“My mum works in social care and my dad has had a career in IT, so I have heard a lot about both these areas. I’ve basically always had one foot in each world."
Search our jobsYou recently made a career change, from social worker to IT developer. Could you tell us about that?
“My mum works in social care and my dad has had a career in IT, so I have heard a lot about both these areas. I’ve basically always had one foot in each world. I came to a career crossroads where I felt I had done what I wanted to do in terms of social work, and it felt like a natural step to shift to programming, as I am basically quite a logical person.”
How did you end up at Tietoevry?
“When I started studying, one of my goals was to work at Tietoevry in Kalmar. I had read about the company and knew that it had built systems with a focus on societal benefits, in other words the sort of systems I had worked with before, so I was naturally curious. I considered Tietoevry to be a serious company in which there are lots of opportunities to develop in one’s professional role, and this attracted me.”
How does the new world at Tietoevry feel?
“I started here in October 2021 and have felt very welcome, with good support from colleagues and the organisation. A relatively large part of my initial time here has been spent working with local small businesses and digitalisation projects. This has been a good first step and onboarding process that has suited me very well,” she comments, adding that she has also become involved in a larger project that uses technology to combat bullying in schools – with the help of “digital twins”.
Could you tell us a bit about that project?
“It is a Vinnova-funded project that we are doing in collaboration with Örebro University and Friends. It aims to investigate and map social behaviour relating to bullying in schools, and to use technology and artificial intelligence to simulate situations using “digital twins” in order to be able to predict and prevent bullying. We currently have four developers from Tietoevry who are working on the project and are part of the project group’s tech team. I mainly work in JavaScript and frameworks like React, as well as with PHP, C# and sometimes in the AWS cloud environment. I am also currently learning about graph databases, which I didn’t have any experience with at all before I came to Tietoevry.”
That should suit you perfectly given your previous life?
“Definitely, with my background of working with children and young people, as well as mental health, it really appeals to me,” she agrees. “That doesn’t necessarily automatically make me a better developer, but of course, the natural interest is a strength that is hopefully reflected in the result, as a result of having a good understanding of the problem. This is common to everyone working in the project. I previously worked with helping people on an individual level, whereas this is on a national or structural level, which is extremely exciting.”
How do you view your future and career development?
“I have “a-ha” moments every day. If there is something I’ve learned in this short time, it’s that, in overall terms, I still know and can do relatively little. Learning something every day feels like a good goal for both my career and my future. I appreciate the daily conversations with colleagues and managers about small and big things. These are meaningful exchanges that no doubt motivate many people to go to work, combined with the desire to influence and to be part of the change.”
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