Daniel has worked at Tutus since 2010 and has been involved in several different kinds of project in that time. Today he is a tech lead, dividing his time between steering development in the right direction and writing code himself.
When Tutus introduced the tech lead role, Daniel was one of the people who took it on. Why he has stayed for 16 years is, by his own account, fairly simple.
– I like this world. Otherwise I wouldn't still be here after 16 years, he says.
As a tech lead, Daniel works with product management and with others in equivalent roles, so that the products work together and remain maintainable over time. He also learns from how the other groups work.
– There can be a fair number of meetings. But I try to program as much as I can and not lose touch with the technology. It's roughly half about keeping things moving forward and half about developing things myself.
In a business where products have to be approved and accredited, quality is not negotiable.
– If you can't fit everything in, you cut what you deliver rather than the quality. Otherwise there's no release.
What he is proudest of is how development work has become steadily more structured, with automated testing for example. He doesn't think about the wider purpose every day, but it stays with him.
Everyone knows everyone
One big advantage of Tutus, Daniel thinks, is that people know each other, including colleagues at other sites, through fika and shared activities.
– It makes it much easier to ask for help, and to dare to ask at all, and to help others, when it isn't just an anonymous name in an inbox.
He also points out that the organisation isn't hierarchical.
– Anyone can go to anyone. If you want to ask a senior manager something, you just do.
The interest in technology and computers has always been there. Daniel studied computing science and engineering at Umeå University, where he also worked as a systems administrator. Through friends he then got a job at another company in Stockholm, and he came to Tutus through a friend who suggested he should work here.
For students who want to get into the industry but have no work experience, he has one concrete piece of advice: get involved in open source projects, fix bugs and submit merge requests.
– It shows that you can collaborate and that you understand how development works.
Outside work, most of his free time goes to his family and to spending time with his eight-year-old son. There isn't much coding then, but there is plenty of time outdoors. Daniel used to try to do a week-long hike every year.
– It's good to think about something else sometimes. Not to be sitting at a screen the whole time, hearing the phone ping.
