Thorsteinn Már Arinbjarnarson, Hardware Engineering Manager

Watch the interview with Thorsteinn Már Arinbjarnarson

Can you tell us about your role at Controlant? How long have you been with the company, and how has your role evolved since you started?

My name is Thorsteinn; I'm the engineering manager for the hardware team at Controlant. I came into the company as a hardware developer. For the past two or three years, I've been in the role of a lead for hardware development. Most recently, I've become the engineering manager for the hardware team.

What's a typical day for you at Controlant like?

There is no typical day at the moment. Currently, I'm working on hiring people for the team, and it's been ongoing for the past six to twelve months. So as we've had more team members join, my role has been to support them in coming into their roles, getting them up to speed, and getting projects off my shoulders to focus more on the management side. So becoming more of a manager and not so much a contributor.

What do you like best about working here?

The team, the people, you know, all the talent. I've learned a lot working here. I'm an engineer and thrive off challenges and finding ways to solve them. We have a lot of them for this solution.

How would you describe the culture at Controlant?

It's an easy-going, laid-back culture, but still very professional and focused. Everyone works hard together to create the best solution possible.

Would you tell me a little about your background and how it has benefited you in your current position?

I have a bachelor's degree in electrical and computer engineering and a master's degree in applied mathematics. That has helped me a lot as far as being a hardware developer. Before joining Controlant, I worked at a company that develops autonomous underwater vehicles as a hardware developer. I was developing electronics and then software. I was a design engineer first. For the last few years there, I was an engineering manager for the engineering team there. So kind of a similar journey, which has, benefited me at Controlant. And I think I've been able to contribute with that experience to my job here at Controlant and know what's expected of me.

What advice would you give others seeking to work in this field? What qualities do you feel are important?

When I've been hiring people or searching for talent, I've been looking for people with a solid background education, and then I want independent people. People that I don't have to hand feed. I mean, there's a lot going on here, and you need to be able to take care of yourself. If you need assistance, you should seek it out. But still, there's a lot of teamwork, and you need to be able to work with others.

Tell me a fun fact about yourself?

I use music a lot when working, actually. When I need to focus, I put some music in my ears. I listen to all kinds of music from pop to rock, metal, hip hop, rap. The only thing is, when I'm working, I need to be listening to something I'm familiar with. If it's something unfamiliar, something new, the music takes my attention, and I start focusing on it instead of work. Also, I was born on New Year's Eve. Living in Iceland as a kid, I felt like all the fireworks were for me when I was younger.

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