How did you become interested in tech?
I’ve always been interested in gaming, whether it’s board, video or computer games. At 12, I had my own computer and then in my later teens I spent the school holidays working at a friend’s parents’ company, where we assembled computers based on customer specs. I really enjoyed the interaction with customers, helping them to figure what were the best components for their needs.
How long have you been working with tech?
I’ve never left tech since those early days. I moved on, working full-time in the service desk at different internet providers, before moving to Skanska, a global construction company. Initially, I was in IT support but later transferred to operations where my main assignment was to coordinate the global service desk. This involved setting up and managing a 24/7 service desk for all the infrastructure systems such as the DNS servers, routing, email and authentication systems. Eventually, I left Skanska to spend a few years working for a Swedish company based in Barcelona, before moving back to Sweden and joining Data Ductus. I’ve been here since 2006.
What does a typical day at work involve?
As the Service Desk Team Lead, I’m responsible for service desk operations for multiple clients – including municipalities and companies – as well as internally here at Data Ductus. Not surprisingly, I’m involved in a lot of meetings, both with customers and the different providers that deliver services to them. I also interact a lot with my team, much of which is done on Discord. And, I still get involved with managing day-to-day service issues.
What’s most interesting about your job?
I enjoy gathering knowledge about the different systems and capabilities and structuring that in a way that my team and our customers can easily find it and use it in their roles. Then I like the problem-solving part of the job – identifying what the issue is and the best way to resolve it or which provider it should it be escalated to. Today’s multi-service provider architectures create many such challenges and we solve them.
What advice would you give to somebody interested in pursuing a career like yours?
The service desk is a great place for anybody interested in tech. You get a holistic view of organizations, see the needs they have, the problems they encounter and learn how to rectify them. It’s the perfect foundation for a career in IT. 15 people have moved on from my teams over the years into development or testing roles at Data Ductus.
Finally, what do you do when you’re not working?
I play a lot of Bridge. I organize and participate in events and am the non-playing captain of the Swedish women’s national team – which essentially means I analyze the competitors and decide on the strategy and best players for a particular match. I also like to play pinball, something I was really good at before I became serious about bridge.