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Anton's path to Software Engineering and Management and Sweden was not entirely obvious. In 2009, he studied at the Faculty of Energy Engineering at the Technical Institute of Athens in Greece, even though he dreamed of a career in IT. The great competition for training places at the IT courses in Athens made Anton's dream difficult and resulted in him leaving Greece.

'There was no chance for me to study in the IT field in Athens, it was very competitive especially for foreigners, so I decided to apply abroad. Sweden was on my list mainly because education was free for Europeans.' says Anton Shumeika.

Later that year, Anton was accepted to the international BSc programme in Software Engineering and Management and he moved to Sweden. A country that kind of surprised him.

'My first experience with Sweden and the studies here was a positive cultural shock. The highlight of the morning was the ferry ride to the University. The environment at the University was very contrasting to what I experienced in Athens on the other side of Europe.'

'In Sweden the environment was a more open, office-like and  welcoming. There were no locks back then on the areas, one could go anywhere one liked in the building, there was no student/teacher segregation – everything was accessible and there was free coffee, bad, but free.'

Problem based learning, a new method that became the start of Anton's IT career

The studies at the programme in Software Engineering and Management were based on reality-based situations, also called problem-based learning, a method that was both new and unknown to Anton.

'I loved that we were free to do whatever we liked, working in teams, planning our own time, learning whatever we thought we needed to know along with the course programs'.

'The projects we made were real-life, real application projects which easily could be placed on a CV or bragged about in an interview. We also ran a mentorship programme, where students could have one-on-one time with somebody from industry. I think it was a great success, I wish it could have continued for a bit longer after we graduated.

The mix of both technical and practical courses prepared Anton for working life

'If I could follow the programme again I would do it. I believe it was the best mix of programming, management and hands on experience at the time. I had a taste of different areas of IT and that is what I think is needed nowadays because IT is everywhere now and it is not only about writing code and being a developer.'

Today, Anton works as an integration specialist at the fashion company Lindex, where he develops and runs system integrations, by combining data from different sources into valuable information.

'I had a rather long path before I reached that role but I absolutely love it – it is 100% for me. Perfect mix of problem-solving, new technologies, communications with stakeholders, creating thinking etctera... Love it!'

What does the future look like?

'It looks bright and sunny.  I am not a career-oriented person, no specific ambitions there, and right now our day-to-day life is rotating around the three young kids that we have, rather than being work-focused. But I keep on working, obtaining new skills and enjoying what I do.'

What are your best advice for new students at Software Engineering and Management?

'I think the best thing a student can do is to be curious! Don't just do your time at the University, try to expand your area of knowledge and area of interests as much as possible. Go out there, into the world even if you just started studying. Try to expose yourself to as many initiatives as you can manage along with your studies.'

'Explore things, you have the best time to do so while you are studying. Eventually you will end up in some position where you will do things day after day which you might not have the same possibilities to steer. It would be wise to use your study-time as a sandbox to figure out what it is that you enjoy the most in IT and to start following that path. But don't forget to have fun!'

Interview: Camilla Jara