Few professions probably have as much prejudice against them as coders, but what is really true? The journalist, and perhaps Sweden’s best prejudice maker, Emil Persson wants to find out in the Youtube series “Engineering prejudices”. To get answers to his thoughts, he has invited engineers from some of Sweden’s largest employers to test their own prejudices.

In the latest episode, it is Kim Öberg, Senior Software Engineer at Klarna, who visits the studio. Among other things, she has to face Emil’s prejudice that Klarna has a bit of a Silicon Valley complex, and that they want the office to imitate the tech giants’ office in California.

– I think there is a dose of truth in that statement, there is probably not a single hyped tech company in Stockholm that does not have a bit of a “wannabe-Google” vibe, Kim Öberg answers in the section.

See the whole section here

It is important to be able to influence the work tasks

She herself believes that it is not the office that is the most important thing for an employer. Instead, she highlights other aspects, such as benefits and independence.

– It is quite common for you as a coder to get information without you getting a chance to influence what it is you are working with – it would not work for me where I am now in my career. I want the opportunity to influence what I develop, and why I do it. I get that at Klarna, says Kim Öberg.

Nerd humor in the office

Many IT professions and especially coders are often associated with a strong interest in science fiction. Something that Emil Persson takes advantage of, and is supported by Kim Öberg. Star Wars characters appear frequently on desks, and of course the coding teams have their own nerdy internal team names.

– Yes! All teams have a professional name linked to what they do, and an informal one that they can choose for themselves. My team is informally called “Dusk Stalkers”, a reference to the computer game World of Warcraft. I feel like I’m ticking all the prejudice boxes here, laughs Kim Öberg in Ingenjörsfördomar.

Emil Persson also has prejudices about Kim’s colleagues, and wonders if it is not really their mothers who buy their clothes.

– Haha, I really hope it’s not true. On the other hand, there are probably many who could only dress in “merch shirts” from conferences or other tech events and never have to buy other shirts.

Klarna’s episode of Engineering Prejudice is now available on Youtube and new episodes are released every week. See the whole episode, which is in English, with Kim Öberg here.