I'm Hannes Körber, a technology enthusiast currently living in Ansbach, Germany.

Why I do what I am doing

I started working with computers when I was around ten years old. In the beginning, I mainly used them for gaming, but got more and more interested in the internals --- how a computer actually works.

In school, I started programming (Visual Basic and C#) and was completely blown away that I could TELL the computer what to do, whatever it was. I then began building my own computers, and after the German "Abitur" (comparable to a high school degree), I started studying Information and Communications Technology at Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg.

During my university years, I first came in contact with Linux. It was like discovering computers all over again. With Linux, I was free to do everything I wanted with my computer. A few months after having my first contact with Linux, I abandoned Windows for good and have not looked back. I quickly learned everything I could about Linux and computer science in general. By choosing computer science courses over Electrical engineering courses (which I still like and do as a hobby) I decided on my career path: Information Technology.

What I do in my free time

I once read somewhere that you should have one hobby in each of the following three categories:

• A physical hobby, where you do some physical activity, preferably outside
• A creative hobby, where you create something new
• A hobby that makes you money

Well, the last one for me is the one that comes most naturally: I take care of my own private that encompasses a few services that for me replace google, dropbox etc. I use this to keep up to date on a lot of technologies that I cannot work with in my day-to-day job. So it indirectly makes me money by increasing my market value.

Sports

For a physical hobby, I do not have a single one or even one I focus on, but I do numerous different things. Quantity over quality if you want:

• Cycling, from multi-day Bike touring to Mountain biking and some (very) mild Downhill. I bought a new bike mid of 2020 (a Radon Skeen Trail AL 2020, see picture), a mountain bike that has to fill all those roles in one
• Hiking and Mountaineering
• Kayaking
• Climbing, both Boudering and Rock climbing
• Weightlifting
• Running

I started climbing seriously in 2022. I had been bouldering a bit the years before, but in 2022 I started bouldering more seriously. At some point, my brother took me to an indoor sports climbing gym. Shortly afterwards, I took belaying and lead climbing classes with the DAV ("Deutscher Alpenverein", German Alpine Club). From there, it kind of snowballed and now I am bouldering and sport climbing, both indoor and outdoors. I even dabbed into alpine climbing and ice climbing.

Creativity

The last kind of hobby—the creative one—is the one I have to force myself to do the most.

I have been learning playing Guitar since mid of 2019. I'm using JustinGuitar's course to get to know the basics. It's enough for some simple strumming, but don't expect any concerts right now. My goal is do be campfire-ready.

When I was younger, I also took some piano lessions with my grandma. After a ten-year hiatus, I've been relearning the Piano since beginning of 2020, after buying an electrical piano.

I bought a Yamaha P-45 (see picture). It has weighted keys and feels nearly like a "real" piano.

I also started attending a local church choir to work on my Singing, but with the COVID-19 situation this is currently not possible. Maybe that's better for everyone, because no one has to listen to me sing. ;)

During Corona, I got back into Chess. My lichess rating is currently around 1450. My goal is ~1550, which is around the 50th percentile / median, meaning I'd have a 50/50 chance of beating a random opponent on lichess. Unfortunately, I'm mainly focussing on puzzles and not really playing longer games, mainly due to time contraints.

Chess is both fascinating (due to the rules' simplicity) and frustrating (due to having no skill ceiling). It can be a grind to improve, but then one day you have this one game that makes it worth it.

This webpage itself could also be considered a creative hobby. Writing down technical stuff makes me internalize complex topics very efficiently.