We are really happy to have Gustav onboard and we asked him a few questions about…
…how he became a Cloud Consultant at Solita?
It’s a long story! I worked as a club organiser for many years, handling artist bookings and organising club events, but I always knew that it wasn’t something I wanted to do forever since it’s quite tough. From a young age, I’ve been programming games and tinkering with computers, so my plan was always to transition into studying and becoming a programmer when I felt ready to move on from the club scene. And that’s exactly what I did.
After completing my education, I got an internship where, in addition to programming, we extensively focused on automation. It was during this time that I gained knowledge in Infrastructure as Code using Terraform, which involved not only writing code for applications but also for the servers on which the applications would run.
Thanks to that experience, I got a job at Sweden’s Unemployment Insurance Fund as they were migrating to the cloud. I spent three years there, refining my skills in infrastructure code and Terraform. Once that project concluded, an opportunity arose for me to relocate to Spain, so I actively sought a job that would allow me to move and work from there. It was during this time that I met Peter and Patrik at Solita, and it was an instant perfect match. Currently, I’m back in Sweden, but I spent several months working remotely from Valencia.
…working from Valencia?
Apart from not having an optimal office, it worked perfectly fine. I don’t mind going to the office when I’m in Sweden, but when you work with the cloud, the whole point for me is that you can access it from wherever you are, so it’s quite nice to be able to choose where you want to be. There are some GDPR guidelines to adhere to, of course, but as long as you’re in Europe, there’s no problem.
…if there are any similarities between being a cloud consultant and working as a club organiser?
Last weekend, I had to wake up at two in the morning and work until six because of a go-live, so crazy working hours can sometimes be a similarity, even though that’s usually not the case. Dealing with clients is also somewhat similar to dealing with artists; you have to make sure certain things are in place. Working as a consultant means following a code of conduct and delivering what is paid for. With artists, you also need to deliver, although that goes both ways in a different manner.
…the best thing about working at Solita?
I’ve been so impressed by how well things work at Solita considering how spread out we are and how quickly employees are deployed to clients. There’s a freedom under responsibility that works really well. It’s difficult to find a workplace that fully trusts its employees, and here they do.
Also, the culture at Solita is perfect. Sometimes I think, “It’s almost too nice; can people really get work done here?” But they can! And it’s incredible to be able to experience that culture even when working remotely. I’ve had a lot of contact with colleagues I’ve worked on projects with, as well as colleagues I haven’t worked closely with, during my time in Valencia. We’ve discussed code and had pleasant monthly meetings with my group, Cloud and Connectivity.
…life as a consultant?
I really enjoy being a consultant; you’re constantly on new grounds. It’s never finished and there are always new things to learn, and the best part is learning while delivering. When you stop learning, it becomes very boring very quickly. Working like this has been my goal in this industry since I don’t have to worry about getting tired of it. And the actual coding will always be my favourite part of the job. It’s like playing video games for adults, but slightly more challenging.
…what he is working on now, and what he’ll be doing more of in the future?
I have just completed a project where I built the infrastructure for a development environment, a quality assurance environment and a production environment, for a Finnish company.
Looking ahead, in addition to more exciting and challenging projects, I am eager to work closer with my colleagues and plan on working together with them at the office in Stockholm to a greater extent.
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