What an adventure. What a career so far.

What an adventure. What a career so far. Sometimes I look back and wonder how all of this actually happened. It started at ABB Transformers, working with transformer and reactor design. I still remember walking into that huge place in my hometown as a young engineer. ABB was the company. You had respect for it before you even entered the building. But curiosity has probably been one of the strongest drivers throughout my career. My wife and I wanted to see something else, so we moved to Stockholm. I joined a telecom supplier, mainly working with antennas for mobile phones. Then came the first really big turn. The company decided to move part of its production to Beijing, China. I was asked if I wanted to go there and help establish the local operation. Why not? So we packed our bags and moved to China. We eventually returned to Sweden because we were expecting our first child. We stayed for a couple of years before another opportunity appeared: South Korea. We travelled there, looked at apartments and started planning our next move. Then we discovered we were expecting our second child. Plans changed again. When our second child was seven months old, we instead moved back to Beijing for our second period in China, where I continued building the organisation and the team. Those years became some of the best years of our lives. Both of our children learned to speak Mandarin. My wife studied Traditional Chinese Medicine. And despite working hard, I somehow had more quality time with my family than during many other periods of my career. We travelled. We experienced another culture. We built memories together. Eventually, the company changed direction and my division was closed in 2011. So once again, we packed our bags and moved back to Sweden. And once again, I started looking for the next adventure. A small Chinese company wanted to take over parts of my previous business. They needed people who understood the technology, the customers and the industry. The ambition was certainly not small. We wanted to win business with two of the world's largest electronics companies: Apple and Samsung. I became responsible for Europe and the US, with a mission to win projects, build trust and relationships, and grow the business. And we were successful. But success also had a price. For years, I basically lived on airplanes and in hotels. By 2016, expectations and the organisation had changed. We worked harder and harder, but somehow it was never enough. At some point, you have to ask yourself: What is a successful career worth if you lose your family along the way? That became another turn. My former boss from Beijing contacted me and asked if I wanted to join a British manufacturing company and use our experience to build something new. So another adventure started. Again, we were successful. We won designs, developed ideas and built the business. In 2018, the company was acquired by a much larger group that wanted us to build its IoT operation in Sweden. We developed a completely new product line and built a strong IoT offering. We made good decisions. We made mistakes. We learned. And by 2023, we felt that we were preparing for something really big. Then everything changed. The company decided to stop investing in our products and redirect its investments elsewhere. Suddenly, the Swedish organisation we had built was standing quite alone. Customers were still calling. Products still needed development and support. Engineers still needed work. And I had a decision to make. After many sleepless nights, I decided to start Updal. Could I really run an engineering company? Could we find enough customers? Could we keep enough cash in the bank to pay salaries every month? Could we convince talented people to trust us? Could we build something that would actually survive? Luckily, I wasn't completely alone. I asked my "partner in crime" if he wanted to join the adventure. Eventually, we decided to share the company 50/50. And from there, yet another chapter began. updal.se Looking back, work has taken me to more places in the world than I could ever have imagined when I first walked through the doors at ABB. I've met incredible people, experienced different cultures, won projects, lost projects, built companies, watched things disappear that we had worked years to create — and started again. My family has also been part of that journey. Our children have experienced countries, languages and cultures that very few children get the opportunity to experience. Some periods were difficult, but others gave us memories that I wouldn't trade for anything. And maybe that is the biggest lesson from my career so far: Keep your eyes open. Stay humble. Stay curious. And appreciate what you get along the way. The number on your payslip is not the most important measure of a successful career. Of course, we all need enough to put food on the table and a roof over our heads. And being fortunate enough to live and work in Sweden gives us opportunities that many people around the world simply don't have. But beyond that? Create memories. Meet people. See places. Take some risks. Learn when things go wrong. And try your best every day. I certainly didn't have a master plan when I started at ABB. One opportunity simply led to another. One country led to another. One success led to another challenge. And sometimes something ending created the opportunity to start something completely new. What an adventure. What a career so far. And hopefully, there are still quite a few chapters left to write.