Hello Annelie, tell me, who are you?

Hello! I’m a happy and engaged girl from a small town called Tyringe. Over 10 years ago, I moved to Helsingborg, where I live with my partner and our little dog, Eja. I’m a software developer and Scrum master. Educated as a web developer in .NET and React, but recently I’ve been exploring other fun things like Angular and Kotlin. Very exciting! In my free time, I enjoy playing video games and diving into all the exciting AI news happening every day. My interests change from day to day. One day I might be doing sudoku, and the next I might be painting. Variety keeps life interesting.

Are there any common misconceptions about your profession?

For me, I was never encouraged to code during my upbringing. There simply wasn’t anyone around me who did it, and it wasn’t taught in the schools I attended. So when an old colleague recommended I look into the profession, my first thought was: a bunch of ones and zeros in front of a terminal, and you probably need to be a math genius. But he piqued my interest, so I checked out some YouTube videos, and it wasn’t at all what I thought—and it was also a lot of fun. Whether it’s a common misconception or not, I don’t know, but that’s the misconception I had!

What is your biggest motivation in your work?

To leave behind something I’ve created. Architects can point to big buildings to their grandchildren and say they built that house. I want to be able to do the same with the modern world. That app, that website, I built those. There’s nothing more satisfying for the soul than completing a project, especially if it’s something that truly made a difference for someone.

How do you stay updated on software development trends and news?

Mainly through YouTube. When it comes to AI, my favorite right now is Matthew Berman. He’s the one who taught me everything I know about LLMs, OpenAI, and other exciting things happening around. The latest video I watched was about EMO (emote portrait alive). When it comes to React and similar technologies, I usually keep an eye on WebDevSimplified. My partner and I try to keep each other updated on what we find, so he also shares some interesting videos he comes across. It’s great having a developer as a partner!

How has your initial time at Avalon been?

Fantastic. Since starting at Avalon, I’ve been leading an internal project called Avabot. This started as a project to learn how we can best utilize AI and has now evolved into a chatbot that we’ll use internally to streamline our work. I’ve also helped several companies in the Hetch building where we’re located. But even the “in-between-work-time” is great. Doing puzzles or having coffee together during breaks, frosting office windows with sour milk(?!), after-work activities like go-carting and pizza. Everyone is incredibly warm and friendly. I felt at home already during the interview.

Youtube främst. När det gäller AI så är min favorit just nu Matthew Berman. Det är han som lärt mig allt jag kan när det gäller LLM’s, OpenAI och andra spännande grejer som händer runtomkring. Den senaste videon jag såg handlade om EMO (emote portrait alive). När det gäller t.ex React och liknande så brukar jag hålla koll på WebDevSimplified. Jag och sambon försöker hålla varandra uppdaterade med vad vi hittar så han kommer även med lite intressanta videos som han hittat. Positivt med en utvecklare till sambo! 

Hur har din första tid på Avalon varit?

Fantastisk. Sedan jag började på Avalon har jag fått ta lead i ett internt projekt som heter Avabot. Detta startade som ett projekt att lära sig om hur vi kan nyttja AI på bästa sätt och har nu gått vidare till en chatbot som vi (förhoppningsvis) kommer använda internt för att effektivisera vårt arbete. Jag har även hjälpt ett flertal företag i Hetch-byggnaden som vi sitter i. Men även det där ‘imellan-arbetet-tiden’ är så fint. Pussla eller fika ihop på rasterna, frosta kontorsfönstret med filmjölk (?!), afterwork med go-cart och pizza. Alla är så otroligt varma och trevliga. Kände mig som hemma redan på intervjun.