#MeetOurTeam – Pål Stian

What does a typical workday look like to you?

One of the best things about my job is that there is no typical workday. Some days I sit with the customer and work on specific improvements or further developments. On other days I can be in meetings with potential customers to explain our approach to cloud solutions and integration solutions, and some days I work more with competence development of the resources in Cegal.

Which technologies do you work with?

I primarily work with the integration of cloud services. With 20 years of experience with Microsoft's solutions, it is natural that I work mostly within Azure. Working with integration is a lot about linking the customer's various systems together and ensuring that they communicate in a good way. This is essential for them to make optimal use of the systems and licenses they have purchased.

A modern company is dependent on different departments and areas of expertise to be able to use the best systems to carry out its tasks. At the same time, it is dependent on all the parts of the company working well together to complete the business tasks. The integration systems can solve some of the challenges by automating demanding processes and transforming data and structures so that the various systems understand each other.

You are a Tech Mentor at Cegal - can you tell us a bit about what it is?

As a Tech Mentor, I get to work with competence development of other resources. It's fun to share your own experiences and help others develop. At the same time, I get new impulses and angles from the people I work with. It means that I learn something new every day, and continue to develop and learn new things. So it probably gives me as much as the people I work for as a mentor 😊

Read more about how Cegal works with TechMentors here > 

You are also a Cegal Brand Ambassador, can you say a little about what this is?

As Brand Ambassador at Cegal, I am one of those people who have an additional task in communicating why Cegal is a good place to work and be visible both internally and externally.

Examples of what a Brand Ambassador does: share ideas, share knowledge, share Cegal posts on Social Media, take over Cegal Instagram on special occasions, write blog posts, wear our great Cegal clothes, etc.

In November you were a speaker at the Caribbean Developers Conference, tell us a little about this.

Yes, what can I tell you about that ... I contributed as a speaker at a conference with high quality and professional content, and I got to socialize with like-minded people on a South Sea island 😊 Can't get any better than that. I love telling a story, and being a speaker is in that way very interesting, and I receive feedback from the audience, which I am grateful for. The topic this time was "Legacy" systems.

The Caribbean Developer Conference is also held at a resort in the Dominican Republic, and this means that all speakers and most participants are available on the days the conference is held. This leads to many good discussions and a more dense social program than any other conference I have been to. 

What drives you at work and in your role, what's fun?

New challenges, drive technological innovation, work with others and help them in their development. I want to learn something new every day.

What is the best thing about working in Cegal?

"Flexibility and new challenges. Good colleagues with a lot of knowledge mean that I always learn something new."

Pål Stian

Read about What it is like working in Cegal here? 

What is your favorite podcast?

"Time is money" because it provides good insight into how the money markets are connected to most other things in the world.

What is your favorite quote?

"It is possible to score only one goal in each attack"

Said by handball coach Thorir Hergeirsson when Norway was 4 goals behind at halftime in the WC final
in 2021. Norway won with 7 goals!

Is there anything else fun we should know about you?

In the winter I love skiing with my family, friends or alone.

I lived in Moscow from 2002 to 2003, then I had an office right across the street from the Kreml. I moved there because my girlfriend at the time, now wife, had got an expat contract with IKEA. I worked with implementation and architecture for Deloitte's intranet in the CIS region.
It was very interesting to have everyday life in a city that you have heard so much about, and just walk around Gorky Park or Red Square when you feel like it.

I am very fond of concerts and my greatest concert experience is Paul McCartney on Red Square in Moscow.