His education was centred entirely on metal.  After successfully completing his studies at the Technical Institute for Iron and Steel Work in Steyr, he attended the coach–building course at the Technological Trade Museum in Vienna.  The course was taught by the renowned Viennese coach-builder Johann Feldwabel, whose book, The Coach and Automobile Bodywork Builder, with its completely new concepts, caused an international sensation.  In 1920 Komenda began his professional career as a draughtsman designing tools and automobiles in a Viennese bodywork factory. 

In 1926 Komenda married his Viennese sweetheart, Auguste Eugenie Hauptmann.  In the same year their son Erwin was born and in 1945 their daughter Ingrid.  It was a lifelong marriage. 

In 1926 Komenda moved to the automobile plant in Steyr where he met Ferdinand Porsche for the first time.  Porsche had come to Steyr to take up the position of technical director after leaving Daimler-Benz AG.  In Steyr Komenda shared his drawing board with other famous engineers such as Bela Barenyi, who later claimed the invention of the Beetle as his own, gearbox specialist Karl Fröhlich, motor expert Josef Kales and axel specialist Josef Zahradnik.  This first-class team of engineers discussed the possibility of realising a European dream: a car for the people which matched the American Ford T.  In 1929 the technology of the Steyr XXX revolutionised car building.

A wealth of innovative ideas paved the way for the rise of the unknown engineer from the alpine foothills of Upper Austria to the head of the testing and development department at Daimler-Benz AG in Sindelfingen. 

In 1930 Komenda, aged just twenty six, was appointed deputy head of the serial construction department at Daimler-Benz AG.  Development plans of that time reflect a progressive dynamism in vehicle building.  Proven Steyr methods such as independent wheel-suspension, spring axel-suspension and countless studies of the variations on weight-saving, self-supporting bodywork construction gained a foothold in Stuttgart and formed the basis for the following generations of successful Daimler-Benz vehicles. 

In November 1931 Komenda left his highly paid job at Daimler Benz. He joined Ferdinand Porsche's newly founded design office as the manager of its bodywork construction department. In addition to the Volkswagen Beetle, the most important bodywork form to be developed by Komenda was for the Porsche 356, the first sports car to display the classic Porsche lines.