What a philosophical question! And I can’t give you the philosophical answer here, because right now I don’t have any that’s fit for publishing.

However I can provide you with some information about my professional live so far:
I hold a degree in architecture gained at a German University. Almost from the start of my technical career (there has been one in medicine before that) I worked as a building physicist, finally founding my own company (Ingenieurgesellschaft BEO mbH), which thanks to competent and loyal employees continued to function even after I emigrated to New Zealand. In addition to this job, I have been a part time lecturer for building physics at the University of Applied Sciences in Bremen for 3 years.

As part of my work for BEO, I

-	was an advisor for the federal German state of Bremen in matters of energy efficiency
-	projected and managed a very successful public incentive programme funded by the federal German state of Bremen, which aims to make old houses more energy efficient. Thousands of homes have been retrofitted by now, thus saving humongous amounts of CO2 each year, and making them a healthier place to live simultaneously
-	was part of a team that implemented and managed the hugely successful educational programme “Bremer Impulse”, funded by the energy agency Bremer Energie-Konsens. Through seminars and workshops laymen as well as experts are acquainted with technologies and theories to make buildings more energy efficient. There have been numerous seminars where I also did the teaching
-	was a founding member of a quality assurance body for low energy buildings, the RAL-Guetezeichen 965 (Niedrig-Energie-Bauweise), and have been in the quality assurance committee for a couple of years
-	was involved in the planning for the first Passive House school in the world, a Passive House office building and a small Passive House settlement
-	wrote a handful of publications and brochures for customers like, among others, Stadtwerke Hannover and Senator fuer Bau, Umwelt und Verkehr in Bremen, which deal with energy efficiency in buildings, and related topics.

After travelling the world for nine month, my partner and I decided that we want to spend the second half of our lives in New Zealand, simply because it’s the nicest place to live on earth. Bet you know that already. We immigrated on 10. January 2005, and have no regrets so far.
By now, I gained a Master's degree in Planning (first class honours) from The University of Auckland and won the NICAI Summer Research Scholarship.
Currently, I am appointed as lecturer at Unitec Institute of Technology, and tutor at The University of Auckland, while also pursuing doctoral studies (on indoor environmental quality and energy efficient housing) at The University of Auckland.