[3] Gerber studied at the Polytechnic schools in Nuremberg and Munich, and in 1852 he joined the Bavarian Staatsbaudienst, where he worked on the railways.

After its completion in 1857, Gerber was appointed chief engineer of the Maschinenfabrik Klett bridge department in Nuremberg.

Gerber moved in 1860 with his family to the assembling site in order to manage the manufacture and construction of the bridge until its completion in 1863.

In his subsequent time in Nuremberg, he was working on continuous structural systems, which could be calculated more easily.

During this time he dealt among other things with development work on intersections of truss, the other duties of the executive board were to him less.