In 1971 he passed the Staatsexamen for teaching at grammar schools in the subjects of history and political science.
He was an assistant at the Edition der Deutschen Reichstagsakten - Mittlere Reihe (Reichstag 1512) at Friedrich Hermann Schubert.
From 1969 to 1974 he worked as Schubert's doctoral student on the dissertation on Gymnasium und Akademie in Straßburg 1538 to 1621.
[1] From 1975 to 1980, he regularly devoted himself to archival work in Vienna at the Haus-, Hof- und Staatsarchiv during the lecture-free period.
In March 1990, he declined an appointment to the professorship for Medieval and Modern History as successor of Konrad Repgen at the Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn.
From winter semester 1995/96 until his Emeritus in 2015, Schindling taught as Professor of Medieval and Modern History in Tübingen, succeeding Volker Press.
For the Encyclopedia of German History [de] he wrote the volume on education and science from the Peace of Westphalia until the end of the empire.
In addition, from 1996 he was a member of the board from 2002 and chairman from 2005 to 2015 of the Kommission für geschichtliche Landeskunde in Baden-Württemberg [de].