As a young man in Smedjebacken, Mats Fahlén wanted to record music – so he built his mixer table. Now he is a software developer at Svekon in Borlänge.
– I’ve been working with this since 1984 when I started as an electronics and software engineer at Ericsson in Stockholm. After that, I moved back to Dalarna a few years later, and then I chose to focus on the software side of things, says Mats.
However, it was not with software that technology interest gained momentum/started.
– No, when I was a kid there was no software. It came later. My interest in technology started as a hobby. We were a few people playing music and wanted to record what we were doing. Then we built our small systems to get the sound into our rollers.
Guitarist in the local fiddle team
Music has since continued to be a central part of Mats’ life. It becomes especially clear every midsummer when he usually plays with the local band in his hometown Gagnef.
– I’m still trying to keep up with music as much as possible, but only as a hobby. I play guitar and in recent years I picked up the saxophone again. Then I like to play other instruments as well. They usually joke that if there is any instrument missing, we can ask Mats if he can play it.
However, despite his obvious talent for music, he is clear that it is only a hobby.
– When you listen to people who know it… then you understand that you don’t know it yourself.
Even at work, Mats thrives best in interaction with others
In his profession as a software developer, on the other hand, we at Svekon pride ourselves on the fact that Mats knows. He has an obvious place in many projects with his overall knowledge, but it’s together with others that he thinks it’s the most inspiring to work.
– I prefer assignments where you can use your different skills. When the software works together with electronics and mechanics so that you get everything where everyone sees how their work plays a part, I like that. If I just sit and write software for a customer where no other skills are involved, then it can be difficult to illustrate and explain what it is that I have done.
At last: do you have a dream project?
– Something that helps the world. Something against climate threats or something that makes a difference. That would be nice.
