vim, a long-standing text editor that has been popular for years. However, rather than simply calling it a text editor, Emacs is so much more. Emacs is known for its high extensibility, allowing ...

Emacs supports a wide range of packages and extensions that users can use to further customize it, making it even more powerful than before. It includes several useful features, such as autocompletion. This allows you to start typing a command, which the editor then automatically completes.

Vim vs. Emacs – The Key Differences

Storage usage

An editor’s memory usage is an important factor to consider, especially during startup. The memory usage of Vim and Emacs varies, with pros and cons for each approach. Vim uses little memory during startup, so it launches quickly but offers limited customization. Emacs, on the other hand, offers customizable settings but starts up more slowly.

Efficient and effective memory usage is of critical importance for a text editor, as any error in memory management slows it down. Consequently, Vim and Emacs offer advantages to some users and disadvantages to others. However, one thing should be kept in mind: the importance of memory usage varies depending on the programming language.

Keyboard functionality

How do the keyboard functionalities of Vim and Emacs compare? Vim suffers from an awkward keyboard layout and lacks some optimized shortcuts. In contrast, Emacs uses Meta-key combinations to activate additional functions, enabling customized and mode-specific operations. When it comes to keyboard functionality, Emacs has the advantage.

Vim lacks these features because it is based on the older text editor Vi. Like its predecessor, Vim’s keyboard functionality seems somewhat outdated. However, Vim still allows users to customize the key bindings to make it more convenient. But it takes some time for users to set up the key bindings to their liking. Keyboard functionality is a helpful tool, regardless of which programming language is used.

Adaptability

Both Emacs and Vim are known for being highly customizable and versatile, and for offering a wide range of plugins and extensions that allow users to configure the programs by adding additional features.

Emacs takes it a step further by using the Lisp programming language. With Lisp, users can implement and redefine almost anything in Emacs. For users accustomed to using Vim, Emacs offers packages that allow for Vim-like behavior within Emacs. The best-known package is Evil mode, an extremely powerful Emacs mode that fully emulates Vi and attempts to enhance it by adding compatible and powerful features...

Languages

Vim and Emacs handle programming languages differently. Vim has its roots in the old-school Unix environment and therefore works well with Linux, DOS, BSD, HP-UX, Mac, and other operating systems. Emacs also works with Unix systems and uses special main modes for Scheme, Lisp, Perl, Java, Ruby, and more.

Overall, Vim offers slightly faster performance. However, both Vim and Emacs provide good system support and a wide range of language package options, allowing users to add additional languages or operating systems as needed.

User interface

The user interfaces of Vim and Emacs are well-designed and functional. Vim offers more features than its predecessor but retains a text-based interface. Emacs started out as a text-based program, but newer versions include a modern GUI. If the user prefers a classic layout, Vim is ideal. However, the Emacs GUI still has its advantages.

Experienced programmers benefit from the straightforward approach of a text-based editor like Vim. It feels familiar and lacks “distracting” bells and whistles, even though it has more features than its predecessor. Vim users who prefer a GUI can use gVim or other derivatives. Alternatively, the Emacs GUI approach offers an attractive and easy-to-navigate interface, which is advantageous in many situations. Beginners and professionals alike prefer GUIs, especially when it comes to complex projects...

Religious Aspects of the Editor Wars

The Church of Emacs was founded by Emacs and Richard Stallman, the creator of the GNU Project. This religion is a parody religion and refers to Vi as the “beast” (vi-vi-vi is 6-6-6 in Roman numerals). It does not oppose the use of Vi; rather, it condemns Vi as proprietary software.

“Using a free version of Vi is not a sin, but a penance.” – Richard Stallman for ourTV.net.au (A community TV channel in Canberra recorded a talk by Stallman on video but was unable to launch its project due to a lack of funds)

The Church of Emacs has its own newsgroup, alt.religion.emacs, featuring posts that claim to support this belief system. Stallman refers to himself as St. I. GNU-cius, a saint in the Church of Emacs.

In response, the "Vi cult" was created by Vi supporters, which some Emacs users describe as an attempt to "imitate their superiors." Referring to Vi's modal nature (which is often a source of frustration for new users), some Emacs users joke that Vi has two modes: "repeated beeping" and "breaking everything."

Vi users like to joke that Emacs's keystrokes cause carpal tunnel syndrome, or they mention one of the many satirical variations on the acronym EMACS:

Escape Meta Alt Control Shift – a dig at Emacs' reliance on modifier keys
EMACS Makes Any Computer Slow
Eventually Munches All Computer Storage – in Bezug auf die hohen Systemressourcenanforderungen von Emacs
GNU Emacs has come to stand for "Generally Not Used, Except by Middle-Aged Computer Scientists"—a reference to its most passionate fans and its declining popularity among younger programmers.

In a nod to Emacs’s creeping, excessive, and continuous expansion—or the addition of new features—Vi advocates are known to describe Emacs as “a great operating system that’s just missing a decent editor.” It is well known that Emacs advocates counter that the editor is actually very good, but the operating system could use some improvements (referring to Emacs’s famous lack of parallelism, which has now been added).

The Google search engine also got in on the joke by returning "Did you mean: emacs" for searches for "vi" and "Did you mean: Vi" for searches for "Emacs."

Summary

Like Vim, Emacs is a text editor that can be run with a GUI. But Emacs is much more than just a text editor. In fact, Emacs also functions as an email client, an integrated development environment, a document browser, and more. Unlike Vim, Emacs allows its users to use the Lisp programming language to write new commands or override existing ones.

This feature is known as online extensibility. Emacs is also highly customizable, meaning that every single detail can be adjusted down to a very granular level, making its capabilities virtually limitless. Vim, however, remains one of the most popular and widely used text editors, found on nearly every Unix-based system.

At this point, we would like to note that the editor war has a long history, and as is so often the case in the software industry, rapid change is taking place here as well. Today, text editors certainly still play an important role in development, but the landscape has changed significantly. Especially in the last 10 years, it is no longer particularly significant that VIM comes pre-installed on many systems. Nor is it significant that Emacs is memory-intensive or has a slow startup time...

Until around 2010, the only options were essentially IDEs—programs like Eclipse, Visual Studio, JetBrains IDEs, and so on. Before them came VIM and Emacs. After 2010, the software landscape began to change, and new editors emerged, such as Sublime, VSCode, Atom, and others, which gained widespread popularity, causing VIM and Emacs to play an increasingly less significant role.

In 2015, Microsoft released a disruptive technology known as the LSP protocol. This led to VSCode becoming by far the most widely used editor, one that could be equipped with a wide range of features just like an IDE or Emacs. However, VSCode offers many advantages over VIM and Emacs, such as a modern UI, numerous plugins, a plugin marketplace, an easier learning curve for beginners, etc. At the same time, the LSP protocol...

Source: http://blog.davidecoppola.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/market_share_cpp_ides_pie.png

Over time, the market share and user numbers for Vim and Emacs have dropped dramatically. In 2018, Vim’s market share stood at 16.5%, while Emacs had a share of just 7.4%. For a younger generation of editor users, such a historic rivalry between two editors is questionable, as they likely use a GUI editor like Sublime or Eclipse.

Jan #ProblemSolver

Posted on February 16, 2023March 25, 2026 by medina

Jan joined our development team as a backend engineer at the end of 2020. He focuses on natural language processing (conversational AI) and works on machine learning projects.

“To me, SUSI&James is a dynamic company with lots of innovative ideas.”

Jan began specializing in machine learning while pursuing his master’s degree in computational physics. He wrote his master’s thesis at the HCI in Heidelberg, focusing on deep learning. After completing his master’s degree, he worked there as a research assistant, focusing on machine learning topics.

Jan was particularly fascinated by artificial intelligence and natural language processing, so after a brief break following his master’s degree, he decided to join a young, dynamic startup. He found it exciting to be part of a young company that focuses on cutting-edge and highly relevant topics.

Putting AI into practice was very important to Jan, which is why he decided to join the SUSI&James family.

“I take great pleasure in bringing intelligence to human-machine communication.”

Jan specializes in machine learning and natural language processing and has a keen interest in innovative technologies. At SUSI&James, Jan’s responsibilities as a backend developer are wide-ranging.

From developing new capabilities for the EVA platform to designing the conversation flows handled by the AI, all the way through to deployment and support. He is involved in the entire lifecycle of a digital employee. Jan particularly enjoys working on projects that utilize machine learning.

We’d like to thank Jan for the interview and are thrilled to have him on board!

Jennifer #Confidential Advisor

Posted on February 16, 2023March 25, 2026 by medina

Jennifer joined the SUSI&James team as HR Manager in June 2019 and gave the Human Resources department a fresh new look. She restructured the recruiting process, implementing efficient onboarding procedures and providing warm, comprehensive support for employees.

“To me, the SAJ is like family, because here, everyone is there for one another.”

Jennifer is always there to listen to every member of the SUSI&James team. Together with the leadership team, she identifies opportunities for our employees’ professional growth and develops appropriate training programs. Jennifer is a very honest and caring person. With her unique personality, she builds positive and constructive relationships with all employees, making her the ideal candidate for our HR Manager position.

Even while studying business administration, Jennifer was fascinated by the design of structures and processes. With her affinity for working with people, Jennifer wants to use her time at a young company to actively help shape working conditions as a trusted advisor. Through her part-time work during her studies, she gained initial experience as a team leader and mentor, focusing her efforts on overall corporate development.

Even back then, within the traditional HR field, she stood out for her knack for developing overarching strategies. She decided to put her skills to work for a young, innovative company and to further her education and professional development in her core areas of expertise.

“It is important to me to ensure high employee satisfaction and to retain SUSI&James employees over the long term.”

Right from her first job interview at SUSI&James, Jennifer impressed the team with her various suggestions on how to successfully manage human resources. Jennifer has been leading the HR department since she joined SUSI&James. Since then, she has taken on exciting new challenges that have exposed her to a wide range of unique topics. Jennifer is also part of the IDT team, focusing on SUSI&James’s TISAX compliance. In this role, she ensures that all employees complete the annual training sessions and is always available to answer questions regarding data security.

Jennifer also took the first steps toward organizing the Coding Challenge. She worked with the marketing team to design the event branding and drew up an initial schedule. When planning events, Jennifer places particular emphasis on the formalities—specifically, the terms and conditions, rules of participation, privacy policies, and other related matters. In this context, she supports the participants, processes applications, and also handles the recruiting process.

Jennifer also organizes game nights, movie nights, Christmas parties, and other team-building events, thereby fostering a sense of camaraderie and personal trust among the SUSI&James team members. Since SUSI&James is constantly on the lookout for talented and motivated candidates, Jennifer focuses on recruitment. Together with the marketing team, she works to increase SUSI&James’s reach and visibility in the area of employer branding.

We’d like to thank Jennifer for the interview and are thrilled to have her on board!

Gavin #versatile

Posted on February 16, 2023March 25, 2026 by medina

Gavin joined the SUSI&James team in September 2017. As an intern at the time, he spent several weeks at the company and familiarized himself with the responsibilities of a software developer. For his bachelor’s thesis, he conducted a research project on natural language generation and strategies for humanizing voice assistants.

“SUSI&James is a family where we work together as a team to tackle problems and find solutions. It’s a small team that gives you a lot of responsibility.”

Gavin stands out for his creativity. Driven by his curiosity, he has always felt a strong urge to understand how things work. He decided to pursue a degree in applied computer science because he recognized the growing importance of technology and was eager to explore what goes on behind the scenes. From the very beginning, Gavin was particularly fascinated by the various aspects of technology and its diverse applications.

In this context, he is passionate about abstract thinking and exploring ideas. While in college, Gavin began an internship at SUSI&James. After graduating from college in Heidelberg, Gavin devoted himself to music. In September 2018, he began studying pop music design at the Popakademie Baden-Württemberg. Gavin continues to work with us as a student employee.

"I’d like to grow into a full-stack developer and have the opportunity to take on more responsibility."”

Right from his first job interview, Gavin sensed the family-like atmosphere and the relaxed rapport among the employees. Immediately after starting, he was given his first assignments, some of which he carried out independently. Gavin worked closely with management and helped further develop the “AI with a Heart” initiative. He turned the vision of making the digital assistant SUSI as human as possible into initial prototypes.

This led to the development of several components that are still used today on our EVA technology platform and in client projects. In addition to a proof of concept, Gavin developed prototypes for client presentations. For Gavin, it is particularly remarkable to be able to follow and experience the development and growth of our company. Thanks to our diverse team, which also includes experienced senior staff, young professionals like Gavin have the opportunity...

We’d like to thank Gavin for the interview and are thrilled to have him on board!

Julian #speechless

Posted on February 16, 2023March 25, 2026 by medina

Julian has been actively supporting our team since September 2016 as an experienced CTO, Business Unit Director, and expert software developer. Thanks to his ambitious and determined nature, Julian has already earned several certifications and possesses a broad range of knowledge in IT and software.

“SUSI&James has outlined a vision for me that aligns with what I love to do. In that sense, the company is not just my employer—it’s like a small family—and it makes me feel like my work is making a meaningful difference.”

Julian studied computational linguistics and successfully completed his bachelor’s degree with a thesis titled “Genre-Adaptive Optimization of Normalization Algorithms.” In his research, he explored ways to improve methods that convert tweets into a machine-readable format. He has been fascinated by computers and software development since childhood.

Julian is a peaceful, patient, and reliable person and colleague. To balance out his work, he enjoys weight training and exploring language in literature, on TV, and online. His family is his top priority, but he’s also a passionate workaholic who’s always connected.

Julian spends a few hours every day expanding his knowledge. He enjoys pushing himself to his limits so he can then go beyond them. Throughout his career, Julian has participated in several certified training programs after deciding to focus on digital language processing. In this context, Julian has conducted an in-depth evaluation of various conversational engines to gain a fair and comprehensive understanding of current technical capabilities.

In his view, true expertise comes from constantly setting new goals and acting with ambition. Before joining SUSI&James, Julian founded two companies, one of which was established as part of a project with SUSI&James. This is how he got to know the team, and he decided to join them shortly thereafter.

“I expect growth, teamwork, a shared goal, and commitment. Personally, I want to continue developing myself and do work that makes a difference.”

As Chief Technology Officer at SUSI&James, Julian is responsible, in collaboration with other team members, for the company’s entire technology infrastructure, including software and hardware. In addition, Julian serves as Business Unit Director of our “EVA” business unit and oversees all developers. As a member of the Management Board, Julian discusses strategic and administrative matters with the executive management team and other business unit directors at SUSI&James.

He carries out organizational and administrative tasks to a high standard; for example, when hiring new staff, he establishes criteria for the position to be filled and prepares a personnel cost plan. In doing so, Julian ensures that his business unit’s project results align with—or, ideally, even exceed—the cost center planning set by the Controlling department.

Since Julian has over a decade of experience and is a passionate software developer, he actively contributes to projects in addition to his administrative role. He implements either individual functional modules or the entire project. In 2019, Julian wanted to be able to interact with our digital assistant SUSI in the same way as with Alexa, so he independently developed the internal components, the software, and the housing for a smart speaker. The smart speaker was ready for use after five months and was given by Julian as a gift to our company founder.

We’d like to thank Julian for the interview and are thrilled to have him on board!

Thomas #boring

Posted on February 16, 2023March 25, 2026 by medina

Thomas, Director of the Automotive & Industry Business Unit, joined the SUSI&James team in February 2021. Thanks to his many years of experience and industry-specific expertise, Thomas is driving the continuous growth of the business unit.

“SUSI&James has a unique product and a great team. I’m proud to be a part of it.”

Thomas is from the German coast and is passionate about water sports, such as kitesurfing and sailing. He balances his professional and personal life, as Thomas is a proud member of a small family with whom he loves spending time. Even while he was a student, Thomas worked at various companies and quickly gained his first professional experience. His areas of responsibility ranged from design in special-purpose machine manufacturing to auditing and plant controlling at a German consumer goods manufacturer in China.

Thomas wrote his thesis at an iron foundry on “Total Productive Maintenance,” which focuses on optimizing processes and achieving KPIs. After earning his degree in industrial engineering, Thomas continued to work in the field of optimization. As part of his role as a project manager in supplier development for the automotive industry, he helped companies meet their delivery commitments.

Thanks to his expertise and ambitious approach, Thomas also led internal strategic corporate development programs, successfully driving growth and productivity. SUSI&James recognized the ambition and passion with which Thomas approaches his work—backed by his qualifications—and recruited him to join our team.

The primary focus is on the development of the Automotive & Industry business unit. In this role, Thomas is responsible for consistently generating new projects through his work in sales, implementing these projects with a qualified and motivated team, and ultimately delivering a “SUSI” to the customer that satisfies all parties involved.

“I want to put artificial intelligence (our digital colleague SUSI) to good use in the industry. SUSI should provide immediate value in projects for both employees and the company.””

In doing so, he leverages his industry-specific sales expertise by introducing customers to our digital assistant SUSI and her capabilities, identifying their needs, and developing use cases with them. “Many customers immediately associate artificial intelligence with the perfect control of all business processes—that’s a bit like science fiction. The goal is to use AI to lighten the load on people. Organizational symbiosis is our guiding principle. To quote our founder: People are the gold standard.”

“Bei SUSI & James soll sich dies natürlich ebenfalls widerspiegeln: Mitarbeiter werden an Entscheidungen beteiligt, Projekte gemeinsam konzipiert, erarbeitet und als Teamleistung erfolgreich abgeschlossen. Verantwortung für und Selbstständigkeit im eigenen Arbeitsanteil ist ihm bei seinen Mitarbeitern wichtig, „Damit die Kollegen erfolgreich tätig sein können, ist kontinuierliche Organisationsentwicklung entscheidend. Mitarbeiter, die an einem Projekt beteiligt sind, müssen leistungsfähig, produktiv und ohne Hindernisse ihre Aufgaben und Ziele realisieren können. Das funktioniert nur, wenn wir uns gemeinschaftlich Ziele setzen, Standards leben und beides kritisch hinterfragen und verändern.“

Thomas and his colleagues are currently working with a partner in the automotive industry to apply artificial intelligence to a wide range of quality and production processes. “The positive impact of SUSI on both employee satisfaction and business results will be enormous in the coming years.”

We’d like to thank Thomas for the interview and are thrilled to have him on the team!

Dimitri #resilient

Posted on February 16, 2023March 25, 2026 by medina

In May 2019, Dimitri joined the SUSI&James team as a software developer. Thanks to his patience, Dimitri is able to overcome technical challenges and problems and develop appropriate solutions.

“To me, SUSI&James is an innovative company that takes on challenges and wants to make a difference in the world.”

Dimitri is a very diplomatic and patient person. In all areas of his life, both professional and personal, Dimitri strives to see what is essential and to understand the heart of the matter. In his personal life, he is generally interested in geopolitical issues as well as historical and cultural developments around the world. He also enjoys various forms of art, such as music, film, theater, painting, and good design.

Dimitri studied applied computer science and initially worked for another employer. Even before joining SUSI&James, Dimitri had already gained extensive experience in software development. Through our employee Julian Dimitri became aware of SUSI&James and was inspired by the company’s vision and upcoming product developments. Looking back, Dimitri has noticed a change in himself since joining the SUSI&James team. “I’ve learned to find new approaches and perspectives more easily, allowing me to tackle challenges more effectively.”

“The ability to view problems from different perspectives is a key aspect of Dimitri’s daily work. This ability helps him identify the ‘unknown unknowns’ and develop practical solutions.”

As Lead Developer, Dimitri establishes quality requirements for a product whenever possible and supports the team in advancing their technical skills and adopting new technologies.

“It’s important to me to help SUSI&James move forward as a company through my contributions. My personal goal is for SUSI&James to grow and scale—economically, professionally, and personally.””

He also supports the team with requirements engineering, helping to clarify requirements and derive potential tasks for the team to implement. “It’s important to understand what the customer wants and how to implement those requirements. Are there any questions or specifications that haven’t been addressed? Basically, every developer should pay attention to that.”

“If our developers encounter problems while working on a project, it is Dimitri’s job to provide them with practical advice and help them solve those problems. Dimitri is also actively involved in programming for projects. In this role, he supports the “EVA” business unit in integrating new features into our client projects.”

He is involved in various product-related projects on a part-time basis. His cross-functional approach—working between the “EVA” business unit and the other business units where the projects originate—is particularly helpful in this regard. He is especially enthusiastic about our core product, “EVA.”

We’d like to thank Dimitri for the interview and are thrilled to have him on the team!

Marcel #accelerate

Posted on February 16, 2023March 25, 2026 by medina

Marcel joined the SUSI&James team as Managing Director on January 1, 2021. Thanks to his management and leadership skills, combined with extensive industry knowledge, a broad network of contacts, and many years of experience, Marcel has been able to positively influence the company’s growth and drive the further development of internal processes.

“To me, SUSI&James represents innovative strength, the potential for growth and for creating a true game-changer, as well as the freedom to act.”

Marcel is a sports enthusiast who values principles and enjoys life, with a particular fondness for rock and metal music. He is a proud native of the Rhineland, and his social circle plays an important role in his personal life. Marcel enjoys spending his free time on sports—both as a participant and a spectator. He is known for his quick wit and his rational, inquisitive nature, qualities that are essential to his role as managing director in his daily professional life.

Acting rationally by weighing opportunities against risks is crucial in such a position. “When leading a company, one must never forget that the company is made up of employees and depends on them for its survival. A decision made ‘on a whim’ can have disastrous consequences that affect both the company itself and its employees!” Marcel’s curiosity helps him understand what simplifies—and could simplify—our customers’ daily lives. This reflects the innovative strength and drive of SUSI&James, as we aim to make our customers’ daily lives easier with our digital assistant SUSI and our industry-specific solutions.

Marcel earned his degree in physics with a focus on nonlinear time series analysis. He worked for a long time as a student employee in the IT department of his former employer. After graduating in 2009, he took on his first management role, which came with its share of hurdles to overcome. “People aren’t machines. You have to reach out to them, motivate them, and communicate with them a lot. Leadership is something you can learn—experience helps—but you also have to want it and enjoy it yourself.” Nevertheless, Marcel managed to overcome these hurdles, learned to deal with difficulties, and grew from them.

As he progressed in his career to become a director and authorized signatory, he held various other management positions and gradually gained experience in an international setting, for example through assignments in China and the United States. In the process, he took on various roles with full profit and loss responsibility in the automotive and IT sectors and became familiar with the working methods and structures of large corporations. This extensive and valuable experience, along with various coaching sessions undertaken alongside his career, enables Marcel to contribute to the development of SUSI&James.

Marcel learned about SUSI&James through his contacts. He deliberately chose a young and innovative startup so that he could leverage his extensive network to help attract new clients in the automotive and service & retail sectors. Marcel also supported the further development of SUSI&James’s internal processes. “For example, in the first quarter, a framework was established in the area of controlling that is capable of supporting SUSI&James’s planned growth.”

“I want to help the company become the market leader in digital employees.””

Marcel’s responsibilities include ensuring, both internally and externally, that the necessary conditions are met so that our company can identify and efficiently develop growth opportunities. He facilitates and supports both our projects and processes by maintaining a comprehensive overview of current initiatives. In doing so, Marcel works closely with our employees and clients to ensure that everything runs smoothly. Should any obstacles arise during the execution of a project, Marcel acts as the liaison with the customer, communicates these issues, and helps find solutions.

It’s important to have experience in tailoring communication to specific audiences and to be a solution-oriented person like Marcel. “Sometimes I speak with customers who aren’t interested in the technology itself, but in the solution it provides. Other times, customers with a technical background are interested in the technology and want to know every detail before deciding to purchase the solution. In these conversations, I have to adapt and provide the specific information that’s important to the customer.” His analytical thinking and objective assessment of all factors support Marcel daily in his tasks of handling business matters and further developing the organization.

Marcel primarily supports projects in the automotive and service & retail sectors. He usually assists project managers during client meetings at the beginning and end, but then leaves the rest of the process and planning to them. “Occasionally, I also join in on discussions during complex projects. But I prefer to let the project managers lead the project and trust them to do so.”

Marcel decided to choose the hashtag #accelerate because growing the company is part of his job: “It’s my job to grow the company, and that involves speeding up all processes so the company gains momentum overall. Intrinsic momentum is a necessary prerequisite for a company to gain traction.” Marcel’s vision is for SUSI to become synonymous with digital employees within a few years. “SUSI should become the synonym for digital employees, just as Nutella is for hazelnut spread or Tempo is for tissues. Our solution should become the leading solution, especially in the business environment—that would be a real game-changer!”

We’d like to thank Marcel for the interview and are thrilled to have him as our CEO!

Leah #passionate

Posted on February 16, 2023March 25, 2026 by medina

Leah has been part of the SUSI&James team as a software developer since April 2022. Thanks to her unique experience gained from several years in research, Leah possesses specialized expertise in areas such as machine learning.

“For me, SUSI&James is about advancing the automation of work processes and the understanding of natural language in industry.”

Leah studied computer science at Mannheim University of Applied Sciences, completing a master’s program with a focus on software engineering. For her master’s thesis, titled “Reconstruction of a Complete Neural Model from the Data of Real Spiking Neurons,” her goal was to present an algorithm that can be used to construct neural parameters for a computational model based on measured spiking neuron data. Leah’s interest in technology stems from her enthusiasm for software development. Outside of work, Leah enjoys literature, painting, listening to music, and watching movies and TV shows.

Leah spent three years supporting various research projects at the Technical University of Darmstadt. During that time, she gained extensive exposure to the fields of neuroscience and high-performance computing. She also became familiar with some of the best practices in software development and published several papers on her scientific work.

In addition, she supervised students on their theses and assisted with the preparation of lectures and assignments. Through her research position, Leah gained expertise in various topics, such as persistence layers, data mining and analysis, information retrieval, Elasticsearch, and more. The programming languages Leah is proficient in include Haskell, Java, C/C++/C#, and Python, which she now primarily uses at SUSI&James.

Leah came across our company through a job posting on the SUSI&James LinkedIn profile.

“I want to continue growing both personally and professionally with SUSI&James and also be able to work with new technologies.””

As a software developer, Leah writes source code, tests software, and conducts code reviews. In this work, creativity and a willingness to learn are two key qualities for Leah: “Basically, I have to figure out what the requirements for the feature are. If it’s something complex, then I think through the architecture. And that’s exactly where you need to be somewhat creative.”

She attends project meetings almost every day, where they discuss who will take on which responsibilities within a project. “In the projects, we have weekly sprints where we work on prioritized tasks.” As follow-up tasks are added, these are expanded further, so Leah has already been involved in several exciting projects. These include projects such as the SUSI front desk, support for test drives in the automotive industry, bot development using Rasa, and the development of EVA.

Leah is particularly enthusiastic about the EVA project because it serves as a universal solution across all other projects and embodies a promising vision for SUSI&James. Leah also plays a key role in ensuring that EVA is continuously developed and that new features are constantly introduced. Leah stands out for her determination to drive the company forward, strengthen communication within the team, and establish development processes to improve SUSI&James’s overall work.

Leah is politically active. She is deeply passionate about various issues that matter to her, including climate protection, peace policy, and social policy. She is enthusiastic about the LGBTQ+ movement and equal opportunity.

We’d like to thank Leah for the interview and are thrilled to have her on the team!

Tobi #humble

Posted on February 16, 2023March 25, 2026 by medina

Tobi joined the SUSI&James team on April 1, 2022. As a UI/UX developer, he designs interfaces for digital products and also supports the SUSI&James brand with marketing efforts.

“To me, SUSI&James means creative chaos with a lot of potential.”

Much of what he knows today comes from his experiences in the music industry. More than 22 years ago, he founded the band “Irie Révoltés” with friends, and he remained the guitarist until their final concert in 2017. His interest in music began at an early age. Tobi learned to play the guitar at age 12 and the electric guitar at 14. Later, he produced music for many years and achieved some notable successes. His responsibilities also included artist development and marketing. Even today, he helps musicians improve their social media presence and produces video ads and web content.

In 2009, he received his bachelor’s degree in Media System Design (FH). Tobi wrote his thesis in collaboration with the Fraunhofer Institute in Darmstadt on the AI topic “voice-controlled agents for web search” and initially worked as a freelancer in media development and music. Today, he is involved in numerous activities. He is a lecturer at the International University of Applied Sciences in Mannheim, where he teaches courses including Mobile Media Design and Web Programming. In addition, he continues to work as a freelancer under the name “TVK Media” in the fields of music production, web, and media.

Tobi came across SUSI&James while searching for startups online. Right from the start, he was able to influence the design of the products in various projects and shape the overall look and feel of the company.

“It’s important to me that the company continues to grow at the same pace as it has so far. I’d love to be part of something great.”

As a UI/UX designer, Tobi creates mockups for SUSI&James products. He maintains constant communication with project managers to determine the product’s features and requirements. His well-developed creativity and keen sense of aesthetics help him in his daily work as a UI/UX designer.

He also supports the SUSI&James marketing team, contributing his many years of experience.

Tobi is currently working on projects related to vehicle testing, the SUSICloud, a 3D printing platform, and more. In this role, Tobi proposes visual concepts for products, maintains their visual identity, and strives to harmonize complex and diverse requirements into a cohesive design. “I’m particularly excited when ‘general solutions’ are built—for example, the vehicle testing project as a foundation for many other products in this field, as well as in-house developments like SUSI Cloud or SUSI as an AI in general.”

We’d like to thank Tobi for the interview and are thrilled to have him on the team!