The Man Who Taught Cars to Crumble — And What Software Engineers Should Learn From Him
In 1939, a 32-year-old Austrian engineer walked into a job interview at Daimler-Benz. When asked what he would improve about the current Mercedes-Benz lineup, he answered boldly: “Pretty much everything.”
His name was Béla Barényi, and that audacity would save millions of lives.
An engineer who dared to question everything
Barényi’s life was anything but smooth. Born in 1907 near Vienna into a once-wealthy family, he lost his father in World War I and watched his grandfather’s industrial empire collapse. A childhood illness left him with a permanent physical disability. He dropped out of school, picked himself back up, studied engineering in Vienna, and drifted through several automotive companies before landing at Daimler-Benz.