Schneider left the extended secondary school at age 16 and went on to work as a telecommunications assistant. In 1984, he served his national service with the East German Army; he is the only member of Rammstein to have served in the military.

In 1985, Schneider quit his telecommunication job to pursue his musical ambitions by studying music at university, but failed to get into university twice, being rejected because he possessed no other musical skills such as playing the piano. He continued to learn to play himself. Schneider tried consistently from 1985 until 1990 to get into bands as a drummer, finally being successful with Die Firma.

In 1994, he joined Richard Kruspe and Oliver Riedel in forming an early version of Rammstein. After Till Lindemann joined the band, they entered the Berlin Senate Metrobeat contest, winning the chance to record a professional demo with four tracks. A previous band of Schneider’s, Feeling B, provided two other members of Rammstein, Paul Landers and keyboardist Christian Lorenz.