After passing the civil service examination to become an administrative officer, he travelled through Holland, England, and France, visiting mines and metallurgical plants.

In 1777, he entered the Hanoverian civil service, and was soon appointed by Friedrich Anton von Heynitz to Berlin, in the Department of Mines.

Together with John Baildon, Reden was responsible for the introduction of coke into modern steelmaking process in Europe (in Gleiwitz (Gliwice), 1796, and, on a large scale, in Königshütte (Chorzów), 1802).

The original statue, a bronce cast made by the german sculptor Theodor Kalide, was erected in 1853 on mining ground.

On 4 June 1935, the Society of German metalworks and miners donated the Reden medal, on the 25th Anniversary of the Wrocław University of Technology, as an award for excellent dissertations from mining and metallurgical engineers.