The ‘Real You’ is a feature on the European SharePoint Blog which gives you the chance to get to know more about your peers through their experiences, fun facts and the advice they were given to help them strive in the SharePoint World. This week we get to know the real Mikael Svenson.
Where are you from?
I’m from Skjetten, Norway – a small place outside of Oslo consisting mostly of row houses and four story apartment buildings. I spent most of the first part of my life in a pink row house with blue window sills. That said, I had a very nice childhood, but have since moved to central Oslo.
Where do you work?
I work at Puzzlepart, a Norwegian SharePoint consultancy / powerhouse – where we strive to create good solutions for our customers as well as business apps. For those who know me as a search guy, search is probably what I do the least although I enjoy it immensely.
How did you get involved in SharePoint?
I was working as the CTO for a Norwegian Search Engine Startup (not FAST), and was tasked with creating an indexing connector against SharePoint 2003. Which means I started out doing WSS 2.0 calls, knowing nothing about SharePoint. My next job was as a newbie SharePoint consultant, and I’ve been in the space ever since – finding it a nice place to be.
What do you do in your spare time?
Well…. the spare time not occupied by my 5 year old, I try to spend doing side projects around SharePoint J I’m a programmer/hacker at heart, and love to dive into some code challenges. Always been a computer geek, so separating work and hobby is not easy.
I also enjoy picking mushrooms, which season has just started – to the enjoyment of my wife and kid who both loves mushrooms.
Favourite TV show?
If you had asked this 10-15 years ago I would have listed quite a few, but these days the only shows I watch are documentary/reality series. They are mostly fun to watch and require little digesting. The last real show I watched was 24 season 8.
I have never watched a single episode of CSI, Sopranos, Breaking Bad, Game of Thrones etc…
Favourite Book?
Crime novels on my Kindle. The last I read was The Silkworm by Robert Galbraith (J.K. Rowling), quite an enjoyable book.
Favourite Movie?
Flåklypa Grand Prix (English title: Pinchcliffe Grand Prix)
Favourite song?
I’m a radio type listener, so right now it’s* Engel by Admiral P* and Happy Homw by Hedegaard
Apart from a career in SharePoint what would be your dream job?
I’m very much loving my work these days, dividing my time doing projects, pre-sales, deep dive programming, speaking, blogging. Having the opportunity to do a lot of things and learning new stuff every day is something I love. If SharePoint dies, I’ll just continue in some other tech space like I did before SharePoint came along.
They must be very well hidden if I have any
Who is the biggest party animal in SharePoint?
I would say a large chunk of the SharePoint MVP’s all contribute to a good sized party beast. I have yet to have a dull time at an event where the loud and smart get together.
Who is the biggest troublemaker in SharePoint?
SharePoint Mons (@spmons), who seems to have a hate/hate relationship with SharePoint.
Who is your hero?
Easy one. Peter Parker – “With great power comes great responsibility”
Have you any advice to give to someone just starting their SharePoint career?
Listen to the smart guys, they usually know what they talk about. Be humble, learn as much as possible and ask a lot. It’s better to ask someone’s opinion one time too many instead of messing up and regretting it a year later.
What has been your biggest SharePoint challenge so far?
Writing the FAST Search Server 2010 for SharePoint book. There was so much to research and test to make sure what we wrote was 100% correct and worked.
If you could do one thing to change the world what would it be?
Make everyone be tolerant of each other
Biggest fear?
Having no one to talk to
If you could share the stage with anyone in SharePoint who would it be?
Hard one. I have already shared the stage at SPC12 and SPC14, so I would love to do that one myself for once J but a session with Waldek Mastykarz (@waldekm) would be fun. He’s a great and funny guy and I think we could cover a lot of complimentary content around search.
You might also like this eBook by Mikael “Working with Microsoft Fast Search Server 2010 for SharePoint – Ch9. Useful Tips and Tricks”
