From Intern to Full Time: My journey with Seven Peaks
I first discovered Seven Peaks when I started university in Norway. Choosing which degree to pursue was not an obvious choice for me, but I knew one thing for certain: I wanted a career that could give me opportunities all over the world. Software development seemed like a good choice, so I enrolled in a bachelor's degree in Informatics at NTNU Trondheim.
One year into my studies, I read an article about Seven Peaks in Kode24, a Norwegian outlet for developers. The article was about Jostein Aksnes, a Norwegian developer who had founded Seven Peaks and built a software company in Bangkok.
Having spent a lot of time in Thailand growing up, I was immediately interested. I had always wanted to see what it was like to actually live in Thailand, with a normal job and routine, rather than being there on vacation. I also liked the idea of spending some time outside Norway while I was still a student.
Seeing that Seven Peaks had no available listings online as a software engineer intern, I decided to send Jostein an email. At the time, I was working part-time as a fullstack developer for a company called Electronic Chart Centre, which I really enjoyed. I wasn't necessarily looking to leave, but I was also interested in gaining international experience.
Luckily, Jostein replied. From that first conversation, I started figuring out how to make the internship work with my studies, moving my courses around to make it possible. Less than a year after sending that first email, I packed my suitcase and moved from Norway to Bangkok.
Starting as an intern
When I arrived at Seven Peaks, the company had never had an engineering intern before. From the start, I was trusted with real work and given room to learn by doing, while also having the support and guidance of my new team members.
I was placed on a project within the Thai luxury health sector, where I worked on their React-based backoffice. The learning curve was steep. Coming from a smaller development team, suddenly working with larger teams and on a new type of product required me to adapt quickly.
However, my days were not just about coding. During my first months at the company, I was also given the opportunity to represent Seven Peaks at university career fairs, and help out other teams when needed. This variety in my days was something I really enjoyed.
Moving to a new country can be intimidating, especially when you don't know anyone there. Bangkok is a big and vibrant city, and there was a lot to take in, coming from a smaller city in Norway.
For me, the social culture at Seven Peaks made the transition much easier. The weekly company activities gave me a chance to get to know my colleagues outside of work. Combined with the young and international environment at the office, this helped me feel at home in Bangkok quite quickly.
Continuing at Seven Peaks
Since my first day at Seven Peaks, I have continued to get opportunities to take on new responsibilities. Three months into my internship, I was offered a permanent position with the company, along with the opportunity to help initiate a new client collaboration. Since I was enjoying both the work and living in Bangkok, it was an easy decision to say yes.
Since then, I have been working as a consultant within the real estate industry, in a role combining project coordination and software development. Over the last two years, I have worked across frontend, backend and database development, while my responsibilities have gradually expanded beyond writing code.
I have become involved in project coordination and client relationship management, while gaining a broader understanding of what the clients actually need from the product. This has allowed me to explore parts of the work that I had not expected to be involved in when I first started.
Looking back, I am very happy that I decided to reach out to Seven Peaks in the first place. What started as a simple message about an internship turned into the opportunity to live and work in Bangkok over several years, develop my skills and take on responsibilities I probably would not have expected at that stage of my career.
For anyone considering an internship or job abroad, I definitely think it is worth taking the chance. It can be a great way to develop professionally while experiencing what it is actually like to live and work in another country.
