Stockholm Mikael Carlsson - A Life in Tech

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hello I'm Mikel as uh Brita pointed out uh I'm a  front-end engineer and for the past decade I've   been working in the Stockholm Tech startup scene  so I've gathered some uh insights uh during my   years uh and that's the sort of background for  this speech so uh this speech is really about   the those besides those pieces of golden nuggets  from the tech world all right so let's just jump   into this and uh hopefully it makes sense skills  that's uh all all we got basically and uh let's   see you are your own product in a sense uh  companies work with uh with products and uh   or services and uh and you uh your skill set is  basically your product that you sell uh so it's   kind of important that you treasure those skills  and enhance those skills when you can or that you   learn something new Focus uh it's kind of uh  hard to keep up with everything that happens   around you all the time when developing and quite  often you might be distracted from where you are   currently going by things on in the sidelines so  you might read something on on slack someone is   post posting something about some new npm package  or Cool Tech that you you feel kind of tempted to   implement or you you might think it solves your  problems better than the the than the things you   have in your project and I think it's important to  set set up the sort of boundaries before you start   your project so you know what what what tools  you have and that's sort of the the punch line   here get [ __ ] done with the tools you have  at hand and uh don't don't start introducing   new things or new technologies halfway through the  project because even though it might uh solve some   problem it quite often brings more problems down  the line so uh deja vu in development when you   have been working for a long time or in different  projects or at different companies you might get   the feeling of deja vu like haven't I been here  done this before and I think this is where the   the the answer is quite often yes and that's  because uh products that different companies   have are not that unique to be honest it's more or  less uh more of the same thing I think that when   you reach this point I think that it's a it's a  golden opportunity to to sort of uh re-evaluate   the ways you work and try to work smarter not  harder not doing not keep repeating yourself   and doing all the things all over again but it's  also a good point because you have done something   so you know how to do it all right loyalty uh  touch a subject I I wasn't really sure I was   going to bring this into the presentation but  it's something that I feel strongly about it's   uh something that have helped me during the years  basically companies uh are uh often talking about   loyalty and uh it's uh it may be asked from you  to be loyal to companies that's sort of where it   gets a bit sensitive uh I think that you should  be loyal to yourself uh and to sort of know your   value uh for companies because development is  not always about what's good for the company   it's uh quite often what's what's good for you  and to know your value to the company then you   can sort of make demands for your own benefit all  right and then it's uh this this title is kind of   strange but quite often in development I I feel  that we're sort of circling uh around a bit you   you read about some uh technology and you might  not really know how to apply it to to your work   or if you should or or when you might lack the  skill set to actually understand understand this   uh technology fully and uh I'm going to take  websockets for an example so the first time I   heard about websockets was around 2012 maybe just  started my career in in front end development and   uh I thought it was pretty cool um to for those  of you who don't know what web suckets is it's   sort of uh event driven messaging between the  client and the server like I said I didn't really   fully grasp what web suckets was all about until a  decade later uh this summer when I was uh doing a   project and started to think about shouldn't there  be another way for front end to communicate with   the back end to to sort of fetch information um  and that sort of communication is often done with   the the fetch a API and it's good but it's not  the coolest and then I sort of remembered this   web sockets thingy and read up on it and all of  a sudden it made perfect sense to me and I even   asked some of you in the JavaScript slack channel  is because for me it was like I I heard about this   10 years ago is it still used and apparently it  is so that's a good way to sort of circle back   to Tech and then trust this is um probably one  of the hardest harder things for for developers   because you might uh um not trust yourself all  the time you might f in that sort of uh sense   you know that you have some skills uh you know  that you can do certain things but sometimes you   sort of feel that um trust is is failing and  uh when I just started here I I was going for   an interview at at Apple that I failed uh but  uh before that I was uh getting some pointers   from from one of you it was a pretty good advice  I got trust in yourself as others have trusted in   you I never met this guy but uh it was a really  good thing to say and this is something that I   try to sort of remind myself of every every  time I sort of come to that point where I'm   starting to doubt myself like am I really good  enough for this uh or the the the the client is   is asking you tough questions and then thinking  this to myself kind of yeah I'm I'm probably good   enough and then keeping it real this is a pretty  hard um uh phrase for for Swedish people people   I I think in general because it's like what does  it mean keep keeping it real uh I think that uh   it's about being honest and genuine to yourself  and to sort of um do what you love uh that's the   kind of best way to to learn and to move forward  yeah move forward and and enjoy the the ride that's the end that's [Applause] all it should  probably say questions here but yeah thank you   so much Michael um and I want to open it up for  questions I mean Michael has a lot of experience   uh so it's an open open book for any questions  that you might have or thoughts you want to hear   from Michael so frontend engineer that's a new  phrase for me what what is the difference between   yeah front end developer well I don't know but  we're all software Engineers I thought I twisted a bit uh you were talking about trust uh and  I get it involves like imposter syndrome   and stuff like that do you have any tips  or tricks to overcome that well it's uh   that imposter syndrome is always sort of  uh looking over your shoulder and uh it's   uh I don't really have any tips or tricks to  overcome it it's just uh um it's ridiculous   really because you worked so hard that you've  gotten to a point where you uh signed a a deal   for a job or uh at least gotten to the point  where you are on an interview for a job and   you wouldn't get there if if you didn't know  what you know so I think the best way to to   sort of Shake That imposter syndrome feeling  is just to not think about that it's just Yeah you mentioned that over the years with  experience you noticed and more that more   and more you've actually seen the same problem  before and it comes up again so you can maybe   then rely more on your experience rather  than Ingenuity to solve a problem because   you already solved it once before how do you  stay open to new types of solutions if you've   solved the same problem four times before in  a special manner this fifth time someone comes   with a different suggestion how do you stay  open to the new suggestion which might be not   in balance with with your old solution yeah  I understand what you mean kind of but it's   is like um you build something 100 times and for  the 101st time someone comes with suggestion on   how to build it uh I would be totally open for  for for changing it uh to building it in a new   way um I don't think that my experience  of how to do a certain thing is the best way I I think everyone should sort of try to   stay open to well that's sort of  part of learning new things isn't it uh on your career um when you were more of  a junior developer is there any you can share   that you would do differently and now when you  look back on that uh when I was a junior develop   veler my uh primary goal was to become a senior  developer so I think that maybe my advice to a   junior developer would be to enjoy the ride a  bit more and not focus so much on on what what   uh what to come like in in terms of seniority  you talked lastly about keeping it real and uh   being genuine and true to yourself uh what do  you think are some of the challenges of being   genuine or why is that why is that a problem and  what have you done o over your career to to help   yourself be more genuine and true to yourself  uh also a difficult question I think that when   when we're working in Tech we will uh be uh  facing different types of of Technology maybe   in different types of work uh and we're sort of  expected to just deal with it I think that if if   you find that this is not what you really want to  do then uh feel free to sort of uh find a new job   I I'm not saying that in a in a harsh way but  sort of for your own personal development s um and that that that could be anything  from like Technologies to to colleagues   and management anything that doesn't  sort of align with your uh values um   should you really stick around and  why so maybe just seeking out what's   what's the best fit for you in terms of  management or Tech stack or colleagues or whatever uh you mentioned the web sockets a little  bit earlier do you have any other uh blast to the   Past kind of tech that you encountered and  like oh yeah I I read about this earlier   and uh I think it could suit this project or  nothing that I can think of uh right now but   uh I quite often feel that uh that you uh sort  of move in circles in a way that you come come   across something uh you read about it and then  you sort of pass it to the sidelines currently   because you want to keep focusing on on on what  you do now and then maybe sometime later you come   back to this and then you sort of re-evaluate that  technology um I I don't really have a another good example if you're if you reflect back uh  more to the times when you were studying   do you think there is some major thing  that you were not taught and you did not   understand before you got this experience  what would be this one thing me oh to okay um one thing I was not taught uh well so  I studied media technology and it's uh kind of   web development kind of web design uh kind of  usability so and that was I don't know 20 years   ago uh I'm I'm sure a lot has changed since then  um there was many things I wasn't taught but on   the other hand it it's all it's all kind  of different now back then it was PHP or   Java uh static can of static uh no front end  for sure um as little JavaScript as possible   and then we kind of moved into where we are  now where where we have one application on   the front and basically and one on the on  the back end and also moving more towards   backend now so it's all sort of going back and  forth um I don't really know what what what to pick tough question I'll think about it can't hear myself oh there we go now I can um  thanks Michael uh for your your talk it was uh a   life in Tech and uh of course like Tech is that's  quite a broad stroke in terms of all-encompassing   I'll say that so when you are thinking about like  your your life and your life in the in the tech   field then what I mean what what sort of how do  you go from there how do you learn on a constant   basis because it's so vast and there's so much you  could learn and there's so many Avenues you could   take uh how do you kind of direct yourself and  then when do then how do you find that you learn   best is it learning by doing or or learning by  studying or learning by uh seeking out a mentor or   something of the like I think it's a combination  of of the three uh first of course you need to   read up on things uh study uh and then I yes I I  learn best by doing so I build a prototype just   to get the sort of hang of it and thinking uh  but then of course like mentorship is is golden   of um in in many many ways it can be like a a  more senior developer than you or someone else   so yeah it's but but of course I mean you you can  only learn sort of ideas or ways of thinking from   a mentor you can't really learn Hands-On coding  that's that I guess requires Hands-On coding and   when you have like because based on what you're  saying then it sounds like you've had mentors   uh in your in your life and in your experience um  you know for for those who are seeking um you know   to grow in some way whether they're exploring  something totally new because they're already   quite a specialist in what they do or if they're  looking to develop um in their own craft and what   they already do then uh how have you found your  mentors and where might others be able to find uh   those mentors if they're seeking them well I I my  my first sort of real Mentor was uh sort of a kind   of a manager uh not my boss but around uh and uh  he kind of explained the the value in extracting   yourself from from what you're doing in in terms  of not putting your soul into something uh if if   we're talking about design maybe don't treat the  design as your baby because if someone starts   poking it uh it won't feel good so so that's  one thing and then of course not or or trying   to to keep the code clean to to sort of allow the  next developer for for a smooth transition um I I   think it's uh difficult if the question is where  to find a mentor or if if I mean I mean I've had   mentors in front-end leads or uh lead developers  uh um those kind of positions as well I think it   depends on on where you are and what you're kind  of looking for hello yeah uh 20 years life in Tech   uh so that's quite a long experience and time  um I'm curious about the uh how do you see as a   developer that um uh The View on technology and  you in your role as a development developer has   changed during these years uh it's it's changed  quite a bit I would say uh because I was thinking   about it during the panel discussion uh that we  just uh watched and um I say 15 years ago maybe   it was different in that you were a developer or  a web designer and the web designer was basically   responsible for both the visual design and the  implementation of the ux part and then you had   the other Developers for maybe backend developers  or system Engineers um so that changed I think in   2010 or something like that where it sort of  shifted uh and that web designer role split   up into frontend developers and UI ux developers  or designers um and I'm quite sure it will either   merge again or split up even more I don't know but  uh it's changing uh I think it's for the better in   a way because some people like coding more and  some people like designing more but it's yeah   uh so I was uh uh looking at your slide of the  value and I was thinking do you have any like   uh Reflections or ideas uh regarding uh work  life balance oh I suck at work life balance I   wish I had yeah I tend to work too much uh and  uh do life too little uh but some some people   that I've worked with uh some uh colleagues  of ours uh have been really good at sort of   uh getting up early in the morning starting the  day at 8 and then shutting off the laptop at 5:   or whatever the time is really I've never really  understood how many hours you're supposed to   work I know it's 8 hours a day but does that  include lunch or so yeah you're asking the wrong person all right thanks so much Michael uh one  more round of applause for for Michael for today thank you thank you

2023-12-24

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