About / IV

Hello

I’m an engineer by heart and leader by calling. In everybody`s life there is this one company, one team that you know is the best job you will ever have. My goal is to create these once in a lifetime teams in all the places I work. Teams that have just enough direction to know where to go and all the freedom to use their skills to take the best route there. Teams that are serious about the work but fun at heart. Teams where people grow faster than expected and where things get done with passion and pride.

I love mentoring and growing people and finding their true talents. For many years I have gone to schools to talk about how software developers are the modern day superheroes as they can solve problems that will affect millions.

Some quick facts about me

I have built various types of software products for more than 15 years.
I love leading and growing people and have managed diverse distributed teams for 6 years.
I have coded in 13 different programming languages.
I thrive in fast paced MVP environments where switching direction and learning new things is a must.
I have successfully created 12 apps in 12 months (read more from my blog)
I have created and released a pixelart platformer game called ZombieRun on Steam
I believe in remote work and the freedom to do the work where and when it fits the person best
I have created multiple recruitment pipelines, conducted more than 75 interviews and hired 25 great engineers.
I have founded a SaaS start-up for conducting great 1on1s (remoco.io). I created the product plan, and technical architecture and then executed it.

My journey

1991

First thought of programming

I though video games were too limited and wanted to create my own.

2001

My first webpage

I wanted to share my jokes with classmates so I created a joke page in Dreamweaver. I used only the UI and the html and code seemed total gibberish to me.

2007

Started my first engineering job

Started working in a consultancy company building websites with PHP and Javascript for different clients. My first introduction to jQuery, Mootools and MySQL

2011

My first job in a startup

I was and early joiner for Estonian startup called Toggl. Toggl was building a time tracker to help professionals manage their time. This was a life changing moment as I really understood how challenging and interesting software development can be. I learned fast, had many different projects and roles and was growing every day.

2014

Starting to lead a team

As the company evolved and we hired more there was a need to have managers. I took the opportunity and never looked back. I hired new engineers and setup quarterly plans to execute our goals. It was challenging and I failed a lot but I didn't quit and kept going no matter what.

2016

I built 12 apps in 12 months

I took on the challenge to create an app or game a month and executed it.

2022

Started leading mutliple teams

I had the opportunity to start to lead the full engineering organisation that consists of multiple engineering teams and a QA.

2024

Started a leadership Podcast

Together with my wife started the most popular leadership podcast in Estonia with biweekly episodes