With a background in sales and marketing, Carl had never imagined he would enjoy programming. Now he describes himself as something of a stereotypical programmer. He found his way to Tutus through an industry day, a sheet of encrypted messages and a year of persistent phone calls and emails. His work placement eventually turned into a job as a software developer.
He is happy to sit in front of a computer, both at work and at home. But he also enjoys cooking, experimenting with food and drink pairings, listening to music and going to gigs. Lately he has also come down with what he describes as a kind of turning-30 crisis, minus the actual crisis. He has, it turns out, discovered the appeal of hiking, from shorter walks around Stockholm to longer adventures in the Swedish mountains.
Alongside gaming, he also programmes in his spare time, mostly small gadgets for the home, simply because it is fun. One example is the bus at his local stop, which rarely runs to schedule. Rather than rely on the SL app, Carl has built his own small system. At the press of a button, it fetches real-time data from SL and shows when the next bus is actually due.
– Instead of standing there fiddling with your phone when you’re in a hurry, you can see when the bus is coming in real time. It shows how many minutes are left, says Carl.
Before he started studying, Carl worked in sales and marketing and, among other things, ran a business with some childhood friends. He saw room for improvement on their website, wanted to change some details and started tinkering with the code.
– I thought it would be nice if this button looked a certain way. That’s how I slowly started getting into it.
He took an online course to see whether the interest would last. It did. He went on to study a higher vocational programme in software development for IoT and embedded systems at Nackademin, with some web development, a lot of back-end work and hardware. It was the hardware that hooked him.
– The first time I got a light to blink, I felt invincible.
No one in his family has any particular interest in technology, and he himself had never been more than a casual gamer.
– It was a path I had no idea I would enjoy. I stumbled into it out of nowhere.
First contact with Tutus
Carl’s contact with Tutus began at Nackademin’s industry day. He thought the people on the stand seemed easy-going, and he left with a sheet of encrypted messages to solve.
– I took it home and sat there solving it because I thought it was so much fun. Then I started reading up on Tutus.
His placement was still a year away, but he had already started to hope he could do it at Tutus. Carl got in touch and kept the conversation going until it turned into a placement. This is where his sales background came in handy.
– I was clear that I wanted to come here, and I explained what I could contribute.
Once the placement had started, he carried on in the same way, this time to secure a job.
– I really wanted to be here, so I made sure to show it. You always need a bit of luck too, and in my case there was a project I could work on.
The placement lasted six months, which Carl sees as an advantage. Two or three months is rarely enough to get to grips with a project and produce something useful. As it was, he even managed to finish something.
For the first few weeks, he felt underqualified.
– But everyone was so helpful and understanding. No one was precious about knowing more; people just wanted to share. I learnt more in those six months than during my entire programme.
He was given the chance to develop something further where a foundation already existed, with two supervisors to support him. At school, projects are either built entirely from scratch or within clear boundaries. Here, he was able to put forward his own ideas.
– My supervisors didn’t give me the answers, but they guided me. They were there when I needed them, and they let me get things wrong when that was what I needed too.
He gives them much of the credit. It was their knowledge, generosity and patience that meant he learnt enough to be able to stay.
He had hoped from the start that it would lead to a job.
– I knew I wanted to work here as soon as the industry day was over. It was the mix of great products, fun people and the fact that it’s for something good. Then I came here and noticed that everyone was lovely. That’s when I felt I had to stay.
Job titles matter less
The step from placement student to employee was smaller than you might think.
– I was made to feel welcome from the start, and people took the time to help me. It felt as if I already worked here during my placement. I have more responsibility now, but it doesn’t really matter what your title is here. Everyone is kind and welcoming towards each other, and I think that’s quite unusual.
Ask him to describe his role, and the answer comes straight away.
– I sit and press buttons on my keyboard, and it’s really nice.
Carl is now a software developer, and his days are made up of meetings, programming and discussions. But it is more social than he had imagined.
– You picture a dark room with nothing but computers and cables. Sometimes it’s like that. But most of the time you’re talking through solutions and planning how things should look going forward. It’s everything I could have dreamt of.
He appreciates being able to go straight to the person he needs to talk to, without hierarchy or bureaucracy, and being met with a smile whichever office he pops his head into. The company’s role in protecting society is also noticeable day to day.
– You spend a lot of your life working, so it’s important to do something you’re proud of. Even if little old me is just sitting here pressing buttons on my keyboard, it still contributes to something important.
Carl’s advice to anyone who wants to do a placement or start working at Tutus is to be themselves and to enjoy the work.
– During my programme, some people thought they would earn a lot of money just because they could write code. But you actually have to write the code as well. If you don’t enjoy technology and programming, it’ll be hard to start here. Everyone who works here loves what they do, and it shows.
