Little is known of Daniel Hecht before the age of 26 when he enrolled at the Bergakademie at Freiberg, Saxony. It is reasonable to assume that before this Hecht worked in the mining industry in some capacity. After his studies Hecht took up the position of a mine manager, then he became a teacher at the Freiberger Berschule.
Hecht was appointed second professor of mathematics at the Freiberg Berakademie in 1816, becoming the first professor there in 1826.
At first he taught pure and applied mathematics but later he taught only mechanics and mining machinery.
He is best known for the high school texts which he wrote. These widely used school texts were on mathematics, geometry and surveying.