Employee Spotlight – Daniel Nilsson

Daniel visiting Visingsö, an island in lake Vättern in Sweden.

This month we shine the spotlight on our farm animal-loving, Swedish, outdoorsman extraordinaire, and Senior Data Engineer – Daniel Nilsson!

 

Sandra: How long have you been working with Geoforce?

Daniel: 1 year and 3 months.

 

Sandra: What do you do at Geoforce?

Daniel: I’m a Senior Data Engineer, basically making data available for reporting, dashboards, and analytics. It involves analyzing and understanding the data our devices and applications generate, learning how our applications work, planning how to move the data and make sure it is accurate, and then finally building out reports and dashboards. It’s really exciting work!

 

Sandra: What are your hobbies outside of work?

Daniel: I’m not sure if I want to call them hobbies, but my wife and I have 5 kids and we live outside of the city on 10 acres, and we have a horse, around 40 goats, around 30 sheep, 4 dogs to keep predators away, cats to keep the rodents away, turkeys, ducks, chickens, guinea fowl, and two doves, all that keeps me very busy, but I really appreciate it making sure I get outside consistently when I am not at my work desk. Once or twice a month I serve as the front-of-house sound engineer at my church, maybe that could count as a hobby? 🙂

 

Sandra: What is your favorite attribute of Geoforce and why?

Daniel: I don’t know if it qualifies as an attribute of Geoforce, but I would say the culture. Everyone I work with seems to genuinely care, try to do their best, and listen to both the good and the bad. It is not just a good culture because it was decided that we are going to be happy no matter what, but in my experience, Geoforce is a company where people enjoy working together because people care and listen.

 

Sandra: If you could travel anywhere in the world, where would you go and why?

Daniel: Moshav Tzippori in the Galilee in Israel. That’s where I met my wife 24 years ago and we have not been back yet. It would be really nice to go back and show the kids everything there, besides which we have some very dear friends there on whose farm we met, so it would just be very nice to go back and visit.

 

Sandra: What have you gained from working at Geoforce?

Daniel: Knowledge, I have learned a lot in this past year, and I have learned to appreciate teamwork, working on a great team. Our analytics team is the best!

 

Sandra: What are your favorite traditions during the holiday season?

Daniel: I grew up in Sweden, so these are probably going to be a little bit different from most around here in the US. We have a tradition in Sweden to light an advent candlestick, which holds four candles in a row. For the four weeks leading up to Christmas, we start with lighting one candle for the first week and then one more each week. And then, of course… English has a loanword from Swedish, smorgasbord, or “smörgåsbord” in Swedish. The smörgåsbord is, quoting Wikipedia, “a type of Scandinavian meal, originating in Sweden, served buffet-style with multiple hot and cold dishes of various foods on a table.” But the ultimate version of it is the Christmas version of it, “julbord”, which is an absolutely fabulous feast. In my family we traditionally eat “julbord” on Christmas Eve, New Year’s Eve, and “thirteenth day of Christmas” Eve. I’m sure you have heard of the 12 days of Christmas, yes, we take that seriously in Sweden as well. 😉