Frida Dahlqvist is the frontend developer who, after her internship this spring, became part of Plingot’s regular lineup. She has a background as a service technician at Infocare and support technician at Växjö municipality before she retrained to become a mobile application developer. Johan Fogelström is the Stockholm native who ended up in Småland and stayed. He has a background as a KTH student and entrepreneur, and for many years he has been a stable asset in Plingot’s backend team. He also has a part-time role as the office’s waffle maker.
How would you describe Plingot’s culture to someone who doesn’t work here?
Frida: Relaxed, good community and lots of fika.
Johan: It sounds cliché, but family. We care about each other, work closely and have fun together. There is almost always something fun to look forward to.
What do you think sets Plingot apart as a workplace compared to other tech companies?
Johan: Nothing is impossible. If you have an idea to improve something, there’s a good chance it can be implemented without bureaucracy or anything like that. And waffles. Lots of waffles.
Frida: I think what makes Plingot stand out compared to other tech companies is short decision paths and no middle managers.
What do you find most challenging, and most rewarding, about your job?
Frida: The hardest part is estimating how long things will take since I’m so new, but I guess it’s something you learn with time and experience. The most rewarding thing is that you do different things all the time and you become a good problem solver.
Johan: Troubleshooting. Sometimes you get problems that can’t be debugged without disappearing. They’re not very fun to investigate. Most rewarding is everything you get to learn. I continuously build competence by reading about different things that I can apply in my work.
What has surprised you the most about working at Plingot?
Johan: How involved everyone is in the daily work. Of course the managers have “manager things” to do, but they also take part in the projects with programming.
Frida: I agree with Johan, shorter decision paths and fewer managers. And there is a certain type of community here that’s hard to explain. We meet a lot during the day, have fika, eat breakfast and lunch together.
What advice would you give new employees who want to develop within tech and digital projects?
Frida: Dare to make mistakes and try new things, new technologies come all the time.
Johan: Oh… Uhm… Well… Believe in yourself. Don’t give up. If you don’t know, ask. Either AI, Google, a colleague or why not your rubber duck. There is a solution — try approaching the problem from another angle.
At Plingot, everyday life is a mix of code magic, laughter and small aha-moments. Here you get to challenge yourself, learn and try new things while enjoying the community — fika, spontaneous sofa hangouts and ping-pong tournaments are part of everyday life. Looking ahead, we see new projects, AI and rapid development that we need to keep up with. But we’re also looking forward to spending time together and, next in line, the Christmas dinner. At Plingot, the future is just as much about growing as a developer as it is about having fun together.
Complete the sentence:
If I were an emoji I would be…
Frida: 🦖 I show up sometimes, cause chaos, then disappear.
Johan: ⛄ I can seem a bit cold at first glance, but it melts away over time.
If I got a superpower at work it would be…
Frida: Downloading new knowledge like in The Matrix.
Johan: Understanding bad task descriptions. Customers know what they want, but they’re a bit stingy with describing it sometimes.
If my computer could talk it would say…
Frida: “You know you’ve already googled that four times this month, right?”
Johan: Oh… Better not go into that question. Something philosophical about the point of free and open code when you’re forced to run it by your user?
If I could do a project completely without rules I would…
Frida: Launch a “Is the office too loud?” button that automatically releases a kitten into the room. Panic cuddles = conversations stop instantly.
Johan: Still follow the rules. That’s who I am. I could maybe commit code without review.
