Hello, I am
What can I expect to find here?
That remains to be seen. There will probably be an optimistic posting spree during the first couple of weeks, and then ... crickets. But if I do end up publishing anything here it will probably be related to a few of these topics:
- Technology - gizmos, gadgets, web, AI, ML og BI to mention a few trendy buzzwords that are nonetheless relevant.
- Design and architecture - I don’t have much in the way of formal competence in these fields, but that will not prevent me from having opinions about them.
- Culture - as an opinionated heavy consumer, it feels only natural to include this.
- Politics and society - it’s tempting to stick with "safe" topics like technology and culture, but we live in an age where it’s important to speak up about certain things.
About the site
Even though I have at times felt an urge to write and/or share my thoughts about certain things, it never felt right using Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Medium or any of the other typical platforms that many people use for that.
In the beginning this was probably caused by a vague dislike of being the product, but lately I’ve become increasingly aware that Facebook and Twitter (in particular) contribute to the divisiveness and harsh debate climate we are currently seeing, and I have made an active choice to not support them.
Described like that it almost sounds like I am an Important Person™, whose choice of publishing platform matters to the largest tech companies in the world. That is of course not the case - my readership will almost certainly consist of 1-2 people in the foreseeable future.
But there are also more prosaic reasons that I choose to maintain my own web presence:
- Nostalgia - I have been active on the Internet since the beginning and I miss the days when "everybody" had their own web site, filled with tags and "Under Construction" GIFs.
- Frustration - this site will not feature any unnecessary cookie warnings, user-hostile "Subscribe Now!" popups, or ads and tracking pixels that contribute to making the web more unsafe and invasive.
- Flexibility - being a developer allows me to build the publishing solution that suits my needs perfectly, without any bloat from features and functionality I don’t need.
About me
I was born and raised in one of the most beautiful places on earth – Steigen in the county of Nordland, which lies in the northern part of Norway. Growing up, I didn’t realize what an amazing place it was (it was just home), but now I often find myself missing its wonderful nature.
I won’t be moving back home anytime soon, though. Together with my (soon-to-be) wife, our two young girls and our Jack Russell Terrier, I have planted my flag on the island of Nøtterøy, in the county of Vestfold – where I plan to stay for a long time.
Between growing up in Steigen og starting my own family on Nøtterøy I had 21 good years in Oslo – trying to get an education, landing several good jobs, buying my first apartment and lots of other fun. This was also where I won the lottery by meeting my wonderful wife-to-be, Ingrid.
Skills and Experience
I have always been very fortunate in that I’ve been able to work doing what I enjoy the most: Using technology to solve problems. For the last couple of years I have been doing this through my own company, Levelup AS (Norwegian only for now).
As the illustration shows, my IT career has been something of a journey. I started out doing Devops and Infrastructure work for a period, then a long stretch focusing on Development, and finally a shift towards Data, Analytics and AI/ML work in the last few years.
Sorry, the illustration is Norwegian-only for now. The main thing that needs to be translated is "Utvikling", which means "Development".
During this time I’ve worked in several interesting sectors: energy, defence, research, ad-tech, search, productivity tools, the maritime sector, and the health/fitness industry.
You can find my full resume on LinkedIn.
Fun (?) facts
- I listen to music almost 24/7 – to me, Spotify (and similar services) has been one of the biggest revolutions of tech.
- I wouldn’t mind being an architect – tech is very exciting, but if I didn’t end up in that sector I would have loved to give architecture a shot.
- I can ride a bicycle backwards – I recently tried it again, for the first time in almost 30 years, and it was like I had been doing it my whole life.