Just me

Stefan Klumpp [ e-mail | Twitter | Facebook | LinkedIn ]

Globetrotter, kiteboarder, adventurer, software engineer, rock climber, sauna lover, nomad, freelancer, world citizen, snowboarder, computer geek, extreme sports addict, car enthusiast, surfer … the variety and challenges keep life interesting.

Interested in working with me? Check out my professional resume (CV)

I grew up in the Black Forest, a rural area in Germany, building tree houses and setting up camp fires. The summers I spent on my grandpa’s farm at Lake Chiemsee keeping myself busy with horseback riding, milking cows and chasing cats.

At some point I went to school, but I soon figured out that I wouldn’t learn anything useful there. So I quit and started to work as a car mechanic. That was at least interesting, but after a couple of years I knew everything I wanted to know so I started to study Electrical Engineering (what a stupid idea) in Ulm. I soon noticed that professors aren’t as smart as they claim to be and most engineers are just like car mechanics, but with an academic degree to show off.

At least I met some cool people there and I got the travel bug. I took every chance I got to travel. First Europe, then the United States and finally world wide. Chile, South Africa, Egypt, … I also got into CouchSurfing which made traveling not only affordable, but also gave me the opportunity to meet a lot of like-minded people.

After spending two years at university I got bored again. I just wanted to leave Germany and combine the useless school education I had soaked up with the way more beneficial experience you get from traveling the world. I somehow managed to get involved with a team at the Stanford University and Volkswagen to participate in the DARPA Urban Challenge 2007 [video]. So I moved to San Francisco. And that was one of my best life experiences so far. A great city with a diverse social and cultural life. Besides work and study I went rock climbing in the Yosemite, snowboarding in Colorado and started kiteboarding in Mexico – the best thing I could have ever done. From that point on I was hooked.

 

I was so addicted that I, after my student visa expired, escaped to Vancouver just to re-enter the United States with a fresh tourist visa. But this time it was Maui, Hawaii. One whole summer of kiteboarding, diving, waterfall-jumping, fresh mangoes and bananas and finally kiteboarding again. Wohooo! That’s life. I planned on working there, but I figured that spending all my savings is more fun.

But as a matter of fact every summer ends at some point and the US authorities wanted me to leave their beautiful island. But what now? Back to Germany? No way! So I looked around for alternatives and an opportunity at Edinburgh Napier University in Scotland came up. I visited my parents for a week and then moved up north towards the highlands. Edinburgh is a vibrant city with a huge historic old town and tons of international students. In fact more than 1/5th of the cities population are students.

But I was spoiled already. It was a nice experience, but I needed to live in a warm place with beautiful beaches again and a city where life takes place outside rather than inside. So I decided to move to Barcelona [sneak preview]. That’s what I’m doing now. Moving to beautiful Spain.

~ Stefan